Find this route by locating Long John Wall. Look just to the left of the broken, right-facing corner at the base of LJW. The arete on the left of this is the route.
There is a clean arete with a few tiny seams in it, 15' up off the ground, a short finger lock section, and then flakes. Climb in from either side (5.9) to establish yourself on the left side of the arete on a reasonable set of footholds. Try in vain to get a RP placement you trust around the right hand side, which is a blind placement fromt the good stance. Give up and climb a few more feet up and left onto the left side, checking out the nasty 20' landing you'd get. Look at the seam at the left hand and decide again that nothing good goes in there. Quit fooling around and make a few 5.9 moves to a 10-inch section of "finger crack" where you can place a TCU or alien. Clip it and make a crux move (9+) and then run for the ledge on easy moves. Don't fall. Place a piece or two near the ledge for a directional. Climb up and left to a tree with slings that can be backed up by nuts up and right above. (no rap rings here) or go up and right to join Long John Wall.
In any case, when you come down, ask yourself if that was really S (given grade) or VS. At least the rock is nice solid stone!
Protection
A few VERY TINY nuts and a .4-.75" cam placement (TCU, Alien, or something narrow) are about all you can get. The nuts will be about as good as they are big. The cam will be OK, but not great.from the top of "the business" of the route, you will need a #3-4 BD or equiv. for a directional before finishing to the left or right. You might TR the route from an anchor on the face well above + a directional a the top of the arete (small nuts + long sling).
A thread of 1/2" webbing can be slung around a small horn before cranking [left] around the arete to the fingerlock, as well as the RPs mentioned. A bomber green alien-sized piece will fit in the fingerlock. (I downclimbed to the ground where we bounce-tested the hell out of it!) This will be the only gear keeping you off the ground if you fall when doing the crux moves, so if you fall and it holds then the route is probably "s"; if it doesn't, then "vs." Once your feet are a few feet above the green alien, the climbing eases to about 5.6.
West Ridge - Pony Express to Long John
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