Dragontail - Backbone Ridge

[ericb]

A buddy of mine from work want's to do this this weekend, and only has Cams up to BD #4......Will this work for the pitch 2 OW, or will he need a #5? Thoughts.....

 

He's a 5.10 trad climber, but not a fan of OWs so I suspect he'd want to protect it well.

 

Thanks in advance

[telemarker]

Slide a #5 camalot up as a toprope through the upper O/W, small gear near the top of the o/w, belay your partner up, put #5 back into your pack for the rest of the climb. Consider foregoing the #5 since it's mostly low-angled with good foot holds for the right side.

[ericb]

so are you saying the the OW can be adequately protected with something smaller?

[mattp]

What I think he said is that with the relatively low angle nature of the offiwith, the fact that it is in a corner, and with the existence of face holds, it is not as hard and scary as advertised. If you've recently lead a real 5.9 offwidth like the last pitch of GM at Index, you will laugh your way up it without having to bring along a #5 to slide up above you. Otherwise, borrow the #5.

[mneagle]

It's not that hard for 5.9 but if you fell you would most likely be badly injured. Sliding a #5 Camalot or #6 WC up is best. Bigger and smaller stuff is only available at the beginning and the end of the pitch.

 

Here it is:

[lunger]

what matt said--more like a chimney w/ an ow crack in it, and cruisy for 5.9.

 

we had an old style 4.5 Camalot as biggest piece, placed it approx. 2/3 way up in a relative constriction, worked fine.

[mattp]

It seemed to me that it was one of those awkward 5.9 cracks that you really were not at all likely to fall out of so much as struggle a bit to make upward progress. I am no off width expert nor a particularly bold leader and I didn't have any trouble leading it without any extra large gear.

[still_climbin]

Hey, Mneagle, ya got trees growing sideways outa the mountain.