Adam's Rib

A bold and high quality face climb that wanders up the right Rabbit Ear; this proud line will leave most sticky-rubber-wearin' modern climbers cryin' for momma. Most pitches are real deal R-rated, and are borderline X. 5.9 friction and mantle moves will be found a looong way out from the last pro. Bolts are original 1972 quarter inchers, so it's probably best to approach this route with a 5.10 freesolo mentality if you want to appreciate the quality of the climbing rather than be overwhelmed by the pucker factor. The topo presented in the Croft/Lewis guide is a bit off, but gives the general gist of the line. Just follow your nose and trust your feet...

P1) Up the vertical 2' wide black dike. Gear anchor. 5.7R

P2) Continue up the dike to a gear belay beneath an alcove/overhang. 5.8R

P3) Cast out rightwards onto the face past three bolts, aiming for the prominent bush belay above. 5.9R

P4) Left towards the gully, then pick your path up onto the face right to find 2 bolts. Gear anchor atop a bush. 5.9R

P5) Rightwards on the face and up intermittent cracks. Topo shows a bolted anchor on a horizontal dike, but we never found it. Keep going and eventually you'll reach a right-leaning ramp. We simulclimbed ~20' to reach the newer bolted anchor (P5 of Strassman route) at the end of this ramp. 5.9R. An escape out right into the gully is possible from here, as was done by the FA team.

P6) Thinning flake out right leads to a thin diagonal crack. Gear/bush anchor. 5.10a

P7) Bushy wide crack/chimney. 5.8

P8) More of the same. 5.7

Approach as for the Smokestack. Allow 1.5 hours. Route starts up the black dike 5 feet right of the Smokestack. From the summit, scramble into the gully to climbers left (left of Smokestack) with a few optional rappels.

A single rack of cams and stoppers to 4" seemed sufficient.