Sylvia Luebben pro-ing and going high up on Boardw...
Description
This is route 1 on the photo of the Coke Bottle. This is an area classic which is marred by a potentially dangerous pure hanging belay. Start on the east side of the Coke Bottle, at the bottom of Bell Crack.
P1 (5.10): Climb Bell Crack (chimney ~5.9) to the very obvious horizontal crack. Hand traverse left for about 30' until beneath the Boardwalk Crack. This traverse has very few footholds and while technically straightforward is quite strenous, esp. placing gear. The belay is 100% hanging -- there are no footholds. If possible, set up the belay far enough to the left of the vertical crack to eliminate the risk of the P2 leader falling on the belayer.
P2 (5.11b): Plough up the crack for about 25' to a rest. This crux section starts as 1.5 Friends and goes down to #1 Friends and widens to thin #2 Friends at the end. The crack is flared and climbs wider than the gear. The technical crux is probably the #1 section. If the belayer is directly below the crack, the crux is placing enough gear so that you won't crush him/her if you fall while at the same time not using up all your #1 and #1.5 pieces Continue up the crack for another 80 or so feet of easy hands and chimney. Not sure where the best belay is. There is a hangerless 3/8" bolt about 90' into the pitch. We belayed on a ledge about 120'. From here it's a class 3 scramble to the top.
Protection
2 each .5 Friend through 3.5 Friend. Extra 1 and 1.5 are helpful for P2. I used #4 Rock size pieces for the 2nd belay. A 4.5 or 5 Camalot is useful but not essential at the start and would be an impediment for the rest of the route.
Absolutely spectacular, possibly the best 5.11 in all of Vedauwoo, and one of the best cracks anywhere. Magnifacent position, good exposure, and excellent rock and climbing, not to mention a beautiful line.
For the hanging belay bring old #3-3.5 Camalot sized gear, this will let you set it off to the left and therefore out of harms way, and make it convenient to swap leads.
Great route, although I thought it was a little hard for the grade. To me, it was harder than Spectraman. There are bolted anchors on the right slab after you go through the gully/chimney on top. Double rope rap.
Coke Bottle
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