sclaussen's Logbook (17 ascents)

I've climbed the grack center 3 or 4 times now so I decided to give the grack left a go. The first pitch of the grack left is a lot more interesting than the grack center in my view (of course the money pitch for the grack center is the pitch 2 perfect hands splitter). There appears to be a handful of options regarding the first pitch -I went up the grack center line and stayed left at the point where you transition right for grack center - then went up a little 5.6 crack - and then into a more offwidth groove to the Bay Tree. With this line, and a 60m rope, I was about 20 feet short of the tree though, and had to build an anchor in groove (this was w/my belayer belaying from the same spot you belay the grack center). Thus, I'd recommend either a pair of 70s, a slightly more direct line, or scrambling up a bit on the class 3/4 start and belaying from there.

The Bay Tree has slings/rap rings as of our climb.

The money pitch of the grack left is the first half of the second pitch. It isn't very long, but it has some interesting moves in it, primarily stemming, a bit of lieback/mantle. This is the only 5.7 portion. It is just above the Bay Tree.

The second half of pitch 2 is class 3 or 4 to a very large slung boulder. You can rap from there if you like. We did a class 3/4 pitch 3 scramble to the top of the Grack Center, and then rappelled from there. Supertopo doesn't denote the route going to the top of the Grack Center (denoted route K in the book) - I assume because it's essentially just 3rd class.

Just like the Grack Center, the Grack Left descent is accomplished via two rappels using two ropes.

We climbed this and the Bay Tree Flake second pitch as well. As mentioned, there are no longer bolts, but building a trad anchor after the first pitch is not a problem. The first pitch is really likely easier than 5.6, the second pitch seems like a legit 5.6 lead and I found it more interesting and longer than the first pitch although the thin lieback from pitch 1 is a bit of fun. I don't see any reason why the first and second pitches could not be linked. The face to the right of the second pitch would be a good face climb on TR. Both pitches protect well. Make sure and climb the blocks for the second pitch, not the dihedral if you're trying to climb Bay Tree Flake. There's a very old chincy looking bolt on top of the second pitch and building a trad anchor there is also not a problem. You descend off to the back left where you'll find a little trail/gully. You then have two options - you either jog left to the top of Penthouse Cracks where you'll find a set of rappel bolts, or you head straight on down the gully where you'll have to down climb a low 5th class section. I down climbed this section to check it out while my partners rappelled off - it is dicey - I had to put my climbing shoes back on - the landing's not "nice" if you slip - and next time I would rap off.

Have climbed this a few times on TR - no bolts up top but easy to set up a trad anchor to TR. Basically this has one or two interesting crux moves up top.

We lead up to the set of bolts to do some top roping. I followed this route and found it exposed but with relatively solid bomber holds most of the way and the protection looked pretty positive until just before the bolts where you have to traverse over a bit to the left. We found the right most bolt a little sketchy - so we backed up our TR in the crack up to the right of the bolts. Bolts provide access to two or three great TRs - and from the bolts there's a sketchy traverse to another set of bolts to the left enabling a TR of a 12a with an absolutely exceptional 11d bouldering start.

This is a great route for a first time leader. The first pitch is easy 5.2 and has plenty of protection opportunities, and a good tree for the belay station anchor, you can swing pitches, then let the new leader finish the last 30-40 feet of the climb on pitch 3. This thing eats all types of gear - I was able to place a BD #4, a #5, and a #6 on P2 - as well as orange and yellow TCUs, a red alien, and a few nuts. It'll take smaller stuff as well, I was just having fun with my bigger gear. As has been mentioned many times, if you belay at the obvious tree at the top of P1, you will have a short P3. Once you get to the second piton on P2 - you're at the crux. The descent is an obvious and easy walk off.

I followed on this route and felt like a couple sections were a bit stiffer than 5.6. There is an obvious crux that can be protected well by what is probably a BD#2. You could use a #4 or #5 near the top where there's double hand cracks (and larger) for a bit (be careful not to break off the piece of granite in between the two parallel vertical cracks near the top). The route itself wasn't perfect granite but was relatively clean until you climb over the top where you find a lot of munge, sand, some loose rocks (especially over the top to the left), and some flaky granite. There's an obvious good sized tree about 30-40 feet above the top out (up to the right) that is a pretty good belay spot. If you're following or on the ground while someone's climbing wear your helmut - it's not impossible to get a rock on the skull down there. You can apparently rappel down to the 10a with a single rope - although we decided to walk off - which is class 2 and 3 above the tree. There were some straps on the tree when we were there but no rap bolts/rings. I don't recommend this as a newbie's first 5.6 lead.

I top-roped this last weekend and then led it. As a relatively new leader I thought it was very nice. There's a section about a third of the way up that flares and doesn't protect well, but otherwise it protects very nicely - with many different options in terms of sizes - everything from yellow alien to BD#4. We went up to the left and belayed at a tree. From there it's class 3 to the top and there's a nice class 2 or 3 trail down the back side. We didn't do pitches 2 and 3 because the beta for these is pretty poor and the climb is really all about this first pitch. There are three other great climbs right beside this one - two bolted face climbs and then jellyroll arch (a 5.8 trad route).

Led the 5.6 portion of this climb and and topped out using the left side option (the mini-chimney) vs the 5.10a face option. In general, it is relatively straightforward, protects very well, and is a really good trad lead for a new leader.

Make sure and follow the beta carefully for getting to the route - the tricky part is when to turn left off the main leap trail - it is obvious if you look at it from google earth, etc, ahead of time. The first pitch is more class 4-ish and is great practice for a new leader (this was my wife's first lead). For P2 there are two options: (1) either start it from the top of P1 and run the rope a full 200-ish feet, in which case you'll have a really short P3, or (2) do a really short P2 to 40 feet or so above P1, in which case P3 contain the the crux and the top out. The area before the crux was a little more difficult than I thought it would be given it is 5.5, but maybe that was just mental given that I'm a new leader. The crux is the spot where the crack transitions away and you move onto the face, but it's straightforward, good hands and feet. Everything protects very well. The walk off is obvious. We had to wait a very long time - busy route - so come early and/or bring lights... The strawberry lodge has some great food and top notch mango ice tea - don't miss it.

This is a relatively straight forward climb and was good practice for me as a new leader. The 5.5 variance and the traverse are the only truly interesting climbing parts but there is a lot of drag resulting from that. Hiked all the way up to fern ledge afterwards - harder hike than the climb itself. The walk off is both long and on loose footing at times over a drop off - make sure your parters are sure footed. Often times you are out of voice range.