Saturday, May 08, 2010

Guidebook: Cathedral Ledge - North End: Child's Play (5.6), Kiddy Crack (5.8), Bird's Nest (5.9-), They Died Laughing (5.9)

Cathedral Ledge

The North End

Approach: Drive down the Cathedral Ledge road and park in one of the lots just before the gate that marks the start of the road that goes to the top. Walk across the street from the small parking lots to the path marked by the sign. The crag is about 2min up and the right-hand crack at the top of the path is Kiddie Crack (5.7).


Child's Play (5.6) - One pitch - 70 feet - Trad - Tree anchor: The left-hand crack of the two cracks near each other at the top of the path, Child's Play has the tiny block ledge about eight feet off the ground. Make the bouldery start to the ledge (crux) and climb the crack straight up to the tree anchor (photo to the right).


Kiddy Crack (5.7) - One pitch - 65 feet - Trad - Tree anchor: To the right of Child's Play is a crack with a slick lieback start (crux). Climb the crack straight up to easier climbing below another crack, which is thin and leads to the tree anchor above (photo to the left).


Bird's Nest (5.9-) - One pitch - 70 feet - Trad - Tree anchor or pins: Up to the left of Child's Play, past the steep crack that is Recluse (5.10d) is a thin crack start that leads to a nice ledge. Climb this crack to the ledge, step up right onto the block and climb the two cracks above the block straight up to the ledge. From there, either walk well right to the Child's Play anchor to belay, or about 15 feet left of the Child's Play anchor and mostly straight back from the top of Bird's Nest, about five feet above the ledge, find two pins just down to the left a few inches from a small tree, to set a more direct top rope (photo to the right).


They Died Laughing (5.9) - One pitch - 70 feet - Trad - Gear anchor: The next crack up the hill to the left of Bird's Nest. Climb the sustained crack straight to the top (if there is a crux then it is in the middle). Build a gear anchor at the top and descend using the Child's Play anchor on the right side of the large ledge (photo to the left).

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