Spirals

Originally envisioned and toproped on by Jon Nelson and Nicola Masciandaro, many a climber has lowered off of I Am In Top a Shader and felt at the crazy crystal pockets a little ways to the left. I wondered for years, but last year had a brush with me and with a little scrubbing and swinging around quickly determined the line would definitely go. An afternoon of hard work with my friend Hayden with brushes, a drill, and a very helpful leaf blower Jeff Ranish loaned us was all it took for the FA to fully materialize.

Climb the first ~25 feet of Shader, clipping one shared bolt low down. The crux comes straight off of the ledge to the left of Shader's hard slab section, moving up and out of the short corner using what I called the Spiral move, then reaching way left to a big crystal pocket. Head up right across an AWESOME panel of pockets and crimps, to a cam placement and a juggy traverse to the left. Back up right across the scoopy slab and make a big move to a glorious jug, then a final tricky move before stepping over to join the last 10 feet of Shader.

The route comes down to a couple hard moves with no hands rests close on either side, and we obviously don't factor that into the grade around these parts. I can safely say the crux is somewhere between V1 and V8, and the rest of the route, Index 11b.

Though not the ultra classic of its twin route, this route packs in loads of cool holds and fun, unique sequences and is not to be missed for anyone that already has a rope hanging.

Same as I Am In Top a Shader

7 bolts, a few cams in the 0.4 to #1 range and a sling or two to extend. Shares the Shader anchor.