- Edit (TBD)
Description
This climb is a good finish to
Chockstone
, a route that is otherwise a great climb with a ho-hum finish. From the last "good part" of
Chockstone
, the 5.9 thin dihedral up top, you reach a ledge with a easy, messy trough that leads to a tree and rap station. Instead of doing this, look left to a shallow, right-facing dihedral with a clean, thin crack. This pitch is reasonably well chalked. Start up and reach the crux at mid-pitch, stepping right at a bulge. Finish up top. Just up and left of the top of the pitch is the only decent gear to belay off of, and this top ledge does have some loose blocks that could kill those below. Though these are easily avoided, one must be vigilant up there.
To descend: A) scramble delicately down 20' to the tree above the top of
Chockstone
, then [rap] down to the east 25m to another tree, then 30m to the ground. B) work your way E/SE down a broken ledge system to below the climb
Whiplash
(above
Xanadu
), and continue past that point to scramble down a gully to the ground. Again, there are potentially dangerous loose rocks and, odds are, several people below.
Protection
Gear as for
Chockstone
(required to approach). This particular pitch requires gear starting with RPs and moving to medium stoppers and small TCUs to 1". A 1.5" or 2" piece can be placed near the crux, but equally good gear can be had in the smaller ranges.
Routes in West Ridge - part E - top to Xanadu
- 21Chock Suey5.10aTrad