andyk
climber
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Climbed the route alone (12 days) in the summer. Was suprised how easy the crux was in comparison with some of the pitchs below. I heard some stories about Silva Vidal altering the crux but coudn't see what she could of done - or needed to do (and she's the last person who'd do such a thing - shame on you American gossips). There are three good (well as good as you'll get on NW A5) medium heads that may have been trenched (Humar admited to a least one) were Steve used beaks. They're the type of placements that would become unusable very quickly if using tipped out beaks, prehaps leading to a bit of trenching (better then a rivet?), who knows. The hooking has one thin (crumbly) move followed a little while later by some time bomb pankake flates you must hook in order to reach some good heads. If you blow it the heads won't stop you and I recon you'd be a dead for sure. Wally Barker pulled off part of the flake a while back so again this has taken some of the sting out of it. Once you reach the half way mark sudenly the pitch gets totaly mellow. Wino tower is much tougher and LLLLOOOONNNNGGGG (8 hours) wereas the Natural took only 3.
Whatever grade it realy is (if it's now NW A4+ then Auroa, Lost in America etc are NW A2)it's the best line I've done on the .
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Reticent Wall is route number 13.Photo: Galen Rowell
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