Mr. Squirrel Places a Nut 

Does anyone place a nut under the roof of this route. I have placed one before but don't realy think it's necessary. I've heard that the route gets its name from the placement though...anyone? I thought this route was rated 10.c until I saw it listed here, that makes me feel better...

The classic of Table! It's an 11 if you follow the crack to the left, then traverse under the roof to the heel hook. If you blast straight up the bolts, it's 12ish! A nut up in the horizontal crack will better protect a fall, but the rope drag sucks. No TR'ing here. Lead it, baby!

There's a mysterious hidden crimp out to the far right on the cruxy face, for the sportsters, that may come in handy for some. Otherwise, better work on Helicopter for awhile before testing your crimping skills here.

This is no doubt one of the best routes at the Table, if not THE best. It has been a project of mine since I started climbing, and is one hell of a testpiece. It is fair to say it's harder than 11c due to the baby-bottom like texture of most of the holds, and the very beta-intensive nature of the route. But if you put everything together smoothly (on a cool day), it can actually feel like 11c.

Guy Lords was watching me dangle under the roof while taking a break from his Lying On The Ground project. I proposed placing a nut under the roof. Guy pointed out that nuts were for lightweights and rodents, and then came up with the route name. Neither of us ever placed the nut because we found a beta trick. I found the trick on top rope, not onsighting.

For too many years I'd see good climbers flash the face-crux and then get stymied by the clip over the roof. That is exactly what I'd intended; that this climb would require hang-dogging to send. We'll I don't like how I used to think, so there is a new bolt in the roof now. The loose bolts at the lower crux are fixed too.

I not really sure what to rate this, but I'm glad people like it.

Straight up the bolts, through the crimpy face feels like full value 5.11c. There are no true recovery-style rests on the thing, just less pumpage after you get under the roof on the bigger holds. The roof is comparatively easy if you ask me - you are just drained by the time you get there.

This is a great route. Tricky, fun face climbing up to a rest, then a fun roof to pull.

Full value for sure. Really enjoyed this line!

Pretty simple fix for that bad looking bolt. Take a wrench and hammer up there and loosen the nut 1 or 2 turns then tap the bolt back flush with the rock and re-tighten the nut. Be careful when you re-tighten the nut that you don't apply too much torque.

You might also want to re-position the hanger so that it receives minimal downward torque in a fall.

Good idea, Bruce, thanks for the tip. I'll give it a try if I make it up there soon.

I tried going up there and just pounding the bolt back flush and re-tightening it, but this didn't work at all. Within only a few bounce tests, the bolt had pulled even further out than it was before. This bolt definitely needed to go. I replaced it with a Rawl 5 piece and a new Fixe hanger.

Jay,

Sometimes you can retighten them, sometimes not. My guess is that the bolt has been fallen on sufficient enough times that the hole was now bad. Good call on the replacement.

Hey Bruce, that's what I figured. Still glad for the tip, might save me some money and work in the future. But yeah, that bolt had been beaten to death.

Is this route supposed to go straight up the bolts or left of the bolts with a rightwards traverse under the roof? The way the bolts are placed it feels off-route to stay left (reachy clips), but all the chalked up holds are on the left side and non-existent holds on the right make it seem harder than 11c to fire up the bolts.