BETA PHOTO: The bottom nut in the photo is the one that can be...
Description
A one pitch finger crack with good supplemental edges. Find a steep finger crack that does not reach the ground on the wall right of the gigantic Howling at the Wind dihedral (same approach as for Fat City Crack, and a good climb to do when you come back to get your stuff after climbing that route). Traditionally, there are stacked rocks at the base of the route below the crack. Starting from the rocks, make a wild, footless, crux move to a perfect finger jam, which unfortunately is also your first good gear. I actually stick-placed (yes, placed) a nut there before starting to mitigate the good possibility of a sprained ankle or worse (the ground drops away sharply to the right)-- a devious (read: weenie) technique that is nevertheless quite common, I hear. Regardless, one encounters two more 5.10 cruxes before reaching a ledge on Pear Buttress. It is possible to continue up that or other routes, but most people rappel (75 ft.) from webbing (of cordalette length) around a flake right at the top of the route (may not be fixed, so bring some).
Protection
Small stoppers and cams, and Friends #s 2-3 up high.
I'm embarresed to admit that I too pre-placed the first nut (but didn't clip the rope) when I climbed this. I wish I hadn't because the moves off the deck aren't that hard, but the landing sucks. It sounds like this is standard practice for this route, and there is a quiver of sticks at the base that serve this purpose.An excellent, sustained, short climb that would be 3 stars if it were longer.
Gillet guide has this as 10c. It felt a bit easier than Outlander, which is benchmark hard-10c.
Save your ankles... stick place the nut from the ground. Your fingers will be blocking the placement once you do the move... Placing the nut from the ground but not clipping a draw or the rope to it would be a fine compromise IMO. I found this route to be hard because it is quite pumpy (I suck at pumpy climbing!). I thought some of the pro placements were not immediately obvious (though they are excellent), so I got quite pumped placing and had to hang.
I also had the nut pre-placed for me, however I was too short to reach the solid finger jam on the left from the stack of rocks. Instead I started at the bottom and traversed over to get it. Climbing it this way added a few more stout moves, but it was super fun and rewarding. I recommend it.
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