The Sacred and the Profane

The Sacred and the Profane is a sport climbing history lesson. It's hard to experience the slabby, old school style and sparse bolting on TSATP without being transported back to a time when lycra was king, and footwork, technique, and finesse were the rule.

To start TSATP, climb the start of

Peanuts

, and traverse 30 feet right along an easy ramp until you are below a small roof which is capped by a blunt arete. Clip the first bolt, make some easy moves over the roof, and then setup for the reachy, off-balance crux. Fight to establish on the right side of the arete and continue making bizarre, unstable moves until you reach a rest below the fourth and final bolt. After recovering, punch through the tweaky second crux, and push through 25 feet of easy (10a), but extremely runout terrain to the anchors.

It's worth noting that just past the fourth bolt, there is a minimally reinforced flake undercling. This hold is not foreign to the wall. A small amount of glue was put behind the hold to ensure that it wouldn't fall off- making the route a lot harder or impossible.

Since this route is all about footwork, and technique, it's really hard to rate. Older guidebooks suggest a 12d/13a rating. Newer guides have indicated a 13a/b rating. For this reason, I have given this route the vague rating of 13-. Impeccable footwork and technique might make this route feel like 12d. However, a lack of slab climbing experience could make this thing feel like 13b or harder.

In the end it doesn't matter. Simply let TSATP teach you something and allow yourself to be humbled by this amazing route.

TSATP ascends a blunt, slabby arete about 30 feet to the right of

Peanuts

.

4 bolts, and a two bolt anchor. In addition to the fixed gear, the first 30 feet (the start of

Peanuts

) requires some fingers to hand-sized gear.

A toprope can be setup via many routes, but the easiest is

Your Basic Lieback

.

Also, to avoid the huge runout at the end, it's possible to dangle a long piece of rope with overhand knots containing quickdraws from the anchors. Some may consider this cheating. Others consider it smart.