Some Smith Wideness

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Summary

Titus

Shirley rapping off Titus & showing off the gear we used. I think the reason we found it so hard is because we were still sporting purple PRG cards...now with green cards it would've been trivial I'm sure (Sept. 2007).

In late September of 2007, Shirley & I spent a Saturday in the Lower Gorge. We climbed Cornercopia (5.10b…the poor man’s Pure Palm) and Titus, a 5.9 off-width next door on the Wildfire Wall. This latter one got upgraded to 5.10b R in the 2nd edition of Watts’ book. Not sure about the rating but it sure was an ass kicker. I recall pushing up my one #6 Camalot with me for the final 20 feet of the wideness (a little sketchy but not really “R” IMHO). On Sunday, we went to the Red Wall and did the semi-obscure Gone With The Flake(5.9). The crux of this one is an underclinging traverse around an ear-shaped flake (wide crack otherwise if you wish to jam this section). In fact, the feature resembles the more famous Ear on the Primrose Dihedral on Moses (I think).

Photos

Cornercopia

Leading Cornercopia (5.10b) on the Wildfire Wall in the Lower Gorge (Sept. 2007).

Cornercopia

Shirley seconding the very nice Cornercopia (5.10b) just above the opening crux (Sept. 2007).

Titus

Starting up Titus (5.9) on the Wildfire Wall in the Lower Gorge. An easy & short squeeze chimney to a not easy 5.9 wideness (Sept. 2007).

Titus

Leading Titus (5.9 OW). This is above the opening squeeze chimney and below the hard & wide business section (Sept. 2007).

Titus

Starting the hard part of Titus (5.9 OW; Sept. 2007).

Titus

In the business of Titus - a 5.9 off-width (actually got bumped up to 10b R by Watts in the 2nd edition of the guidebook). I ended up pushing my largest cam (#6 C4 I think) with me for the final 20+ feet until the crack became too wide for it at the very top (Sept. 2007).

Titus

Shirley rapping off Titus & showing off the gear we used. I think the reason we found it so hard is because we were still sporting purple PRG cards...now with green cards it would've been trivial I'm sure (Sept. 2007).

Gone With The Flake

Blondie on belay at the base of Gone With The Flake route on the Red Wall (Sept. 2007).

Gone With The Flake

Leading Gone With The Flake (5.9) on the Red Wall. This is the crux of the route - an underclinging traverse/climb using an Ear-like (..thinking Moses here) feature (Sept. 2007).

Gone With The Flake

Leading the "classic" Gone With The Flake (5.9) on the Red Wall (Sept. 2007).

Gone With The Flake

Shirley following the the Gone With The Flake route. This is the end of the undercling traverse around the flake (Sept. 2007).

Gone With The Flake

Shirley topping out on Gone With The Flake (5.9; Sept. 2007).

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