Social Mores  5.10b

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Type:  Trad, 2 pitches Consensus:  5.10b [details] FA:  Marcus Brown, 1994 Submitted By:  Top Rope Hero on Sep 28, 2011 You & This Route  |  Other Opinions (2) Your todo list: Your stars: Your rating: -none- [change] Your ticklist: [add new tick]

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Description 

This is a fun little jaunt up shallow and discontinuous dihedral/crack systems. At 60 feet, BANG!, there's a perfect and seemingly bomber pin. Clip it with a double sling, climb over, and GINGERLY move over a bulge to the right to a right-leaning crack. (My shorty partner made the move UNDER the bulge and then just stood, avoiding the Big Fear.) Work some RP magic and send for the ledge, young leader!

The crux is either the above-the-pin traverse (spooky) or trusting those RPs for the last hump over to the ledge. It depends on your head.

At this point, you're on a wide ledge system. The Kelman guide doesn't DESCRIBE a second pitch (you MIGHT be tempted to link it all as one, but the rope drag would have you cursing life and the gods above), but above you are two crack systems that split off from the only obvious hand-sized crack in front of you.

If you take the right, you'll wish you had read this and brought that #4 Camalot--even though it probably only goes at 5.9 or so. Move up and take the left and all you'll need is small gear and maybe a number three if'n you're squeamish like me. It goes at 8 or 8+.

Lastly, Kelman does give this climb a 10b--so I used that here to be all official like. But personally I think this thing goes at 9+. Short climbers will argue otherwise....

Location 

In the middle of the NW face of Blair I, this is the rightmost of two cracks (the left is Community Norms, 10d) that are JUST to the right of a large, close-to-the-wall pine tree. Look for a door-sized flake to start the fun (the Kelman guide calls this a "left-facing dihedral)--door-sized, that is, if you're super rich and have mansions where you need to move in your nasty 12 foot Mapplethorpe prints into the living room just to shock the neighbors.

Protection 

A light standard rack will do with a double sling for the traverse move past the piton. Small selection of RPs. And you'll want a #4 Camalot if'n you're gonna take the right exit. Otherwise I did place a #3 for the left, but could'a/would'a been happy without.