Good practice routes for the Texas Flake chimney?

We're looking for good Yosemite Valley routes to practice for the 5.8 Texas Flake chimney on the Nose. Ideally 5.8-5.9 and not too many pitches up. Looks like Arch Rock has some good options - anyone have any other suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Positively 8th street... I didn't make it to the flake when I went but thought that was two pitches of goodness during the following days of my visit.

I know this violates your not too many pitches rule, but the Steck Salathe is fantastic chimney practice, and it's a mega classic route. After doing the route, the Texas Flake will feel cruiser.

Craig Martin wrote:I have climbed the Nose and thought it was an everyman kind of route. Pack the bags and start climbing, very little in the way of real difficulty, just keep on keeping on, and you will get there. I have never climbed the Steck Salathe, didn't think it was even on my list (I will have to reconsider that) but I have always thought of it as a hard man route (only 5.9, I know). The approach, descent, length of route, nature of the climbing, need to do it in a day. All of these factors seem to make it a more daunting route than the Nose, IMO. So yes, the Texas Flake will feel cruiser after all that.

Well said. I climbed the Nose in 1980 as a 5.8/5.9 climber. Texas Flake was straightforward and unremarkable. Among the passages that might challenge you, that's not likely to be one. And I also would be intimidated by Steck-Salathe.

Jay- Sorry I'm a slacker. Are you still weighing those issues we discussed?

If you really want to practice for the Nose, you should just start climbing on it every time you go to the Valley. Climb to Sickle a few times ( probably the crux of the route for most aid parties), then take a run to Dolt.

The Texas Flake is one of those pitches you just get in and squirm around a bit.....nothing to get too concerned about....The Stovelegs on the other hand might not feel that easy unless you are solid on 5.9 fists.

If you are deadset on practicing squeeze chimneys you might want to climb Moby Dick and throw a TR on Ahab. Or the Generator Crack, though it might be a bit chilly this time of year.

The squeeze variation on the Regular route on Half Dome is WAY harder than the Texas flake, so if you have already done that then you are golden.

I thought the Steck Salathe's reputation was overblown. While it's long, the pitches go quickly and there's always good gear close by. Training or not, I think it's a great climb and well worth doing.

Shawn, yeah I'm still moving forward with the plans.

Jay Knower wrote:I know this violates your not too many pitches rule, but the Steck Salathe is fantastic chimney practice, and it's a mega classic route. After doing the route, the Texas Flake will feel cruiser.

IME, all wide cracks felt easier after the Steck-Salathe. If you want to get good at wide crack climbing, this is the route to do. I also agree with the Jay in that its reputation is a little over-blown. It is a long route with a lot of hard climbing on it; but if you're in shape and willing to "keep on keeping on," and you do it during the time of the year with plenty of daylight (it is mostly N-facing, with some W-facing climbing down lower), then you should be fine.

--Marc

Here's some for you, all are cragging pitches starting off the ground:

Elevator Shaft, 5.8
Swan Slab Squeeze. 5.6
Doggie Diversions pitch 1, Camp 4 wall. 5.7 chim to squeeze
Church Bowl Chimney 5.6
Bottom of Sacherer Cracker to optional fixed belay, 5.7 (short, maybe 30')
top half of Generator Crack (if you can't manage the bottom, just lower in from the top and do the squeeze)
DNB pitch 1, sandbag 5.7.
Reed's Left, pitch 1.
Entrance Exam 5.9

Since Jay is a 5.13 climber, the Steck Salathe should feel easy, For the rest of us, it's pretty burly and is a type of climbing that doesn't go that quickly even when you're well versed on it. I do a fair amount of wide stuff, including a bunch of valley 5.10 wide cracks and still thought the SS was hard...not any particular pitch but the overall experience (But I'm also dumb and lost half my water on the approach, so did it on a liter and a few gels when it was in the upper 90s...maybe that had something to do with it feeling stout). I will say the first pitch on it is a big wake up call at 5.8, almost as sandbagged as the first pitch of the DNB, which is a barrell of laughs at 5.7.

Texas Flake won't stop you on the Nose, it's not like Hollow Flake where people bail because they're too scared to climb it. In fact I've never heard of anyone getting turned back because of T-flake. Crux of the Nose is dealing with the mob scene on it.

I haven't done the Steck-Salathe yet (it's high on the list for this year) but I've heard that the Northeast Buttress on Higher Cathedral is a good warmup for the Steck-Salathe. In that regard it may be a decent warmup for the Texas Flake although there's no pitch on it that quite compares to the Texas Flake. I don't blame you for wanting to do some warmup for the TF, it can be quite intimidating for people who aren't used to that sort of thing. I've observed many friends who climb hard sport or trad but get worked in the Valley when it comes to any wide climbing (offwidth and bigger). There's definitely something, in my opinion, to be said for schooling yourself up for wide Valley stuff because it will make your time on the Nose go easier as well as other routes in the Valley and in places like the desert. Good luck and have fun on the Nose.

By the way, kind of a funny story about the TF. My wife was climbing the Nose last summer with a girlfriend. Our friend led the Texas Flake pitch and did fine but at about 5'1" she couldn't reach the anchor bolts on top of the flake. Even on her tiptoes she couldn't quite reach them and looked down in horror at the chimney below her as she stretched upward to clip the anchor. Eventually she pulled out her cheat stick to reach them. Ironically, my wife and our friend were scolded for even thinking about bringing a cheat stick on the Nose but in that case, they were very glad for it.

You could always take the "super classic" Jardine Traverse so that you avoid the Texas Flake. I took this variation to pass a cluster of slower parties, but to this day, I kick myself for not doing the TF and the King Swing. Now that I think about it, disregard what I said about avoiding the TF.

I am the only person in the world who thinks the Texas Flake Chimney was tricky. I had previously led the hollow flake pitch on the Salathe, as well as half the Steck Salathe! The Texas Flake Chimney is 2-3 feet wide, if my memory is correct. I don't have any specific recommendations, but I'd practice on smooth-walled chimneys of that width.

I posted this in your Trad Climbing thread:
Try the first pitch of the DNB on Middle Cathedral, that one's a pretty good struggle.

Also got to thinking about Uncle Fanny at Church Bowl, it's a pretty easy/short approach and climb at 5.7

if you can find it in the platte, a route called Suzie Cream Cheese is an excellent 120'long classic chimney (5.9 ?).

JLP wrote:I have heard there are a lot of bolts in there now. Maybe you can skip getting good enough to climb it and just A0 it.

There's one bolt about halfway or 2/3 of the way up the pitch.

George Bell wrote:I am the only person in the world who thinks the Texas Flake Chimney was tricky. I had previously led the hollow flake pitch on the Salathe, as well as half the Steck Salathe! The Texas Flake Chimney is 2-3 feet wide, if my memory is correct. I don't have any specific recommendations, but I'd practice on smooth-walled chimneys of that width.

I don't think it's a gimme. I typically pride myself on being pretty competent on stuff like the Texas Flake but I was sweating pretty good while I was in it. When I was doing it we were doing the Nose in a day and the strategy recommended was to run it out in the chimney and then flick the rope around the outside of the flake to make jugging easier for my parnter (there's only one bolt anyway and "nobody" falls out of a chimney, supposedly). I thought getting up to the bolt was pretty easy as there were plenty of face holds and it seemed to fit me well, at 6'2". Above the bolt I felt like it got a lot harder as the walls were pretty smooth, those nice face holds seemed to disappear, and the chimney kept getting a little wider, making it feel a little insecure. I remember getting to the top of the flake, looking down at the bottom of the chimney and promptly clipping an old bolt on top of the flake for a little relief while doing the final mantle.

I definitely think it's a classic pitch to do, as well as the Boot Flake and the King Swing - hence, my opinion, to go that way and get all of that history instead of the Jardine Traverse.

I've never used kneepads.

First pitch of the Slack - if you can't crank out the .10+ pinscarred start, just FF that part. Then it's 75 ft of 5.8 chimney.

Copper Penny, at Five and Dime. Different, but training.

I met two Dutch climbers in camp 4 who had bailed off the Nose from the Texas Flake. Leader fell 3/4 way up the chimney, snapped both ankles, rapped w/ help from partner. Summer '06.