Duracell - 5.8

There were weekend groups in the usual popular places, so Riley lead to the left of here to rig this one for them. The anchors were gear beneath the left end of the huge roof, so the easiest lines were to the left of the rope and it took some work to get up to the finish face. What looks like an easier crack, isn't. It was a good work-out, and Erin agreed with 5.8 for the line she used. Riley found some harder parts to the right.

After watching Terry's bunch on it, I had to try it too. My rope was too far right, using a block under the roof and a small Pine, instead of the pair of sturdy Pines. Kelley's 5.8 seems to me to be up there, if you stay on the thin faces. But following various cracks allows a juggy route with no real difficulty: making this a good one to do differently each time, trying to make it harder. Getting down to the anchors is much harder than we are used to at Pilot, however, and then you have to do it back up. And the most lichens on the climb, too.

good clean fun but setting the toprope is death!

No Comment

Terry Dash has been using this area for many years, and had his large NCSU group here on Sunday after wearing out the Bears area. He uses two pines on the slope above for anchors. The preferred start was a sloping flake to the right, judged 5.6 to the 5.7 face. The maybe 5.8 overhang halfway was a stopping point for some, but others made it to the top and liked it a lot.