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The Odyssey 

5.11-

   
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Type: Trad, 5 pitches, 400 feet, Grade II
Consensus: 5.11- [details]
FA: Bob Mitchell, Art Williams - 1972 FFA: Jeep Gaskin, Don Hunley - 1977
Season: All
Submitted By: Mike Anderson on Aug 18, 2009

You & This Route  |  Other Opinions (9)
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Description 

This route is an Odyssey, and seems right on par for what a Sun Wall route should be. This is probably one of the easier routes on this wall to start out on.

P1: The Shull/Lambert topo shows a gradual rightward rising traverse to get to the crack. Don't do this. From the rack-up spot below Prey traverse straight right on a 3rd class slab until you are directly below the crack, then go straight up on eyebrows. You'll have to make a couple committing slab moves with gear at your feet, but you shouldn't hit the slab if you fall. If it seems dangerous, you're in the wrong spot.

P2: Climb the obvious and well protected crack. It takes lots of hand sized pieces. When the crack ends, exit to the right (a little spicey) to a bolted belay on a sloping ramp.

P3: Traverse left back to the crack from the belay. Do a hard high-step/layback to get back in the crack (harder for short folks)...this was a little scary with gear at your feet and a slab below. There are 2 hammered hexes in the crack you can use for pro once established in the crack. Clip a bolt then traverse left into the water groove. This is the crux if you're tall, I thought the move right at the start of the pitch (liebacking up to the crack) was harder than this section. Once in the water groove, climb up and then to the right to belay in an obvious scoop.

P4: Climb easy eyebrows on the right until the rope runs out. The topo calls this "5.9", but it's much easier. Maybe 5.6 or 5.7.

Rap down Prey with 2 ropes. At the top, look for two bolts to the left of the Odyssey near two dead trees. I can't remember if it was 2 or 3 raps...it seems like 2, but I could be wrong.


Location 

On the Sun Wall. Take the Sun Wall trail, branching left off of the Nose trail at the appropriate time. The trail will hit the wall at a large apron, go left through a tree tunnel up to a nice little ledge under the "raven's roost" that the hard route "Prey" climbs over. This is a nice spot to rack up, but we saw a timber rattler here once, and another large snake. Take note of where Prey is (locate a line of bolts) then Odyssey is the second water streak to the right with a long crack starting about 50' up.


Protection 

Standard rack. I find extra .5's and .75's to be especially useful in the eyebrows, which there are a lot of on this route.



Comments on The Odyssey Add Comment
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By TomCaldwell
From: Clemson, S.C.
Jul 31, 2011
rating: 5.11b

Amazing route with a little bit of everything. Doubles to #3 Camalot and include a #4, tri-cams to white will also go a long way. P2 is probably one of the best pitches at the Glass! P3 is pretty darn fun also. Crux felt harder and more sustained than Legendary. Do not start directly below the crack of Odyssey. There is a long technical section with no gear. Start directly below the Legendary water groove, reach the bulge and traverse hard right. This will be the safest and most aesthetic as I have now done both starts.

By nbrown
From: western NC
Mar 16, 2012

Probably a better way to do this thing is to skip the first belay and climb about half way up the crack to a small ledge and belay there instead. This sets you up for the rest of the crack and the crux above in one long straight pitch; without having to do the traverse way out right for the belay (which never made sense to me personally).

By Brian Abram
From: Columbia, SC
Apr 14, 2012
rating: 5.10d

Agree that starting below Legendary and climbing straight up to the bulge before traversing made for a well protected start. The 4th pitch had the worst gear of the route, but was still reasonable. Had a single rack of nuts and doubles of C3 #0 to a #3 C4 Camalot. A #4 could have been used, but is definitely not critical with plenty of options for #2s and #3s if you wanna leave the #4 on the ground. There are a few traverses, so bring slings.