The Slack Center
5.10d YDS 6b+ French 21 Ewbanks VII+ UIAA 21 ZA E3 5b British
Avg: 2.7 from 13 votes
Type: | Trad, 400 ft (121 m), 4 pitches |
FA: | Charlie Raymond, Wally Reed, 1958 FFA Pat Ament and Larry Dalke 1967 |
Page Views: | 2,663 total · 15/month |
Shared By: | Alexey Zelditch on Apr 20, 2009 · Updates |
Admins: | Mike Morley, Adam Stackhouse, Salamanizer Ski, Justin Johnsen, Vicki Schwantes |
Yosemite National Park has yearly closures for Peregrine Falcon Protection March 1- July 15. Always check the NPS website at nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/… for the most current details and park alerts, and to learn more about the peregrine falcon, and how closures help it survive. This page also shares closures and warnings due to current fires, smoke, etc.
Description
First, or one of the first, Yosemite free 5.11s. Later downgraded to 10d after a block fell off leaving place for hand jam and making the crux sequence shorter.
I found this climb good, clean, and underrated in quality by the Reid Book. At least 1 out of 3 stars would be fair.
Pitch 1: Still hard 10d off the ground, with the first 15 feet having decking potential if your thin gear placements are bad. Tips, fingers, and good foot work bring you to a good hand jam. From there climb relatively easy wide cracks which turn into a 5.8 chimney. 140 feet. 2 bolt anchor (shared with Sacherer)
Pitch 2: (link p2&3 in the book) Start easy climbing inside of the chimney (5.5) and after 70-80 feet you reach the ledge where you have the choice: a) climb the wide crack in the corner or b) climb the crack in the left wall with thin start. I climbed left one which can be rated 5.8-5.9. 150 feet. Natural anchor.
[ Added Feb 2015: climbed the right variation of this pitch all the way from ledge to belay of pitch 3. Way more classic, but a little harder - probably goes at 5.10]
Pitch 3: Start with easy climbing to a 5.7 chimney. Climb to the top of the pinnacle to new 2 rappel bolts.
Rappel down and left to top (third pitch) of La Escuela with one 70m rope. From there 3 more rappels to the ground.
From the top of the Slack the other option is to rappel down "Slack Left" with 2 ropes.
Also you can use this chance to TR the last pitch of Slack Left - 10b Chimney/Flare/OW - older brother of Ahab
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