The far right side of the Northwest Recess are two parallel cracks that merge about 200 ft up. The climb start with the right of the 2 cracks. But 99% of the climbers take the left crack which is the Wong Climb. This is a better crack. Pitch 1 - take the wider right crack to a nice ledge with a 2 bolt anchor. Pitch 2 - move to the left crack (The Mummy Crack) to a wide sloping ledge. Pitch 3 - up and right over a small roof to a Mohagany. Belay here. Pitch 4 - friction up and left across a slab then back right over a flake to a fir tree. Pitch 5 - Above a downpointing flake is passedon the left then up a thin corner (5.8), traverse right to an easy crack, belay above the notch. Pitch 6 is up and right to the top.
When you get to the base its obvious why everyone does the Wong start - its much prettier. The mummy isnt bad, and protect nicely with small/med cams. We linked 3&4, 3 has lots of chong-a-bong rocks, but good gear exists. The mahogany is dead. Above the fir is the crux, and the pin has been broken off (somewhat protectable with rp's). This is solid 5.8 for 10-15 feet.
By mschlocker From: San Diego, CA Jul 23, 2007 rating: 5.8
I second linking pitches 3 and 4. You can also take the downward pointing flake pitch to a good belay ledge about 170 feet up past the steep 5.7 jamming section. The downward pointing flake was more than the one move wonder I was expecting - I threw in a couple of aliens (yellow then blue I think) that I felt good about.
Be ready for an incredible adventure. Felt more satisfied after this climb than Whodunnit. The first 2 pitches are some of the best moderate pitches around.
We were a bit confused on the third pitch. Maybe we are just dumb but I don't think we ended up going the right way.
The downward pointed flake was an unexpected smack in the face. But what a beautiful feature. It protected just fine with TCU's of similar. The last part was a bit confuing as well but we found what seemed like the path of least resistance. But man-o-man the whole climb is great. I put it up there with the other must do's of the rock.
If I climb this route again, I'd refrain from linking pitches 3 and 4. The 180 foot link-up is a little zig-zaggy and care must be taken not to run the rope through bushes. We had a lot of rope drag.
The crux was awesome, and pretty tricky. TCUs below the moves work okay but the Ballnutz really helped mid-way through the crux.
Wow, awesome climb! The first and second pitches are pure fun, great jams with a frequently appearing "cheater" crack to assist you. The downward pointing flake on P5 looks pretty intimidating, but it's all there. Save a couple of your smallest nuts (BD #4 or 5), and you'll find that it protects surprisingly well too.
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