Clink and I finished See Ya Crater Alligator yesterday on a perfect Pinnacles day. The high was only 76 and there was a nice breeze. The route turned out to be more challenging than we anticipated. It is a mini adventure with some tricky moves and fairly intricate route finding.
Starting up last Sunday with some cool shadowing. I am standing on the first big, perched lodestone (see route description).
Now the question becomes why would I not drill from that huge stance and instead move up to this calf pumper with a lean in on the elbow? I guess because I had a good knob slung out left and just felt like getting the bolt higher.
This shot gives a better perspective and the staggered stance I shifted to
Here is the stance for bolt 2
And the same stance from a different perspective
Clink went up next and continued the shenanigans by climbing way past a perfectly good stance up the headwall and onto the big slanting ledge above. He claims he did it to keep the flavor of the route
After placing the 3rd bolt, clink committed to the bulge and got another bolt in from a tough stance in the heat. That would be it for the day since we had to leave a bit early for a PCAD meeting.
Clink was kind enough to let me top out the route yesterday. My feet were probably 10 or 12 feet above his last bolt when it felt like the climb was over and I started looking for a good place to drill an anchor. Here is one last shot looking down from the anchor as clink followed. The sling knob is only for show. A few feet of scrambling leads up to a nice ledge where the walkoff starts.
Here is a preliminary description. Posted here mainly because this is such a popular crag. People climbing Passion Play probably will not notice the first bolt unless they are looking very closely and the second bolt cannot be seen from below.
See Ya Crater Alligator 5.6R
Note: This climb traverses/wraps around the right side of Passion Play Wall and wanders
a bit to take advantage of the natural lines and the good holds. It is not for novices.
Start at the base of Passion Play but move immediately up and right toward a basketball-
sized, perched lodestone. The perched lodestone and/or another good knob slightly left
can be slung to protect the moves to the first bolt if desired. From the first bolt, continue
traversing diagonally up and right and then along the base of an alcove underneath a
beach ball sized, hanging, fractured lodestone (the time bomb). The “time bomb” was not
utilized in any way to climb this route. Past the “time bomb” a step up at the far right side
of the alcove reveals the 2nd bolt. Move around a blunt arete to the right and up into an
obvious scoop. From the scoop, move right and up into another smaller scoop. From that
scoop, make committing moves up a short headwall to an upwardly slanting ledge/ramp
(slants up and left) - at the base of an undercut bulge. One bolt allows moves onto the
bulge but will not keep you off the ledge (do not fall). A fourth bolt protects the final
section of the climb to a two bolt anchor - 101 feet from the start. Walk off left (3rd class).
FA Party: John Cook, Jon Cochran, Kathy Cook FA Date: 10-12-17
