[Hide Comment] This climb is easier than Hairless Dog at the East Quarry and Sun Dog at Animal World in Boulder Canyon. So I agree it is not 5.12a but it deserves to be rated 5.11d. Calling it 5.11a is a joke! Sep 17, 2010

[Hide Comment] Just do Recession 2016 instead. Honestly this old variation should just be deleted from mountainproject. The crux is at the fourth bolt and felt like 12a/b to us. I don't know what broke, but it defintely does not seem .11d as the .12a bottom is way easier. Nov 20, 2022

[Hide Comment] Angus Weissner's suggestion to delete the original line from MP ignores the history of the route. This was the first sport route on the Quarry Wall. Recession 2016 was the last sport climb established on the wall The climb has two different starts with different bolts and different first ascentionists. The original route that was established in Fall 2008 and took the line of least resistance. The direct start is definitely more appealing. Jimmy Menendez & I toproped it in 2009. I finally got around to bolting the direct start 'Recession 2016' in January 2016. Regardless of whether you find the direct line more appealing is also irrelevant to having two separate postings.

I doubt anything broke. Climbing the crux of Recession using holds just left of the bolt makes it .12a. Beta alert: there is beta that brings the grade down - climbing to .11d using smears and a thin horizontal break right of the bolt. Undercling in the horizontal break, reach your left hand to a tiny diagonal edge on the left. Step your left foot into a big sloping dish, and stand up.

This beta definitely makes the direct start (Recession 2016) the crux.

For reference, look at the photo of Jimmy Menendez on the crux. He is using the left hand diagonal edge and high stepping onto the smear in the big dish. I used a higher smear with the right foot (right of the rope) and an undercling in the short, horizontal break seen in the photo, before stepping up in the dish. Nov 21, 2022

[Hide Comment] This is an excellent route. I too felt the lower (12a) crux was significantly easier than the upper crux (that's shared with the "11d"). The upper crux felt like solid 12a/b to me as well. The photo looks like Jimmy Mendez is loading a crimp that appears to have gone missing maybe? It hadn't been sent in all of 2022. A hold broke where you start the headwall today, so clearly it happens. Again, great route! Nov 23, 2022

[Hide Comment] I've have certainly felt like the crux of Recession Arete was as hard or harder than the direct start. When I established the Recession 2016, I had trouble finding the .11d beta that I had used in 2009, when the RA crux felt quite reasonable. It wasn't as simple as the photo of Jimmy makes it appear. Once I solved the puzzle, I concluded the .11d solution to the RA crux is less obvious than the either the RA .12- sequence or the direct start moves. Nov 29, 2022

[Hide Comment] My partner and I spent some time flailing on the crux of this yesterday. Either we didn't figure out the beta or something has broken, because it felt at least 12c. Dec 5, 2022