- Edit (TBD)
Fear of touching Aerie
Description
Pitch 1 - Same as pitch 1 of Touch of class. This pitch involves some boldish laybacking to start your day. As always, beware the "+". Gear belay.
Pitch 2 - Climb up from the left side of the ledge for about 10 feet and then traverse left to the 5.9 Aerie crack and up to the tree island ledge. Belay off slings on a birch tree.
Pitch 3 - The money pitch. Climb the left-facing corner directly above the belay. It eventually goes overhanging and the crack disappears, but stemming and smearing will let you escape right. It's not over yet! Traverse right across thin vertical cracks on slabby terrain to reach the Touch of Class left-facing corner. Keep some small gear - 0.2 and lower. RPs are useful too. Finish at a ledge with a rare ADK bolted belay.
Pitch 4 - Climb straight up the nice finger cracks. The crux is low on this pitch. Eventually reach a dirty ledge you can traverse left on for about 25 feet to another bolted belay.
Location
Directly ahead from the approach trail. About 10 feet to the right of a right-facing corner.
Protection
The gear is generally good and easy to find. The traverse on P3 is a little tricky, but protects well if you keep enough very small gear.