At 5.6 in the guide, Elephant Crack is probably the most sandbagged route at Palisades. The gear placements on the face are small and not easy to find, and the roof traverse is strenuous with good potential for an unpleasant pendulum fall. This is an excellent route, but not a good choice for novice leaders.
Starting on a slightly slabby face, climb to a corner under the roof. Underclinging the roof, traverse right about 25' to an outside corner and escape up the rain gully to the top.
Location
In the Fire Tower Wall section, not far right of the descent gully. Starts below an obvious large roof.
Protection
Small gear (mainly nuts) for the face section; small to medium cams for the roof traverse. Sling trees for anchors at the top.
pro is straight forward--place in crack above your head before committing to traverse.
traverse is EASY. Good hands in crack and lots of positive placements for feet. Once at end of traverse there are jugs to grab.
Only caveat is you really cannot fall from traverse as you will smack the slab below if you didn't place pro far out in crack before starting to traverse. For that reason its not a good climb for beginning leader...
By Chuck Parks From: Atlanta, GA Feb 4, 2008 rating: 5.6
The crux of this route favors those with a long reach (either tall, or ape-y, or both). People with a wingspan over 6 ft. will find it easier to place safe, solid protection further out the roof before committing to the crux. It will also be a bit easier to climb the crux.
I'm not saying the route is super-hard for the shorties out there, but I wouldn't be surprised if difference in reach is a factor in the 5.6 vs. 5.7+ debate.
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