Fun romp with Jesse to shake off the driving tiredness. Very very smoky in the Valley which meant there was no one on this. A very different experience compared to bailing off it last year due to thousand other people faffing all over it.
starting from the slung horn (heading right) to below the mantle was about 65m including the anchor. the climbing was all there if a bit slick. i didn't have nearly enough slings, so between the wandering, slab, and length, most of the pitch was no-fall territory - great headgame practice
Bloody hot and lotsa fun. Treated ourselves to reheated pizza under some bushes at P4 belay. First pitch pretty slick and spicy, would try After Seven variation next time
Not too sure why this gets an R-rating compared to other stuff i've done here... sure, its 7m to the first bit of gear, but its easy. And the crux has spaced fiddly gear on thin slab, but there gear IS there. An enjoyable, featured gear route.
Exciting in the sweaty sun. Very runout, but not consistantly dangerous... except at the 2nd bolt where you'll hit the ground from 6m up if you come off the crux friction slab moves. Not so bad if the draw is on the 2nd bolt.
2nding Stephen. Climbed as an isolated pitch after coming down from Nutcracker... Yep, I slipped off this as a random footer popped off a glassy smear while cruising the crux. Very disappointing. Quite cruxy, but a great pitch in its own right.
With Stephen. Onsight P1, P3 and P5; 2nd clean P2 and P4. Quite sustained and so polished as to be utterly frictionless. Great climbing, surprisingly demanded, and without any boring bits. The "crux" mantle felt grades easier than sections of P1 and P3. Stoked to finally get on this classic.
Lead pitches 2 and 4, retreated after P4 because darkness was coming. An excellent first pitch! Intro to finger cracks, which came quite easily, especially with my versatile Scarpa Instincts. Leading this one would've been psychological! The rest of the pitches are also psychological, but less hard. Saw a lot of solo climbers climbing past us (over us) and over the rope. Extremely irresponsibly IMO. The chimney pitch is incredibly fun! Excellent views of the valley and side of El Cap
