Dorsal Fin AKA Brain Strain  5.9

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Type:  Trad, TR, 1 pitch, 70 feet Consensus:  5.9 [details] FA:  Submitted By:  Gunkiemike on Nov 8, 2011 You & This Route  |  Other Opinions (1) Your todo list: Your stars: Your rating: -none- [change] Your ticklist: [add new tick]

BETA PHOTO: Psychadelic (left) and Dorsal Fin (right)

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Description 

As chimney routes go, this one's pretty neat. Likely hidden for years behind a large tree, which now lies in pieces at the base (cut by Park personnel). A wild line with a "bottomless" horizontal section. Update - the route does have history, as it turns out. Rich Romano, Andrew Zalewski, and perhaps others climbed this route years ago.

Location 

Follow the chimney (tight down low) to where it widens and you can crab crawl out to the west face, where an offwidth crack leads to the top.

Protection 

This is a spooky but wild route to lead. Adequate gear is there but it is often placed from uncomfortable positions. Fortunately it's easy to TR it with two ropes. You want to lower one rope down through the ceiling crack from above and hang a second down the front to protect the finish (e.g. same anchor as for Psychadelic).

Photos of Dorsal Fin AKA Brain Strain Slideshow

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Up in the roof. From here you go onto the front f...	Resting in the crux lower part of the chimney. No...	Happy to back in the daylight, but it's still awkw...