BETA PHOTO: The roof and stem box of D&D. The lichen-y corner...
Description
This is a decent route despite the lichen on it. The bottom of it is littered with large grey flakes of lichen, the kind that crackles like leaves, not the sort that turns to dust. It is absent from the crack and the holds you'd want to use. The top is cleaner, and I've brushed it down a bit to clean it up. The route felt clean enough and solid afterwards, though our passage probably more resembled a first ascent than a romp up a clean trade route. The mashed stopper fixed 5 meters up the route, is a reminder of ascents past, however.
Significantly downhill on the North face from Death and Transfiguration, and beyond Salsa Verde, there is a left facing corner. Flakes of grey lichen are in the start, but are absent on the upper portion of the route. As the crack goes up, it hits a significant roof about 8 meters up. This has an excellent handcrack (for thin hands, or a tight #2 camalot) and is in a bomb-bay stem-box to keep things moderate. The crux is pulling the lip and getting up into the low-angled handcrack above.
During an on-sight, solo, first free attempt back in the seventies, Jim Erickson fell from this route and broke both his legs! He then had to crawl down to the Royal Arch Trail for help.
By Aaron Martinuzzi From: Fort Collins, CO Aug 2, 2009 rating: 5.10c
The new Jason Haas guidebook has this route at 10b - I climbed the Maiden's East Ridge without much trouble recently and this felt tougher, maybe because it was pretty acrobatic? Anyway I got a little spanked, but made it through.
One might consider bringing a hex and placing it at the lip; not necessarily for protection but rather to keep the rope from running over the cams after you turn the lip of the roof. Bringing an extra #2 Camalot or two wouldn't hurt.
RSS Feed
