Slot Machine 

I thought 12a was the consensus. Again, and always, the desert fits everyone differently.

5.11? If Slot Machine is 5.11, then Pente is 5.10. This climb definitetly deserves a 5.12- rating if only for the pump factor.

Awesome route. Hard 5.11. No move on the the route harder than 5.10+, the business is probably endurance / tenacity through the .5-.75 terrain.

cool start, hard on the pants.
definately solid 11+.
more technical but less pumpy than quater of a man

i did this thing when it was like 10 degrees, and at that time it felt solid 12-. i dont know if it was the weather.

The protection requirements have changed since part of the leaning pillar broke off. Instead of a ton of #1 Camalots, you need maybe 5 #1s and 6 #2s. Also, take a two foot trad draw for the first bolt, then you can protect the first part of the open book with a black Alien, then a 0.3 Camalot, a couple yellow Aliens, a couple red Aliens, maybe 3 0.75 Camalots.

My buddy let me borrow a knee pad for my left knee. Use that and a left knee bar behind your right foot for probably half of the route. Doing that led to a concensus in our group that the route was maybe solid 11 (11c) or so.

The crack is wider now. The pillar is slowly falling away and climbers will notice that their grabers fit into the crack way more than they used to.

If you look at the required gear listed in the old guide book it documents that the crack was smaller. Now to easy. Terrible route. I will never do it again. I am going to be presumptious and speak for everyone else and say they should not do it eithier.

I'll agree with anyone who says 11+ or 12-... with 12- being the high range of what I have ever been comfortable leading at the creek, and I thought this was tough in 2004. If it has broken, such is the way of sandstone, I hope people play lightly in the desert, even the stones are fragile.

We arrived at the res wall one day to hear the sound of sand flowing down the back of this route... and then we didn't climb it... I wouldn't recommend fissure grippin' this piece of mountain, but despite my better judgment I'll probably do it again. I mean some very unlucky person *might die on this if it fell, but what are the odds it's going to be you?!

Yeah, but think of the glory!

there is a rumor that the crack has widened to #2 cams? yikes, this wall is falling apart! example: Gurhka's right wall falling off!!!

The weight of the pillar may be pulling the rock away from the wall - slowly!??

Grade: Definitely in the 11+ range. On this trip I one-hanged Slot Machine along with very, very many routes of various sizes whose ratings are pretty consolidated at 11+.

Gear: The most recent edition of the Bloom guide gives bad gear beta. It says take a bunch (I forget how many) of 2.5s and explicitly states that #1 Camalots work better than 2.5 friends. As stated above, this is wrong and 3 #1s should be adequate followed by as many #2s as you want for 40' of #2s. (note: the #2s were open, but not tipped out and 2.5 friends didn't work anywhere)

Rock: Sounds like there's been some relatively recent geologic activity here. That being said, the rock feels as solid as any other route we did this trip (and definitely more solid than some) and, while it probably will fall of some day (like every rock everywhere) this route is not to be missed despite it. Enjoy.

Just an update for spring of 2012 - no change from previous ascent notes. Still starts small and gets up to #2 camalots for the last 35 feet or so. It actually pinches back down to 2.5 friends just before the roof (big #1 camalot). And then if you have the equivalent of a #2.5 camalot, it's nice to protect the roof at the top. As far as grades are concerned, I thought this was way easier than quarter of a man. Stellar route though. Hope it doesn't fall off.

Whether or not the pillar is pulling away, this is still a noticeably difficult crack. It's not the section that's now the perfect hand size that's even hard anyways. It's the super technical and/or awkward sections before that, e.g., (for me) the C4 0.4-0.5 section in the middle of it all.