Be ready for lots of small holds, good luck finding them. Lots of crimpers, broken small cracks and a few small undercircles. Some small loose rock and lichen in a few places. Starts out easy and then bam and stays that way the rest of the route. A few bigger holds near the top.
Location
The route starts in between the arete and main crack (Regular Route) on the face. Rappel off anchors.
Protection
6 bolts and 2 bolts with rappel rings for the anchors. Long slings or cordelette helps to extend the anchors.
A surprisingly good top-rope. Leading would be pretty difficult for the grade, I think. To acess the top-rope- climb the easy, bolted arete on the left; then use long slings on the chains. You'll want to rappel off the chains when cleaning the chains in order to save your rope from bad drag/grindage. The rock on this route is nice and solid. I pulled off a few small rocks, but it's pretty clean. Crimps, deadpoints, sidepulls, underclings, but no great resting spots. My friend & I say it's 5.11a, because we both felt it was harder than "Pure Thoughts" (5.11)
I haven't been climbing anything very hard recently so I'm in pretty bad shape, but this route didn't seem anywhere near 5.11 to me. Felt a ton easier than Tough Guy (the other 10d a few routes to the left). If it was you guys that chalked up all the holds real pretty, you missed some good ones right of the third (?) bolt. Maybe that would make it feel more like 5.10?
Fun route, definitely worth climbing. The roof and the part after felt like the crux but it still stays in the 5.9 range after that.
I have relearned to not always trust the previously chalked holds. I finally figured a good sequence that used some un-chalked holds. Keep up your momentum at the bottom and you can get to a good rest after bolt 4.
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