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Summary
Shirley & I climbed the two-pitch Paper Tiger route (5.10a) on September 17, 2005. Just a touch of chunky rock at the start and much fun climbing above. We’ve only seen one other party on this route before and were intrigued by this obvious, relative obscurity. The pro on the easier ground of pitch 2 was a bit spaced out but the harder sections were well protected. The 5.8-ish traversing hand crack on pitch was the highlight for me.Photos

Paper Tiger (5.10a) on the Red Wall. The route reaches the top of the buttress in two long pitches (5.10a and 5.9). Both indicated belays are bolted.

Looking up at the Paper Tiger route (5.10a) on the Red Wall. The route passes the roofs visible midway up on their right side.

Leading pitch one of Paper Tiger directly below the 5.9 bulge (finger crack thru. bulge). I think this bulge is the crux of the route. The 10a notch through the roof higher up felt much easier (Sept. 17, 2005).

Leading pitch 1 of Paper Tiger below the roof. The route surmounts the roof 6 feet right of my position via a small notch (2 bolts). Low 5th class terrain leads to belay anchors above and on the left (Sept. 17, 2005).

Shirley nearing the top of pitch 1 of Paper Tiger. The pitch ends with a low 5-th class traverse (in photo) above the roof system visible from below (Sept. 17, 2005).

Looking down from the lead of pitch 2 of Paper Tiger just below the crux (pitch crux) bulge. Shirley (orange shirt) is belaying me from the comfy ledge; the small bush mentioned in Watts' description of the route is also visible below. Gear on the lower half of pitch is well spaced out and marginal (Sept. 17, 2005).

Shirley topping out on Paper Tiger - a good, short, and obscure climb in plain sight of the parking lot (Sept. 17, 2005)
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