Middle East Wall

Overview

The section describes the group of routes in the center of Middle East Wall from #22 (Blinded by the Light) to #71 (Gotta Be Smokin). They are on the wall of 80' columns facing north along Vantage Highway.

Middle East Wall has one section in the middle with excellent rock. This area offers clean sustained crack climbs, and a few sport climbs. All of the routes stay in the shade, making them a good alternative on a hot day.

Approach

Approach is made using the trail heading west of the main parking area. Before heading up the steep trail which goes to Sunshine Wall, turn right and follow this trail along the edge of the columns, until a section of good rock appears after about 5 minutes.

Slim and Curvy - 5.10B

Location: The obvious double corner with the clean fingercrack on the left.

Comments: A very nice fingercrack gives way to easier handjambs with stemming higher up. A very good route for the grade, and an excellent introduction to leading 5.10B trad (the crux section is short, well protected, and right off the ground).

Jamb the clean 3/4" fingercrack using small cams for protection for about 20 feet. The crack gradually opens up to accept thin hands, then hands. About 25 feet up a wide stem is possible, lowering the grade to 5.8. Now stem and jamb 45 feet to the anchor.

Gear: Several cams in the 3/4" range plus a half dozen mid sized pieces to 3". Medium hexes work well on the upper section.

Appo's Last Revenge - 5.11A

Location: The crack immediately left of the obvious heavily chalked Jihad fingercrack.

Comments: A very thin fingercrack with face holds for climbing. Near the top, the holds get further apart requiring some big reaches via lock offs. Use the Jihad anchor.

Gear: A selection of small cams and nuts to 1". I would recommend some pieces specifically desgined for thin flared placements like the Omega Pacific Tri-nuts.

Jihad - 5.11A

Location: The obvious heavily chalked beautiful fingercrack.

Comments: A magnificent clean 3/4" to 1" fingercrack of exceptional quality. Sustained and hard for the grade. This route sees a lot of traffic, and is regarded by some as the best route at Vantage.

Jamb the beautiful crack 40 feet to a good stemming rest on the right. From here a hard ringlock move will get you over to the right crack. The second crack will gradually start to widen to 3" just below the anchor. The difficulty eases off after the second crack accepts good hand jambs.

Gear: 3 sets of cams from .75 to 1.25" inches, plus 3 or 4 cams in the 1.5" to 3" range for the top section. The crack is parallel sided, so nuts don't work well.

Disaster Factor - 5.8

Location: The obvious chimney behind and on the right side of the large detached pillar.

Comments: A reasonably good chimney route. Incut face holds make it easier than it would seam. Need large pro to protect the middle section between the 2 chockstones.

Gear: Active and Passive pro to 6" Protection goes in the narrowest section.

Sex Party - 5.10A

Location: The long handcrack just left of the heavily chalked thin fingercrack of Lingerie.

Comments: The best pure handcrack at Vanatge. 80 feet of excellent handjambing with good stemming rests off the Lingerie fingercrack. Highly recommended. Easy for the grade, more like 5.9-.

Gear: A selection of cams and hexes in the hand size (1.75 to 3 inches).

Lingerie - 5.11D

If you have climbed this route, please add info here. Use original information from your experience on the route. If you copy info out of the book, I will delete it.

272 - 5.8

Location: The obvious double cracks in the left facing corner just right of Lingerie.

Comments: A very good route for a 5.8. Makes an excellent warmup climb for some harder routes on the wall.

The right crack starts out at 5" and goes down to 2". The left crack starts out as 1/4" and expands to 2.5 inches. Crux is in the first 20 feet with no footholds. The top half is 5.6 with some edges for feet. This route is only half height (40 feet), so it makes a good beginner lead.

Gear: A selection of cams from .5 to 5". Nuts don't work very well.

The Elders - 5.10A

Location: The handcrack just right of 272.

Comments: A decent handcrack with lots of face holds that starts out with a thin finger section. Not really a crack climb, but it is fun and protects well. 40 feet high.

Gear: Cams .5 to 3 inches.

Theresa's Lingerie - 5.9

Location: The handcrack 2 to the right of 272.

Comments: An excellent pure handcrack. Starts out wider, but easy then brings you to the crux middle section on clean rock with perfect handjambs. Just below the anchor there is a 5.8ish offwidth pod that must be overcome.

The crux move or 2 in the middle section is hard for the grade, I'd say 5.9+.

Gear: A selection of cams from 1.75 to 4 inches.

Crazy Fingers - 5.10A

Location: The obvious fingercrack just right of the fingernail sized seam.

Comments: A really nice fingercrack with some edges and a couple face hols to keep it moderate. Climbing is really fun, but protection is hard. A very serious lead for the grade.

Gear: A selection of small cams and nuts to 1.5". I would recommend some pieces specifically desgined for thin flared placements like the Omega Pacific Tri-nuts.

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Images

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