Milt's Roof

Between the Cave and the start of Chickies Direct there is a large overhang about 30 feet off the ground.  Start about 15 feet left of the right end of this long roof, where a down-facing dihedral runs from the wall out to the lip of the overhang.  Climb easily up and left to the beginning of the dihedral.  The crux is moving left to the lip and turning it, via stemming, face climbing and a finger lock/layback move around the lip.

This route appeared as 5.9 in at least one previous guide, but I beg to differ. Like many overhang routes at Chickies, the crux is very height dependent---- both in doing the moves and in placing crucial protection. Michael Jordan or Kareem Abdul Jabbar might think this is 5.7, but I graded this as an onsight lead for someone of about my height (5' 11"). If you're really tall this would probably seem easier. If you're really short, not only would the moves seem harder but also the placing of the key protection at the lip would  be  pretty dicey. 

The crux moves are a good challenge, but unfortunately this route has little else to recommend it. That's because it suffers from the same defect as most Chickies overhang routes: a tricky technical overhang is preceded by easy face climbing and followed by more of the same.  The line of least resistance above the roof is at most 5.5. If you climb a lot at Chickies, this is  worth doing once, but it's not a destination climb. 

I originally called this route Finger Swinger, 5.10-,  but it became known as Milt's Roof.  I needed a second try to do this one. On my on sight attempt I took my only leader fall at Chickies when my fingers slipped out of a wet finger lock while completing the crux moves. I swung into the slab below and bruised my ribs and had to come back a few days later to complete it. I recommend doing this when the rock is dry!  (Thanks, Dave Kahley,  for the good belay!)

See above.

Small wires, medium and large stoppers, a few larger cams might be useful above the roof. The key protection is a finger size stopper in the vertical finger crack at the lip. Blind placement but good.