C'est La Morte 

C'est La Wasp Nest At The Crux...as of 09/08. Careful.

The "easy" climbing goes something like this: after traversing up and left (along a sort of rock stratum, toward Cest la Vie), traverse back right under a small overhang, head up a thin, right leaning crux crack, and then traverse back left to the fixed anchor (near the right margin of the large Cest la Vie dihedral). Bring 2 ropes to rappel.

The anchors at the top of C'est La Morte and Whistle Stop (they end with the same upper part of the crack and left traverse) are set such that one 165ft rope will get you down... JUST BARELY... to the boulders leaning on the wall. Make sure the ends are even!

Three stars might be a little generous, but it's still a pretty good route. I remember it having an appetite for small, springy things; in other words, TCUs are very helpful. In summer, too, it sports an active hive of small wasps that don't seem particularly aggressive, though they are numerous. Naturally, they're housed very near the crux. The comment about a 50m rope just reaching the 'ledge' is completely accurate. The ends of the rope come through your ATC (or whatever) just as your feet touch. Mind your balance!

Cool, exposed moves half way up, as you exit the lower face moving right and connecting with the upper crack. Same finish as Flakes. From the chains, 60m rope took us right to the start with rope to spare.

Remember to protect the second at the end of the climb, before the anchors. It'd be a pretty good swing. By that, of course, I mean a pretty BAD swing.

Fun climb. I didn't see the 'RP crack' that the guidebook mentioned. A bit cool in the shade, smokin' in the sunlight. This would be a fun winter route.

Devious route, but a lot of fun!

Sweet route, at least as good as C'est la Vie (p1). Don't bother with gear until the undercling. I didn't find RPs necessary... the crack sews up with medium stoppers.

A very good variation is to climb the variation left of The Flakes start (the right-angling ramp) to the left edge of the Flakes ledge and then step left to the base of the C'est la Morte crack (see Guy Humphrey's photo, but note that the 2nd and 3rd visible pieces of gear in that photo are on thumpy rock--I didn't use either of those). The rope runs straighter than either the regular C'est la Morte, The Flakes or the regular Flakes start to C'est la Morte. Gear is good. A #3 Camalot at the ledge with a double length sling protects the step left to the base of the C'est la Morte crack, and a #2 Camalot up and left will keep you there (at the base of the crack).

In Guy Humphrey's excellent photo, the climber has a piece attached to a long purple runner behind a "thumpy" flake (third piece from bottom of the photo). This flake is AWOL. The reach up into the crack is now a tad harder. Still felt like 5.9-ish, but this felt like the crux move of the pitch.

Great Climb! Questionable gear at the start, but it is only 5 or 6 so enjoy it!

C'est La Ropedrag.