Angelina climbing smoothly through the crux of Wan...
Description
Indian Creek at the Tree!!! The routes at Rusty Wall are fairly unusual by J-Tree standards: steep straight-in jamming more reminiscent of the Utah Desert that your typical quartz monzonite crag. You have O'Kelleys on the right side which tackles a desperate boulder problem to beautiful hands. To the left is O'Kelley's shorter but more demanding brother, Wangerbanger. Wangerbanger is fairly straight-forward by 5.11 J-Tree standards... no dicking with funky RPs, just plugging cams and climbing. As a result many people generally consider this fairly soft for 11c, though the percentage of leaders that end up dangling at the crux, just below the pod, is probably just as high as any other similarly graded climb.
So, anyway: The climb is short, but pithy. The crack begins as wide hands but thins to ring-locks just below the pod. Crank into the pod and cop a decent rest. The crux will be somewhere just below the pod depending on your hand size, though getting into the pod is also burly as hell. Continue upward through the pod system (harder than it looks!) to a funky mantle at the top.
Protection
2 sets of cams from blue TCU to #3 camalot. Nuts are useful for setting up a belay.
By C Miller Administrator Mar 19, 2003 rating: 5.11c
Funny thing how the start of O'Kelley's is harder than any single move on this route. Deep hands to start and then the short crux (.75 Camalot size) with a finger crack exit move. One of the best cracks in J Tree IMO.
An awesome line require crack skills used in areas like Indian Creek Utah. Very straightforward crack jamming on a very steep wall. There is a rest pod before the crux and a rest pod after the crux off finger section. Endurance pays off on this route it seems. Fire a cam, clip and jam (repeat till you summit)The wall faces east so this gets sun in the morning and shade in the afternoon. Not much shelter from the wind.
Best quality I have done in J Tree. More similare to IC than O'Kelly's
hand and finger size determine the grade as the tradition of crack ratings have shown.
I disagree with the IC comment. The crux thin hands section is too short and offset. More than anything the offset is what makes this section so hard, its not a straight in jam. In IC it would be more like 100' of green Camalots ( and 5.12 to boot ), but straight in and straight up. In and above the upper pod is pure JT as well, lots of nooks and cranny's and a few face holds as well. Amazing how a crack this short feels like an endurance route.
I agree with Murf on the specific traits of this crack compared to cracks at Indian Creek. This crack is quite parallel and requires off finger techniques at the crux. I misused the phrase 'staightforward crack jamming'.
Start 5.9 hands, "To short, would like about 20 more feet of this section", to a thin steep crux. Good protection. The difficulty of the crux will very with hand size. Don't be afraid to fire this one on lead, you can get great gear before the crux (15 or so feet) with a very clean fall.
Maybe the best 5.11 in Josh. Stellar rock quality and moves. About the "offset"...I think of an offset as one side of the crack sticking out farther than the other. And going into the second pod this is the case, but in the crux ringlocks section where it's not really "offset" what makes this awkward is that the crack goes into the wall at an angle, i.e. it's not perpendicular to the face of the wall. Crux is about a bodylength of tight hands and rings. Recommended rack, single set of fingers to cups with doubles in the #1 and #0.75 camalot sizes.
The difference would be if you were climbing one of the millions of 0.75 offsets in IC, it'd be a punishing 100 feet of it versus a few moves.
Regardless, great route! Despite the appearance, it surprisingly didn't require much wide gear. One 3.5 friend, then everything else smaller (1 #2.5 friend, 1 #1 camelot, 1 #2 friend, 1 0.75 camelot, #0.5 friend and #1 friend). A large hex at the lip is helpful to keep the rope from falling into the crack. Enjoy.
An fabulous route and one of my favorites (so far) at Josh. Not too hard for the grade (at least for JT) and great pro the whole way. As previously stated, the top-out is no gimme either, but there is a nice no hands rest just before to de-pump.
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