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White Rock Springs

The Ledger
SUMMARY HAIKU
​
Old school Joe Herbst climb
Couldn't decide on a rating
Called it "What the FORK!"
Picture
DATE OF CLIMB: JANUARY 4, 2019
​
​
WALLS HIT TODAY: 1 (Ledger Crag)
NUMBER OF CLIMBS TODAY: 1
NUMBER OF PITCHES TODAY: 3 
VERTICAL 5.7 FEET CLIMBED TODAY: 220'
​NUMBER OF FALLS TODAY: 0
NUMBER OF TAKES TODAY: 1 (Rick on pitch 3)

​DIRTY UNDERWEAR ENCOUNTERED TODAY: 0
TOTAL CLIMBS SO FAR: 79
TOTAL PITCHES SO FAR: 100

TOTAL 5.7 VERTICAL FEET ON THE TOUR SO FAR: 7,645'
NUMBER OF CLIMBS REMAINING: 158 (out of 237)

VERTICAL FEET REMAINING: ~42,652
FALLS SO FAR: 0
TAKES ON LEAD SO FAR:
  • Stef – several (on the three WTF climbs she has lead so far - Miniwanka, Lean & Languid, and Pauligk Pillar)
  • Rick - 1 - (On the WTF'r Too Many Tantrums and on this climb)
​DIRTY UNDERWEAR ENCOUNTERED TO DATE: 3​​​
ARRIVED AT PARKING LOT: 8:15 a.m.
STARTED CLIMBING: 9:30 a.m.
BACK AT BOTTOM: 1:45 p.m.
BACK TO CAR: 3 p.m.

Conclusion WTF? What the FORK!

Pitch-By-Pitch

Picture

Pitch 1 - 70 ft.

Picture
Rick pitch 1 of The Ledger.
A surprisingly strenuous first pitch.

It is rated a 5.5, but it is definitely an "old school" rating with a bit of a tricky start and a couple spicy moves. It's not a "gimmie" 5.5 (but it is fun.) 

The last half of the pitch is up a 5.3-ish gully to get to the base of pitch 2. You can avoid the pokey-shrubs and leaf-filled dirt by climbing up the rock on the left side. 

There are some bolted anchors you will encounter, but those are for the rappel. Go past them up the gully and build an anchor at the base of pitch 2.

Pitch 2 - 100 ft

Picture
Stef pitch 2 of The Ledger.
Picture
Rick pops over the top of a challenging off-width exit.
Pitch 2 is the "5.7" pitch. 

This pitch is even more strenuous. Fortunately, it is well protected. The pro says up to 3", I did use a #4 (my "bring one size bigger" rule applied again...)

The pitch continues up and around right out of visibility from the photo on me (Stef) on this pitch. The top section thrusts you into a chimney-style offwidth with a weird, mantling top-out (where Rick is in photo two above). In this upper off-width section there is some protection deep inside the off-width, but it is difficult to reach. I just ended up not placing any gear there, shoved my body inside the offwidth, and did a hail-Mary with a lot of grunts in the top-out, praying there was something to hold onto. As you can see from Rick's hand in the photo, there was. 

There is tat wrapped around a boulder that can be used as an anchor (and you may want to throw in a small piece for good measure). This tat is also used for the rappel. There were three pieces of tat wrapped around the boulder, and two were still fresh when we climbed it in January 2020. (BTW, we always carry webbing with us to supplement or replace bad tat - we carry a knife too to cut the bad tat or our webbing to size. Depending on when you climb this route, this anchor may need some bolstering in the not-too-distant future, so come prepared.) 

Pitch 3 - 50 ft
​

Picture
Rick on pitch 3. He chose to go left up the crack, which is the original exit for the climb. There are some pretty spicy moves this way. At about this point you can go right towards some bolted anchors.
This is what I would call the contentious pitch (and is the one Rick is referring to in the video below.)

​This pitch is the one that gives this climb it's "What the Fork" rating (more on that in a bit.)

The 2007 Handren guide calls this pitch a 5.6. The 2016 guide calls it a 5.8. People on the Mountain Project comments add a "plus" to the 8 or give it a 5.9. 

Whatever you want to call it, it's challenging.

There are two options to finish this pitch, left or right. In this photo Rick is near the juncture. Left is following the crack you can see to Rick's left. Right is up and right of Rick, out of the picture. Left is supposedly easier, but we aren't convinced of that. 

Going left commits you to this weird, offwitdthy crack that has an in-your-face bulge you have to navigate around while committed to the crack. There are no face-holds to help (a really tall person might be able to reach a small ledge - Rick is 6'1"). Rick actually placed a #4 here (yeah #4!) and hung to work through the moves (FYI - this is only the second time Rick has hung on the gear on this tour.)
After some struggles and grunting, Rick made it through. The crack narrows from here. 

When I followed and struggled through the same spot, I was thinking right looked better and that is probably the way I would have chosen if I were leading (there are some bolted anchors on the wall for this right-hand option). However, left is the "original" route, so Rick chose left. 

You have to build your own anchor to belay when you choose left.

There are three options for descent: walk-off; find tree with tat and rappel with two ropes (two 60s); or use the bolted/tat anchor combos down the route doing 3-rappels. We chose the last option. It was easy to walk around, find, and access the bolted anchor. We used our 60 m ropes.

After the first rappel, you have to do some scrambling down the gully (the one that's part of pitch 2) to get to the next set of rap anchors. (Rope up and belay each other if you don't feel safe - remembering that the first person down needs to place some gear to protect the second person down).

Handren says you can rappel with two ropes from the top anchor to the anchor on pitch 1, but I'm not sure I'd want to do that, given the bushy, loose rock gully in between. Seems like an invitation to get your ropes stuck in shrubbery and/or knock rocks and crap down on you. 
​This leads me to our rating of "What the Fork" for this climb. ​As you can see in the video, we weren't clear on how to rate this climb. Although Rick took on pitch 3, and I grunted a lot on pitch 2 (and maybe said one fuck when I was pissed off at some gear), neither of us really said any "fucks" as a result of the climb.

Plus, we aren't really sure if this is a "5.7." If all of the resources were using the "original" ratings with the third pitch as a 5.6 (Was this an error in the 2006 guidebook? Which rating was given by Joe Herbst?), then I think we would've called this a WTF'r, because it would've been a full-on side-swipe. Don't get me wrong, it's still challenging even as a 5.8, but these rating differences muddy the waters a bit and because of this, we don't feel it's a full-on WTF'r. 

With that said, What the FORK kinda sounds like FUCK :-) and it depicts the "fork" option you have at the top of this climb. In retrospect, I actually wish we had re-climbed pitch 3 (after we rappelled down) to see how different or difficult the right-hand "fork" was. That would've been very informative! Darn it!

Did we like it? Yes. I'd climb it again - next time doing the right fork. 


WTF 5.7 Tour: Red Rock Canyon- Climbs By Area & Alphabetically

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  • Home
  • Blog
    • WTF 5..7 Tour - Red Rock >
      • General >
        • WTF 5.7 Climbs
        • The Plan
        • Managing the Desert Heat
      • Black Velvet Canyon >
        • Lazy Buttress/Whisky Peak E >
          • Day 79: Schaeffer's Delight
          • Day 83: Ballantine Blast
          • Day 86: Lazy Buttress (Climb)
      • Calico 1 (1st Pullout) >
        • Amusement Park
        • Day 17: Civilization
        • Day 20: Panty Wall
        • Day 14: The Slab
        • Day 21: Wall of Death & Hamlet
        • Day 24: Child's Play
        • Day 49: Ultraman
        • Day 50: Dog Wall & Fixx Cliff
        • Day 51: Tuna and Chips
        • Day 53: Viagra Towers
        • Day 59 Iron Man - Necco Waif
        • Day 80 - Tuna Cookies
        • Day 80 - Diamond Dance - The Oasis
        • Day 81 - CarlyQuinn Crag
      • Calico 2 (2nd Pullout) >
        • Day 13: Meetup & Black Corridor
        • Day 28: Retirement Plan
        • Day 52: The Walrus, Running Man, & Sweet Pain
        • Day 54: USS Crag & Tsunami
        • Day 56: Great Red Book Wall
        • Day 66: The Gallery
      • First Creek Canyon >
        • First Creek Slabs >
          • Day 40: Falling Stars & Bad Moon Arising
          • Day 67: Smiley Face
          • Day 94: Romanian Rib Right
          • Day 95: Romanian Rib Left
        • Lotta Balls Wall >
          • Day 88: Lotta Brews
        • Romper Room >
          • Day 42: Algae on Parade
          • Day 67: Romper Room 2
        • Schoolyard >
          • Day 44: School Yard 1 - Deja Vu & Short Subject
          • Day 77: School Yard -Sunday School & Dunce's Corner
          • Day 89: Schoolyard Bully
        • Slot Club Area >
          • Day 78: Escondite
        • Strawberry Hill >
          • Day 43: This Ain't the F'n Way!
      • Icebox Canyon >
        • Day 12: Sunnyside & Frigid Air
        • Day 39: Necromancer - Hop Route
        • Day 57: Tarkus Crack (Tiki Cliff)
      • Juniper Canyon >
        • Jackrabbit Buttress >
          • Day 16: Myster Z
          • Day 35: Mz. Why
        • Rose Tower >
          • Day 64: Canola Cracks
          • Day 87: Olive Oil
      • Kraft Mountain >
        • Day 6 (and 90): Conundrum Crag
        • Day 7: Caligula Crag
        • Day 4: Three Peaks and Yin & Yang
        • Day 10: Winter Heat
      • Mt. Wilson >
        • Day 41: Limon
        • Day 72: Gentleman's Club - Silicone Sag
      • Oak Creek Canyon >
        • Day 37: Johnny Vegas
        • Day 65: Tan Line
        • Day 68: Byrd Pinnacle
        • Day 92: Beulah's Arete
      • Pine Creek Canyon >
        • Day 22: Mescalito E - Too Many Tantrums
        • Day 23: Mescalito E - Pauligk Pillar
        • Day 27: Straight Shooter Wall
        • Day 31: Robin Trowel (Abutment) & Stick Gully 1
        • Day 32-34: Flight Path
        • Day 34: Stick Gully 2 - Prelude
        • Day 36: Birdland
        • Day 38: Diarrhea Dialect (Bullnose Wall)
        • Day 48: Cat in the Hat
        • Day 62: Stick Gully - Box of Rain
        • Day 63: Cookie Monster
        • Day 69: Soloist Crack
      • Red Springs >
        • Day 2: Cowlick and Cannibal
        • Day 1: Cut Your Teeth, Hide & Seek, Happy Acres
        • Day 3: Dickies (Seems Like a Butt)
        • Day 8: Fringe
        • Day 5: Moderate Mecca
        • Day 9: Reptile & Fox Walls
        • Day 45: Gnat Man
        • Day 55: Coco Crag
        • Day 58: In Through the Out Door (Ridinghood Wall)
        • Day 91: Guys and Ghouls
      • Sandstone Quarry >
        • Day 29: High Scalin'
        • Day 47: Man's Best Friend & Americrag
        • Day 66: Hall of Fame - Ms. Adventure
      • Southern Outcrops >
        • Day 70 & 71: Chocolate Rocks
        • Day 82: Illusion Crag - Part 1
      • White Rock Springs >
        • Angel Food Wall >
          • Day 11: Group Therapy
        • Day 25: The Ledger
        • Seraphim Wall >
          • Day 91: Ride the Wind
      • Willow Springs >
        • Day 15: Mother's and Outhouse
        • Day 18: Mossy Ledges - Pussy Nuts
        • Day 19: Mossy Ledges 2
        • Day 26: Graduate Cliff - Pre Skool Part 1 >
          • Day 46: Pre Skool Part Deux
        • Day 60 & 61: Graduate Cliff 2
        • Day 30 - Gold Digger
        • Day 61: Ragged Edges - Footloose
        • Day 62: Case Face - Space Case
        • Day 73: Ragged Edges Area
        • Day 74 Peaches (Children's Wall)
        • Day 75 N' Plus Ultra 1 - Geezer Face & Lucky Charms
        • Day 76: N'Plus Ultra 2 - Pillar Talk & Chocolate Tranquility Fountain
        • Day 84: N'Plus Ultra Part 3 - Cereal Killer
        • Day 84: Lost Creek Canyon - Grey Matter
        • Day 85: Communist Plan at Lost & Found
        • Day 94: Double Pin-etration N'Plus Ultra
    • Meet Our Tools >
      • GPS Units
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        • Tankenstein Gets Gutted
        • Van Life: Rebuilding Tankenstein >
          • Glowing Disco Counter Top
          • Cold Food Storage
          • Bouldering-pad-bench
          • Insulation and Vent Fan
          • Quick Fixes
          • Kingsized Pullout Bed
      • Ultralight Exposure Protection Gear