357 aka Angel (free version)
5.13b YDS 8a French 29 Ewbanks IX+ UIAA 30 ZA E7 6c British
Avg: 3.6 from 5 votes
Type: | Trad, 110 ft (33 m), 2 pitches |
FA: | aided - Aaron Rashaw Steve Dupuis September 27th 1998. freed - Conor Cliffe, Tom Draper, Sept 2013 |
Page Views: | 3,881 total · 23/month |
Shared By: | Aaron Rashaw on May 10, 2010 |
Admins: | Jay Knower, M Sprague, Lee Hansche, Jeffrey LeCours, Jonathan S, Robert Hall |
Description
A classic steeply overhanging jam crack that angles out the left side of the Alcove, that goes from #4 camalots size to blue TCUs.
Originally done as an aid route by Steve Depuis and Aaron Rashaw in 1998 and called 357 after a wildlife encounter- "Steve and I were sleeping in a tent when a bear started circling. Steve said to me "Cover your ears," then fired off a couple warning shots with his 357. All you heard was the Bear thrashing through the woods at high speed." - Aaron Rashaw
It wasn't until 2013 that Conor Cliffe and Tom Draper freed the route, calling it Angel, with Conor describing it as "some of the best pure crack climbing in the Northeast".
P1: 5.13 Climb an unprotected but easy layback corner to a horizontal rail that trends left towards a stance in an alcove below the main crack.
Looming above are three significant cruxes, two much needed rests, and a whole lot of burly crack climbing in between. Battle a section of #4s to the first crux, which is comprised of sequential tight finger jams at weird angles. Get to the next wide looking section and find yourself in a great rest where you can liberally swap between hand jams and forget how steep it is. When you're fresh again progress through a pumpy section leading to another crux where the crack makes a V. Navigate this using tricky beta and you'll find yourself traversing a juggy rail only to wind up putting your whole leg into a hole that goes all the way to the knee. Rest up and tackle that last little redpoint crux.
Mantle to the anchor stance, you earned it. - 70', two bolt anchor, though you may want to construct a gear anchor if you are going to belay here for the second pitch. No 357 needed, but you are going to need your guns.
P2: 5.12a Continue up the corner and switch back left. Follow the short and burly horizontal (fingers) to pull around the lip. 40' Currently no fixed anchor and dirty. You will have to continue up the low angled dirty cracks to the top out. Not really recommended in its current state.
Gear: Bring doubles from #4 down to .2ish.
New 4"x 3/8"s stainless steel bolt anchor added on 9/29/2019 for the first pitch.
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