Dazed and Confused
WI5
Type: | Trad, Ice, Alpine, 2 pitches |
FA: | Malcolm Daly and Larry Day (early 1980s), or John Marrs and Dan Bankard (1984) |
Page Views: | 3,121 total · 11/month |
Shared By: | Andy Johnson on Dec 31, 2001 · Updates |
Admins: | Leo Paik, John McNamee, Frances Fierst, Monty, Monomaniac, Tyler KC |
Description
This climb, also known as The Middle Finger of Dr Wazz, is located approximately 200 yards right of All Mixed Up when viewed from the bottom of Thatchtop. When it comes in, it is a very obvious steep, blue, or yellow pillar. One can walk around to the climb or do two very easy pitches of ice to the base of the pillar. I have seen this climb described a variety of different ways from a WI 4 mixed climb to a WI 5+ curtain. Indeed, this climb is sort of a curtain that forms a pillar in the middle. However, when I climbed it, it was [definitely] in the 5+ range. It is very short, probably 70 feet, but the ice was totally featureless and boiler plate hard. It took me on average 15 swings to get a decent placement. The difficulty came as quite a shock to me. Both my partner and myself were planning to solo the climb (it is rather unintimidating up close). The pitch ended up being very hard won. The topout is the icing on the cake. The climb is not over at the top of the ice. There is still about 10 feet of near vertical dead brush to grovel through after you are past the ice. Normally the bushes would piss me of, but under the circumstances they are quite exciting.
To descend, rap off a tree to the climber's left.
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