The following crags are closed 1 February to 31 July: Ridge Two Ridge Three Ridge Four Achaen Prnouncement Argonaut Dreadnought North Ridge Bear Creek Spire
All East Face routes on the following formations are closed 1 April to 1 October (routes on the North, South & West Faces remain open): The Hand Mallory Flatironette Shark's Fin Finger Flatiron
The following routes on Der Zerkle are closed from 1 April to 1 September: Sunnyside One East Face Left East Face Right
Nearing the end of the lower grubby section of the...
Description
This route is quite good for the top 40 feet but the lower part is grubby and unpleasant. This route lies on the west side of this rock, and climbs the crack at the left edge of a detached pinnacle, the Lingum. We approached the climb from below by bushwhacking past the Achean Pronouncement and soloing up a loose steep section (3rd class) to the base of the crack (not recommended).
However, a better way to do this climb is in the middle of the East Face route. At about the end of the 4th pitch of that route, you can look down this crack. Rappel ~80' from an anchor in the notch north of the crack, or set up a toprope anchor at the top of the crack and rappel off that.
The climb itself is only about 80 feet long. The crack starts out rotten and vegetated, this section nearly earns this climb a bomb rating. Trustworthy pro is difficult to find here. Eventually, though, you are climbing a nice clean 4" crack. The upper section of this crack seems made for #4 Camalots and it you want good pro I'd take two of them (a #3.5 doesn't fit most places). I only had one #4 but felt pretty safe walking it up the crack. The crack is low angle and featured enough that no serious offwidthing is necessary, and you can climb it entirely by liebacking and using face holds.
The climb ends on the knife-edge summit ridge at a fixed piton. To get off from here continue up the ridge and around the east side of the summit block. You can bag the summit from here by climbing the final pitch of the East Face route (on the South side of the summit block).
Protection
Light rack plus Camalots #1-#4. It would be nice to have two #4 Camalots.
By tongmengjia From: Fort Collins, CO Aug 9, 2009 rating: 5.7+
The crack is wider than it seems. Especially near the top, it was too wide for my #4, so I had to run out the last 20ft or so. Pretty secure climbing, though.
If you survived the overgrown bushwhack approach up the gully, then the beginning grubby section shouldn't seem bad at all. It's fairly short and the climbing isn't difficult. After that, the crack is clean with good quality rock.
Wish I had my camera yesterday, this climb looks beautiful from Satan's Slab.
Ditto on Tommy's post, with one exception - the cam we had (#10 Powercam) is the same size as a new #4 Camalot, so bring an old style #4 if you want to protect the crack's wide sections.
Sorry if the beta in my book felt off to you as there should have been a comment in the intro that all the cam sizes refer to the old Camalots (I'm old school and not a fan of the new #4 as it's too small). Hopefully the rest of the beta was good though?
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