Waverly Wafer 

This was my first 10c in the Valley - should have gotten on an easy one like Lunatic Fringe!

This route was the first time I can remember blowing a piece of pro - a small hex placed like a stopper on a micro-feature (crack was way too parallel to even think it should hold). And I started climbing mid-'90s, the hex was just because my small rack of cams included a single correct size piece above the flare (and no piece for the flare of course, the "big" cam was hand-size).

Wow, what a blast from the past! All I can claim on this one was that I followed a guy in the Navy, who was really strong, back in 1983? I was partnerless and his partner for the day didn't show so he recruited me to follow him on Waverly down in the Camp 4 parking lot. I was two years into climbing myself and was stoked to get a chance to get this exposure!

After getting spooked on the 3-4 class approach, across some grassy ledges, I assumed the position and belayed this guy while he ran it out every 30 or so feet between pieces. I saw the first piece thirty feet up but actually saw that he did this pretty much the entire pitch once I started cleaning!

Yep, I too was spanked by the time I reached the last thirty feet of tips laybacking and had to be, basically, yarded up between every move for my forearms were useless! So useless in fact that he had to untie the rope from my harness once I reached the belay, lol (his partner showed up in the interim so he had to free the rope up in order to throw the rope down to him)! Their original plan was to do Butterballs above, so I sat there, tied off atop Beverly's Tower to decompress while his partner lead the next pitch. I was in no condition, nor with the experience to be following on this next section so I was lowered to get back to terra firma.

The lowering was uneventful until the last fifteen feet or so. With 45 meter (150') ropes the norm back then this proposed a problem. I dangled there for a bit, while something was arranged above (I didn't want to know). Eventually, I began to bounce the last five meters to thankfully gain the belay ledge.

Cool memories!

In the Sierra Club's mountaineering journal, Ascent, 1973, Jim Bridwell proposed the use of "letter grades". He included a list; Yosemite Free Climb Compared. Only two routes where given as examples of 5.10c liebacks; Waverly Wafer and Powell-Reed.

upgraded to 11a in the latest guide, rightfully so I think, that off-fingers lieback is rounded and suuper pumpy.

Hard for 10c :) Good fun though.