The Details: The "crack climbing centre of the universe"? Yep, probably.
The rock:
Access:
May as well start with a photo of the most climbed bit of rock in the canyon. This is Supercrack Buttress. Supercrack itself is not really visible (too far right). Coyne Crack (5.12) splits the lovely big glistening sunlit wall. Incredible Handcrack (5.10c) is just right of centre, with obvious scuff marks on brown rock up the roofed corner. 3AM Crack (5.10) is just L of centre, with obvious scuff marks on whiteish rock beside a dead vertical corner.
Incredible Hand Crack 30m 5.10c (20) OS
An astonishing corner crack, after the start it is hand-sized for 28m! My rack was 9 #2 camalots (racked on the LEFT!). Some people argue it's only 5.9+, others argue .10a or .10b, though .10c seems most common. They all seem to equate to grade 20 so the seppos should end the argument by switching to Ewbank (Australian) grades!!
Here's me at the start of the crux during my onsight. ![]()
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Still going on the onsight and getting pretty pumped from hanging on the handjams! About here there's a metre or so where it widens a tad - makes things insecure when you're upside down! ![]()
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Those jams are still going! It's not a short route by any means. This is me about 8m below the anchor. ![]()
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This is some other dude who flailed his way up it later when the sun came round for some nicer lighting. (Hint: laybacking will get you nowhere). The guy behind is on 3AM Crack (5.10). ![]()
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Ok, got my glory photos out of the way, so here's some others. Climber on 3AM Crack.
This is Gorilla Crack which had this rope on it all day so I wussed out of the lead, but quite enjoyed the energetic sustained fist/offwidth crack on toprope.
Coyne Crack (5.12)
A zoomed view of a strong woman doing it in style.![]()
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Yep, same shot zoomed out, this time showing Keyhole Flakes (5.10) closer to camera, a tough sustained onsight but still a good choice because the gear is quite varied so you don't need more than 2 or 3 of each size cam.![]()
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Supercrack (5.10+)
A guy with big hands strolls up it and reports the jams are all bomber. ![]()
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A crappier shot but it shows the beautiful clean crack. Looks suspiciously wide for bomber hands to me. ![]()
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Same view looking further up the canyon, this time with Generic Crack at far left. And yes, these walls ARE absolutely chockers with awesome splitter cracks - there is literally thousands of cracks in the valley. Astonishing!
© 2003 Will