Enter the Dragon

Enter the Dragon climbs the long and varied corner system to the left of Valentine Crack. To access the obvious, right-facing corner, climb any one of three approach pitches described below. Once beneath the steep, streaked green wall, layback and jam your way up the splitter, fist-to-hand crack to a roof. Undercling right along flakes to a small alcove--home to a decent-sized, rectangular detached block. Move right--past the block--and to the start of a steep ramp. Tiptoe past a slabby bulge** to a stance, then through a section of sustained, undercling-lieback moves to reach yet another bulge. Surmount the bulge, then commit to more underclings, past a sporty crux with a bolt, then to a two-bolt belay at a stance. Left of the belay, mantle chickenheads onto the slab above, then up and right past a short, slanting finger crack. Clip the first of four bolts, then launch into the steep-slab Kung-Fu above, past a scary--yet solid--flake, and to a wild finish on chickenheads. Run it out on an easy slab to the two-bolt anchor above. Brilliant! Who knew such line still existed in the canyon?

To gain the large, right-facing corner below the roof, choose any one of three approach pitches:

Option 1--3rd class the first twenty feet of Valentine Crack, then traverse left along bushy slabs to reach the corner.

Option 2--Twenty-five feet downhill from the start of Valentine's is a shallow, left-facing corner with a crack. Climb the crack until it is possible to traverse left along a narrow ledge to a prominent chickenhead. Mantle the chickenhead, then scramble to the base of the corner.

Option 3--Climb left out the undercling flake of Gritish Deal, past two bolts, then onto a right-angling crack at 5.10. From the stance above the crack, climb easy terrain to the base of the large corner.

Bring a standard LCC rack, with doubles in fingers to hands. **Small DMM Peenuts, a 00 or 0 TCU--a hybrid works particularly well here--protects the first bulge. The second pitch is long and involved, so be sure to bring plenty of long slings to protect your second! For the final pitch, we took a blue and a yellow TCU, four quickdraws for the bolts, and--though useful, but not necessary--a hand-sized cam. Rappel the route; from the first bolted belay, a single 60m will reach easy ground in the gully right of the start to Gimme Danger.