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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