Grand Inquisitor  5.12a R

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Type:  Trad, 1 pitch Consensus:  5.12- [details] FA:  Alec Sharpe... Submitted By:  Steve Levin on Jul 12, 2001 You & This Route  |  Other Opinions (11) Your todo list: Your stars: Your rating: -none- [change] Your ticklist: [add new tick]

Adam Brink on Grand Inquisitor.

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Description 

One of the trad testpieces from the late '70s, GI is located on the left side of Bell, just right of the tree at the start of Hound Dog.

From a right hand jam (or lay away) and right foot cam, clip the bolt and power up to a sloping finger bucket, match, and throw for the jug. Climbers under 18 are allowed to just campus this, but the rest of us can make use of some small smears to set up the throw. Make strenuous moves up and find tricky gear (stoppers, small TCU), then step left around the corner on finger crimps, move up s few feet, then back right and into a crack formed by the right side of a pillar. This is the original line; it is possible to climb straight up from the gear over a difficult bulge. To get to this point directly (harder, powerful and pumpy- this is how The Purpose i.e. "Chop Your Dieckhoff" was accessed when led on gear). Follow the crack to its top, clip a bolt, then climb 10 or so feet of thin 5.10 to where the climbing eases (scary). Clip the rap anchors after you de-pump.

It is an excellent pitch of climbing.

Protection 

Bring a set of RPs & wired nuts, TCUs or Aliens, up to a 3" cam (you could use a 3.5" cam in the crack behind the pillar before clipping the 2nd bolt). Note, the crux is well-protected by a "newer" bolt that resides next to the original quarter incher (which was placed using a ladder!). There is a little bit of a runout moving left around the corner after the crux. The "s" rating is for the 15 foot 5.10 runout at the top, after the 2nd bolt.