Mountain Project Logo
To save paper & ink, use the [Hide] controls next to photos and comments so you only print what you need.

Lend Me a Dime

5.12b, Sport, 160 ft (48 m), 2 pitches,  Avg: 2.6 from 9 votes
FA: Pat Contor, Gary Taylor, 1989
Utah > Wasatch Range > Central Wasatch > Little Cottonwo… > Kermits Wall
Warning Access Issue: Gate Buttress Area Recreational Lease: Climbs on Church Buttress above vault remain closed DetailsDrop down

Description

This has to be one of the best, if not the best, of the Contor-Taylor team's routes in the Cottonwoods. Although probably best considered a "sport route," it has much more adventure than your typical clip-up, requiring a blend of slab technique, creativity, and power. Rumor has it that some holds have broken off, particularly on the first pitch, which I don't doubt given what appears to be some of the remnants and a short section of dubious rock around the quasi-hanging belay. However, it still goes at "easy" 12, and if this is your standard and you haven't been on it, you just gotta do it. I bet there isn't another route like it in Utah.

(1) Relatively easy climbing protected by gear leads up to a rising traverse past five well-spaced bolts to the stance. The climbing gets increasingly challenging and trickier to figure out the closer you get to the small foot-stance that serves as the belay. Probably 12a, but I'll go 12b given the mental calculus and zen-like balance needed to solve the crux. A short chain was added a few years ago to one of the bolts to make the clip easier, I think, but it also helps the logistics of bailing if the crux proves too much.

(2) Make a few moves up past a bolt and step around the corner to wild climbing protected by a few more bolts and outstanding exposure. Chains on top. If this pitch were off the ground, it likely would get more traffic that All Chalk. Probably a give-away 12a. This pitch also serves as the latter and much easier half of Agent Orange.

Location

Start from the top of Smitty's Wet Dream.

Protection

A few cams under 2 inches and a few wired nuts for the first 25 or so feet (easy), draws; single rope okay. Two raps to the ground, stopping at the anchors atop Revenge of the Nerds/All Chalk.

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

pitch 2
[Hide Photo] pitch 2
Looking back on the technical traversing of pitch one
[Hide Photo] Looking back on the technical traversing of pitch one
Pitch one from below. It follows the corner up, then traverses right under the overlap
[Hide Photo] Pitch one from below. It follows the corner up, then traverses right under the overlap

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

[Hide Comment] The crux for this is super cryptic for me. Go low, stay high? I couldn't figure it out. The second pitch is way more fun than All Chalk.

The first time I tried this there was a biner on a very bleached piece of webbing that was manufactured with stitches along the length of the sling. Getting up to clip that biner was crazy hard for me and when I grabbed the sling there was a nauseating tearing sound as it ripped in two. Fortunately, the stitches in the webbing held. They were all that held. Two threads. Nothing else. Getting a draw clipped into that bolt was kinda desperate just then.

I went back the next week and placed the chain that's on it now. Jul 14, 2013
GRK

[Hide Comment] "This has to be one of the best, if not the best, of the Contor-Taylor team’s routes in BCC."

you can take J.S. out of bcc, but you can't take the bcc out of J.S. Jul 16, 2013
John Steiger
  5.12b
[Hide Comment] I mix up left and right too. That happens in your sixth decade. Jul 16, 2013
drewford
Wasatch Back, UT
[Hide Comment] I think you mean "the later half of Orange Crush." Aug 23, 2013
Past User
  5.12b
[Hide Comment] This strange route offers a lot of good climbing on good rock, but unfortunately not at the crux- the rock quality deteriorates just as the the holds disappear. Perhaps the holds have broken that were once here...I know a hollow thin flake crimp I used here will certainly break off in the near future. It's an intimidating route due to it's exposed traversing and insecure friction. The final pitch is also not a give-away at 12a imo. Apr 25, 2018
Scott Sinner
Reno, NV
[Hide Comment] You can link Cranial Prophylactic into the first pitch traverse, and lower to the ground easily with an 80m rope. This makes it a good, long single pitch climb if you have to skip the second pitch for whatever reason (Weather, partner, etc).

You might want to extend everything on Cranial Prophylactic with at least a shoulder-length sling, and even up to 240cm length slings, while also running it out, to be able to enjoy the traverse with no rope drag. Oct 30, 2022