Under Siege

A great route if it had been taller. As it is, it offers good rock, crazy moves, a sequential crux, and an excuse to go explore a rarely visited flatiron.

This route gains its name from the story behind the FA- whereas it was red-pointed on the 5th cumulative attempt, after the 2 ascensionists had taken turns attempting the FA while cleaning flakes and lichen on lead, and certainly doing lots of it.

Climb up the good handcrack which widens and make a surprisingly awkward transition left to under a large overhang. Grab up into the overhanging offwidth and find good grips on the upper chockstone, then work up on underclings and slaps to over the roof. Try to keep breathing through this body-tension workout, then at the lip, execute the devious crux. Pull over the top and belay from good gear at a good stance.

To descend, downclimb past trees through a chimney and crack system to the West/NorthWest.

On the N.E. face of the Cubicle Crag there are 3 crack systems, from left to right. The left-most of these, 'White Stallion,' is continuous from bottom to top, with the upper part being a thin dihedral, the middle begins at mid-wall with a single branch remaining of a long-dead dwarfed pine tree, and to the right, 'Under Siege' a hand and fist crack in a corner to an offwidth roof to gain a fingercrack and face.

A standard rack of cams and nuts. Crux protection is .5-1" cams. Aliens work well.