Mental Blocks
5.12a C1,
Trad, Aid, 530 ft (161 m), 6 pitches, Grade III,
Avg: 2.9 from 7
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Description
If you can comfortably climb 5.8/5.9 free and aid C1 this route is a great objective for you. All >5.10 pitches can be aided with C1 techniques, and the easy free sections are mellow and enjoyable
Great route with clean stable rock, great protection, a pendulum swing, and a real remote feeling. The position is stunning with everything from an overhanging fist crack, to open slab, finishing off with a cruiser changing corner system to the top! If you're an aid climber (or a strong free climber) looking for an adventure this is it. If you are a 5.8/5.9 climber and are able to aid the >5.10 pitches this is a good climb for you.
This is a description of how we did this route, which went quite well. Lawyer's description of Mental Blocks can be found on pg. 461 of Volume 1.
Long day so get up early. Plan 2-3 hours from car - base of climb, this face roasts in the sun so if you're doing it in the summer the earlier you can start the better.
P1: When you arrive at the base of the route you'll look up and see the easily identified 'Lightning-bolt crack.' There will be some small cedars encountered along the way, so it's somewhat a tree-fight on your way up. 5.7, 140'
P2: Beautiful corner into a large roof. Traverse left under the roof, very easy aiding with a variety of sized gear from yellow X4 to larger cams. Make a short step up and belay just above where you exited the route C1 // 5.11c G, 30'
P3: Ascend the thin featured crack that trends right and ends in a corner at a thin seam at the base of a slab where you'll find a rappel station with a piton, fixed nut and slung tree. Stop and belay here for a short pitch before continuing up the slab if you want a close belay. 5.10b (or C1), 60'
P4: step left and continue up the slab with options for small cams and a 0.5 along the way. Climbing felt secure (much more featured and secure than 'Thanksgiving' 5.7X pitch as a comparison). Belay in the corner at a thin seam. From this belay you will be at the height of the gorgeous overhanging fist crack on your left. 5.7 PG-13 60' (Lawyer guidebook says this is an R-rated pitch, felt more like PG-13).
(P3/P4 can be easily linked, this is the 'typical' way of doing this climb. Separating the pitches felt natural)
P5 (P4 if you link 3/4): Step left and tackle the crux, overhanging fist crack that is easily aided if you can't climb 5.12a. Belay immediately after pulling over and onto a small ledge when you reach a thin crack. Looking right of your shoulder you'll start drooling over the next pitch of beautiful hands/fists that goes up and to the right. 5.12a, C1, 40'
P6 (P5 if you link 3/4): follow the crack that goes up and right until you reach the tat for the pendulum! Lower about 15' below the tat, (or insecure down climb) and make a 20' swing to the crack system on climbers right. Ascend the corner and belay on a sloping ledge above where your second will land when he completes the pendulum.
NOTE: Belaying above the end of the pendulum makes it easy to lower a bight of rope for your second to clip into after the second completes the swing (as they'll have to untie and pull the rope from the pendulum anchor before continuing) 5.8 G, A0, 50'
P7 (P6 if you link 3/4): Make a run for the top on the steep and crisp jams and secure face climbing until you make it to the trees. Enjoy the last pitch which is filled with solid rock and an airy, exciting position. 5.7 G, 150'
Descent: Walk climbers left through the trees to the MB rap. We missed the 'official' MB rap station and ended up getting to the ground in (2) 70m and (1) 35m rap. Supposedly you can thrash your way down a walk-off but it would be a very rough hike down.
Location
Located on the right side of Wallface. When you get to the summit boulder be sure to stop and orient yourself. Looking at the ADK Rock topo some of the features on this route are unmissable and easy to identify:
- Lightning bolt crack of P1
- Traversing roof of P2
Coming from the Upper Works trail: you'll pass a second climbers trail to your left, take the third 'trail,' this consisted of a single cairn descending into thick brush and mossy boulders without a discernible climbers path. More or less, you'll be bushwhacking to the base. If you can't find the trail, don't worry about it too much, just orient yourself to the start when you get a break in the trees and head into the thick brush. It's about 10 minutes from the Indian Pass trail to the start of the climb.
When you arrive, look up and identify the 'lightning bolt cracks' to locate the first pitch, and up you go
Protection
Aiding: Doubles from fingers to 3 with either a 3.5 or 4 for big gear. Small cams down to 000 C3, 1 set ball nuts helpful but very much not necessary. Carried offsets but didn't need to use them.
It's a good idea to carry extra cord and a few rap rings as some rap tat may need replacing when you get to it.
70M rope, 70M tag for multiple rappels
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Bristol, NH
I mostly agree with the description here and in the guidebook but here are some notes:
P2 corner was super wet, and I'd guess it's usually that way... but the traverse is dry. Not a problem if you're aiding though
P3 felt like a sandbag to me at .10a. The gear is all really small and fiddly, and it's hard to get a stance to place a piece. I tried to free it but then ended up aiding with mostly microstoppers and ballnuts. The slab felt fair at 5.7 but you definitely face some 5.6/5.7 slab moves at a 30ft runout so you should be comfortable in that terrain
P4 is not accurately described as a fist crack - it's a tips seam that has one fingerlock towards the bottom, then opens to off-fingers and widens until it's fists at the very top. Overhanging with not much in the way of feet, and feels very hard, though short. Need I say it? We aided this too...
P5 is mostly wide #2/tight #3, and I wouldn't really call that a fist crack either (as the guidebook does), narrows to #1 up by the pendulum
P6 is long and would feel much better with doubles in hand/fist sized gear. We only had singles and I'm not really one to sew it up at 5.7 but even I felt like I could have used some more gear there... The top is very licheny and top-out options are mostly covered with dirt and brush, except for a very clean #5/6 crack if you have the gear
If you top out, the chockstone anchor is fairly obvious, and is 200' left of the topout as the guidebook says. Basically scramble up along the line between rock and brush until you get there, then rap down onto a tree covered ledge. find a tree with a rap anchor, then rap through some more trees to clean rock and fixed cord on a boulder. Rap from there to the ground over rotten loose rock and be careful not to knock any down on your partner, then bushwhack down steep slopes back to the base Sep 7, 2020
noco
The route itself is an excellent, somewhat logical, adventure if you intend to do aid and have fun with the shenanigans, however as a free climbing objective it doesn't make a ton of sense in the way it climbs. I'd like to echo Calvin's comments, as I had a somewhat similar experience.
My partner and I rappelled the route with a single 70m rope in 4 relatively straight 35m drops. As of 7/10/2021 all tat has been backed up or freshened up at these stations, which are a combination of fixed gear and natural anchors. The rap station at the top is a chockstone, slung flake, and a hex in a 6" crack that you can see all the way through. When rapping off this, guide the rope directly through the crack and rap to the previous belay. The pull isn't too bad, and our rope didn't get stuck on anything. Don't try to rap outside the crack or you may risk dislodging the chockstone. It may sound sketchy but it worked unbelievably well for us.
My Notes:
-Guidebook grades for P2 & P3 are likely mixed up, expect to aid some of both of them based on difficulty and wetness.
-Link P3&4, belay on the top of the slab arete at a nice flattish spot with some hand sized gear 10' below the aid seam instead of in the cramped corner. P4 is the money pitch.
-P5 is essentially a V4 on tiny gear right off the belay above a ledge. Not much free climbing appeal.
-P5 isn't the logical free line, one could easily circumvent the "Crux" via a 5.9ish hand traverse around the seam. Further to the right of this pitch is a SICK looking overhanging dihedral finger crack that would be the obvious free line for this route, as it would avoid the seam and the penji entirely and deposit you at the belay for the last pitch. Unfortunately this awesome feature is probably ALWAYS wet.
-P5 & P6 link quite easily, and the leader can back clean all the way to the penji point to make it easier on the second.
-Rapping the route is really straightforward and will dump you right at your packs.
-This route is more of a jack-of-all-trades route rather than a good hard free climb, just pull on gear and have as much fun in the mountains as you want. Jul 12, 2021
We rapped from the 1st decent tree above the climb about 10 feet into the forest, left a sling and locker on it, you could always move it up ~10 ft to a more substantial tree if you felt it needed it, double 60s got us to the 2 nut station just after the pendulum which we added a backup sling to, we then rapped to the station at the base of the slab and a rap from there to the ground, some of the rap stations are still in rough shape but you will at least get to check them all out on the way up. Sep 7, 2021