Front Lines

I enjoyed this apparently neglected gem more than

Lizard Warrior

. I would give it 4 stars, but the second pitch which was quite engaging on its own terms, felt a little contrived since easier climbing existed nearby to the right and left.

P1: Start a little bit left of

Lizard Warrior

and follow a left-leaning weakness/offset/crack (marginal pro to start, then good pro at a 9+ crux, then pin & bolt) for about 50' to a right-facing corner. Up the corner for a bit, then traverse right under a long, narrow flake, then up to the bottom of an ugly, water-stained or wet, left-facing corner. Step right at the corner, pull over a roof (5.8 as Gillett says, but where's the handcrack?) then up a little bit more and arrange, with difficulty, a belay just below a steeper headwall/roof. This meandering pitch comes together quite improbably, somewhat reminding me of a top quality pitch in the Black Canyon.

P2: Follows a thin crack a little right of the belay through two roofs, at both of which it is very tempting to plug the best hold with gear. Gillett shows two pins on this pitch, though only one (at the 2nd roof, hard to clip if short) is currently in place. The first roof (5.10) accepts a bomber #0.4 Camalot but I needed the hold so got by w/ a 000 C3 and a micro nut. At the 10+ 2nd roof, I couldn't clip the pin without initiating the crux sequence, so I opted to plug a decent, yellow Alien into a pocket a few inches below the pin. The sequence over the 2nd roof has a sting in the tail and no good pro above the pin, so plan accordingly. After dispatching the 2nd roof, cruise up about 25' on easy ground to a primo belay ledge, about 10' right of a well set up chain anchor.

This starts about 20' left of the start of

Lizard Warrior

.

We had double nuts from RPs to medium Rocks, single 5-7 Rocks and cams from tiny to cups with doubles in the fingers range; overall this seemed about right, bolder folks could safely eliminate some of the doubles. The first pitch took at least 15 pieces, almost all of which were on a draw or a long runner. I was very glad I had a yellow Alien for 2nd roof when I couldn't reach the pin, though a yellow TCU or the largest C3 would probably also work in that spot.