Pink Laurel is a sunny and warm route, great for winter days. It uses quite a variety of climbing techniques to ascend the obvious left-facing orange and pink corner, just to the right of Classic.
P1: Start at Classic, and climb up the offwidthy ramp on the right to a stance at the bottom of a chimney. Find a way up (crux) into the main corner system, then follow the corner up through the steep but relatively easy chimney sections above, to the big ledge. 5.9, 80 ft.
You can build a belay in the corner, or traverse ~25 feet left to belay at the shared bolt anchor.
P2: Climb through a long flake system located on the right, up the corner, past another roof to an arete, and head to the trees.
P1 and P2 can be run together, but consider that the crux is quite low; between noise from the road and a set-back belay, it's unlikely that you'll hear your follower if s/he has trouble.
Don't miss the nice and steep second pitch! There is only one 5.9 move on a short traverse to the left below the second roof. Long slings or double ropes are helpful.
another route that, if you are new to the gunks, will make you say "are you sure about this?", but it all comes together, brilliantly. you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a classic route around here.
yeah, the rock is pretty smooth and slippery. if it is wet or mossy, i can imagine it being a bit un-nerving. you gotta admit though, for 5.8 it packs a bit of "are you sure this is gonna go at 5.8?.".
The crux is very polished. It makes the moves out of the chimney that much harder. ONce you are through the crux, the climbing eases off significantly. I am not a fan of the polished rock...
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