Wholesome Fullback (5.10-)

Location of Climb: Black Velvet Canyon
Aspect of Face: North
Time Category: A Few Hours

Intro

If you like steep, clean rock, and fingers-to-hands cracks, check out this climb. It's relatively short (two pitches), with other short multi-pitches of similar difficulty nearby.

Climb

The climb has two crux points, the first of which is about fifteen feet off the ground, and is shown in the first photo at right. Move up the crack and then angle right and up to the top of a small pillar. Avoid using the nice handcrack to the left as it will force you to traverse under an overhang farther up, causing rope drag and other problems. Proceed up the thin crack on lower angle, softer rock, to an awkward stance under an overhang. This is the entry point to the second crux section.

The second crux (photo at right) is more intimidating than the first, but the hand jams are solid. Move up the crack until it widens at a small bulge in the rock face, and set up a belay using gear. This will be the absolute limit on a 50-meter rope. Start the second pitch by climbing the face to the right of the crack up to a short, clean chimney. The rap anchor is on the other side of the chimney, so if you're small enough, you could wiggle through to the other side, but most folks will have to climb up the chimney to the top of the pillar, then downclimb a little on the other side. Three raps on a single rope will take you to the base, but a 50-meter rope comes up just a smidge short on the second rap. Traverse to the right near the end of your rap, and you'll run out of rope right at a ledge with a single cold-shut anchor.

Gear

Nuts, Tri-cams, and small SLCDs from .25 to 1.5 inches for most of the lead, and a couple of medium-size (2-4 inch) cams for the belay. A 60-meter rope makes it easier, but is not strictly necessary.