We have a WTFr!
|
|
Rick at the start of the "In Through the Out Door" crack. The rock is frail and the climbing gets more difficult as you go up the crack.
|
Climb: In Through the Out Door (Trad) (5.7+)(190' - NOTE: On Mountain Project they list this climb as 120', this is incorrect - and excludes the first pitch of Physical Graffiti)
Wall: Ridinghood Wall
Conclusion WTF? What the FUCK! (Forget About It)
- To access In Through the Out Door you have to climb the first pitch of Physical Graffiti (5.6). From the anchors at the top of the pitch you can see a single bolt - that bolt is for In Through the Out Door. From the anchor traverse right to the smaller crack. The crack is protectable with smaller gear and, for the traverse, you can either place a piece in the Physical Graffiti crack with a long sling or there is a flaring, blobby, flake-ish feature just to the right of the Physical Graffiti crack that will take a #3 (although the confidence level in that piece is not great.)
- The crux of the climb is traversing to the vertical crack (from the anchors), going up the crack, then going out onto the face to clip the bolt. Not only is this the most difficult climbing of the entire 190 feet (harder than 5.7), it is some of the shittiest rock on the climb (it's pretty crappy on the upper bolted 5.5 section too, but most of the crap rock is avoidable there and the terrain is low angle.) The rock on the traverse all the way the bolt is crappy and on harder climbing - i.e. it takes a lot of energy to avoid the worst of it, thus, adds to the difficulty.
- It feels about like a 5.9 traversing to the crack from the anchors. Once at the vertical crack, Rick went all the way to the top of the crack, then traversed over to the bolt. He felt doing that was about a 5.10a. Stef stayed lower on the traverse (going below the bolt then up before the crack ends) and felt it was about a 5.9.
- After the bolt begins a "traversing crack" which takes gear and has decent rock and is mildly entertaining. But that is over with pretty quickly (maybe 15-20 feet). Before the "traversing crack" ends, you need to head up the slow angle rock to hit the next bolt.
- There are 7 bolts to protect the remainder of the climb, which is low angle, 5.5 slab (with some features).
- Rick skipped the two-bolt anchor at the top of this climb, because it is an uncomfortable hanging belay, and set up a gear anchor about another 15-20 feet up. Setting up the anchor here is also convenient because both people can get off belay and head for the walk-off. If you stop at the bolted anchor you still have to get to the horizontal terrain for the walk-off.
- There are a couple of options for the walk-off. For both options walk away from the climb.
- As you approach a gully on the right, there is a set of bolted anchors for a rappel. I believe this is a combo rappel/walk-off. We have not done the right-hand walk-off and cannot provide beta.
- We have always opted to do the left-hand walk-off, which does not require rappelling. Go past the bolted anchors for the right-hand walk-off. You will scramble up some rock and have a wall to your left (you might need to duck a little). As yo continue back, you will eventually see a slot/crevice to your left (a break in the wall that's on your left-hand side.) Go through the slot, then turn right onto slab. The slab is very low angle, but it is not someplace you'd want to fall. We hug the wall that is now on our right. Follow the slab all the way to the gully that becomes visible on your left. Go down this gully. There is one small section (about 10 feet) of down climbing. The gully drops you back off at the base of the Riding Hood Wall.
- There are different types of WTF climbs - some that are good climbs but significantly harder than 5.7, and some that are harder than 5.7, on crappy rock, and/or just not that great of a climb (these are "forget about it" climbs). In Through the Out Door is the latter. We really do not feel this climb is worth the effort. In Through the Out Door is also listed as an alternative second pitch to Physical Graffiti. Physical Graffiti is a far superior climb - if there is a line, just wait.
Climb Stats to Date
|
DATE OF CLIMB: September 28, 2020
WALLS HIT: 1 NUMBER OF CLIMBS TODAY: 1 NUMBER OF PITCHES TODAY: 2 (we had to do the first pitch of Physical Graffiti to access this climb) NUMBER OF FALLS: 0 NUMBER OF TAKES: 0 VERTICAL FEET CLIMBED TODAY: 190' (for this climb, plus an additional 120 feet for pitch 1 of Physical Graffiti) DIRTY UNDERWEAR ENCOUNTERED TODAY: 0 START & END TIMES:
TOTAL CLIMBS SO FAR: 134 TOTAL PITCHES SO FAR: 177 TOTAL 5.7 VERTICAL FEET ON THE TOUR SO FAR: 15,395' (excludes Physical Graffiti approach pitch) NUMBER OF CLIMBS REMAINING: 104 (out of 237) VERTICAL FEET REMAINING: 35,352' DIRTY UNDERWEAR ENCOUNTERED TO DATE: 5 |
FALLS SO FAR:
|