Spring's a-comin'!

[rbw1966]

It's funny, if the mobs of people lounging at the base of Morning Glory knew how much loose crap was up there on ZZ, they might not hang out so close to the base!

 

What loose crap? Only loose stool I found was the guana both Winter and myself placed our hands in atop pitch 2. Have you done this climb? Pretty solid for Smith.

[Winter]

DFA -

 

My guess is Karate is harder than Zebra Zion. I haven't led Karate but did lead the crux on ZZ last year (car-to-car in day!). Its not an overhanging hand crack like Karate and there's plenty of features. The ten section is short, but the second pitch is sustained all the way.

 

The only loose shit I saw was the load rbw dropped in his pants leading the unprotected 5.8 traverse on the 3rd pitch.

 

Spider man is a piece of cake. The roof may look ominous, but it ain't even the crux. There's a short bulge before the first belay which is harder but still compltely manageable.

 

Enjoy your trad. I HIGHLY recommend Moonshine. Holy shit what a great line!

 

- Chris

[Bill_Simpkins]

Yeah Muffy, It's called Round River. It's a 3 pitch 5.4. first 2 pitches protect well, the 3rd, if you traverse left then go up is very poor rock. Very little pro, but really easy climbing. The rap off the back is nice.

[chucK]

Spider man is a piece of cake. The roof may look ominous, but it ain't even the crux. There's a short bulge before the first belay which is harder but still compltely manageable.

 

You can do the whole of it in one very enjoyable pitch (50m rope). Gotta mind your rope drag, but that shouldn't be difficult if you consider the route a piece of cake.

[Dr_Flash_Amazing]

The Doctor has done ZZ, and found the 2nd pitch kind of sketchy, which was why he followed it. DFA's gear limit on lead is so far 5.9 on a couple occasions, but usually 5.8. And there is too plenty of crap to knock down off the third pitch of ZZ. That crack before the traverse had plenty of choss waiting to leap out and split someone's wig. And how about the large pile of bongo flakes right off the first belay? Those babies have got plenty of unnerving flex to them. Pry that mess loose and someone's wearing a couple-hundred-pound tuff hat. Ouch.

 

The Doctor has done Moonshine a couple times (got kinda gripped up there!), Spiderman, etc. All fun lines for sure, and DFA looks forward to getting on them again.

[iain]

Moonshine is exceptional, doesn't beat me up like Karate (sore wrists after that one). Interesting that you are doing laps on Oxygen and stuff but have Karate as a project. Talk about specialized!

[Dr_Flash_Amazing]

Laps on Oxygen? Hmm, perhaps in Dr. Flash Amazing's dreams but not in the present reality.

 

Anyway, it's all about learning to really trust the gear, first of all, and of course even having some, which DFA doesn't. Learning to trust it enough to fall on it would make a big difference in closing up the numbers gap. And of course having more than a passing interest in even doing trad routes. The Doctor has been having plenty of fun clipping bolts for the past ten years, so the trad area hasn't received a whole lot of attention.

[ryland_moore]

The last 2 times I've been over by MG and there were climbers on ZZ, I've seen small rocks come off once the climbers were up on the 3rd pitch/top. One girl was hit on the arm walking from 9 gallon to 5 gallon. If you are belaying, the small stuff usually falls out away from the Wall because of the bulge to the left of 2nd pitch. Just be careful. Never seen anything bigger than a golf ball, but that would defiantely hurt!

[Geek_the_Greek]

I recall dropping some bombs from the loose slab on the upper third pitch of zz. They would sail all the way to near the crappers, actually. Climbers at MG were totally safe.

As I recall, Karate crack is solid if you're strong (which, if you can trust the spray, DFA qualifies), whereas zz takes more technique - somewhat technical jams and such.