Off the Hook

F/A Tom Callaghan and Steve Wooding around 86 or so. Slight dyno at the crux, at least for me. Tom will be happy to see the old 11b grade is now 11+ ! I remember some RP's as well. Sep 18, 2011

The grade is a suggestion, this route feels like it has some hard 5.11 moves to me and is very sustained. Harder for shorter climbers. I'll update the FA. Thanks! Sep 18, 2011

Under about 5'11" or so and things could get a bit jumpy for sure. Sep 19, 2011

Fun! Beta intensive, but I think 11b is fair once you work out the sequence. Good luck with the onsight, you'll need it. (PS - stick clip is essential, book mentions a low pin but it is gone) Jul 9, 2012

you can place gear in double v to protect the start if you don't want to stick clip it. Sep 9, 2013

Interesting, there was no stick clipping on the f/a Sep 10, 2013

there was also a flake with a pin behind it on the f/a. Not any more. Nov 7, 2013

I was talking to the f/a'er the other day about keeping up with "route maintenance " tough to do Nov 7, 2013

I'm SW, who did the FA with Tom. An FA year of '86 means I was about 16 when we did it. He was my unofficial climbing mentor. Such a kind guy.

Off the Hook was a really fun and memorable FA. It arose out of a mix of sport and traditional approaches. I noticed the climb one summer and soloed it on top rope a number of times. I was all set to rap bolt and red point it, and mentioned this to Tom. Being a polite guy he didn't point out how obnoxious I was to talk about rap bolting the Barber Wall and instead suggested we finish it from the ground up. Sounded great to me.

Tom's ground up FA was terrific and, as is often the case with him, extremely bold. It's difficult to appreciate his accomplishment given how well protected the climb is now. The original route description is correct about the pin - we put one behind an expanding flake near the bottom of the route. The flake was so loose it's no surprise the pin is gone. The flake itself may be gone. Above the flake Tom was using skyhooks for protection while he drilled (hence the climb's name). At one point he used a RURP! At the top he ran it out to the finish instead of pausing to protect (again, classic Tom). Tom definitely could have made things easier for himself by just bolting from the most convenient stances, but he was determined to make it an overall quality route and was willing to put himself out there for it. Truly impressive. Jun 16, 2016

Good to hear from you Steve Jun 17, 2016

Good climbing. This route deserves more traffic. Oct 21, 2018