alexoverhere's Logbook (261 ascents)

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glanced the tree the first time i tried this route and fell at the crux. fun route though, high quality i thought

got to practice leavittation for the first time and it works really well! knee barred / leg jammed with hand stacks.

a beautiful climb, takes great cams or nuts. second try. doesn't dry out fast after rain.

a bit heady but okay

nice hands and fists down low to an almost as nice layback up high

nice route

great route

Sustained, at times slightly overhanging 5.10b climbing. A nice exposed 5.9- roof section that was the route highlight. There are at least 2 extra stations equipped with rap bolts on this route (assuming you're climbing with 60m ropes), so skip the obvious ones that appear 3-5 bolts above a belay (we did the route in 6 pitches by just using stations that appeared when we ran out of quickdraws). Also, there are *a lot* of bolts on this route. We took 15 QDs and kept running out. The falls are safe so you can skip clips (really the bolts are spaced a tad too closely) or take 17 QDs. I took a set of nuts but didn't place them, thinking at times that a couple tiny cams would have been more useful. Rapped the route with two 60m ropes, barely reaching the ramp up and to the left of the start of the climb in 4 raps.

Wish the routefinding was more straightforward on this route. I only had the Handren guidebook with me and made a last-minute decision to try the Grinch because Cat in the Hat was clogged. Routefinding on P1 & P2 is straightforward. After the belay on the tree with slings, P3 goes up straight up a face for about 20 feet, passing a short smeary crux on small gear. At the end of the crux, I removed an obviously off-route bail anchor directly above the belay tree and then traversed right following Handren's picture, climbing up through a one-move 5.9 crux to where I thought the long crack system should be. Here I found an obvious crack and set up a hanging belay on horns and brassies. P4 went up the long crack on pleasant, low-angle terrain for a full rope-length, at which point I could hear people at the top of Cat in the Hat. For P5, I followed the voices, traversing right and up over poor protection. This pitch was highly unpleasant due to rope drag, a lack of pro, and not knowing where I was going. I ended up 15 feet to the left of the anchors for Cat in the Hat. I would not recommend this route due to the lack of obvious route markers after P2.