Big Poppa

Big Poppa climbs the overhanging, wave-like swell of black rock between Zed's Dead and No Excuse. Dave Montgomery originally bolted, cleaned, and attempted this amazing line, then graciously opened it up to friends in the community in 2018.

Stick-clip or climb up to a high first bolt and a big jug rest at bolt 2. From here, climb strenuously along the refrigerator-like feature to where the wall steepens, cop a kneebar rest (right kneepad—and long shins—helpful), then segue into either a powerful layback or compression sequence (V8) to a tough clip at bolt 5. More hard moves on crimps and sidepulls immediately follow—no resting here—through the steepest part of the bulge, leading into an outro that feels "easy enough" off the dog but takes some gumption on the link, as well as (at least for me) blowing off clip 6.

A jug rest follows, topped off by fun 5.12- on solid, textured rock to anchors.

This route felt very difficult to me, and I put a lot of days in, but my beta was probably screwy, I've realized, after watching two other climbers try it and having seen some kneescum technology emerge. The beauty of this climb is that there are lots of options for both hands and feet. However, given the angle and continuous nature of the crux section (~22 moves), they all feel difficult. No matter what, you'll need some try-hard.

This is between Zed's Dead and No Excuse.

Nine bolts to double-bolt anchors with lowering hardware; bolts two through six are fixed.