Greg Barnes
SuperTopo staff member
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Lunatic Fringe is very popular, and often even when you think no one’s around the only team will be at its base. Be prepared to return several times to get a chance to get on it, and keep Stone Groove and the Reed’s Pinnacle routes in mind. Two ropes are needed to rappel.
Depending on how frequently you place protection, a large rack of thin to hand size pro is needed. To keep rope drag down, do not place pro in the initial hand crack until near its top, and even then use a long sling (or leapfrog cams up the perfect 2" crack). Once on the ledge at the top of the 5.6 hands, go up on the left and place a good nut with long sling, then climb back down, go right, and then traverse up and left into the right crack. If you try to go up the left crack, the moves over to the right will be the crux of the route.
Fire up the right crack to thin hand jams, and move past a short wide spot with a challenging lieback or by very awkward jamming. The 1" crack in the back of the upper part of the wide section is a flexing flake, so don’t bother trying to place pro in it, make the moves and place pro when your foot is in the wide section. Above, fun flakes lead to a discontinuity in the crack, and a high step on a small slippery hold in the edge of the flake with a gymnastic move gains the upper crack. The fun hand and finger jams above slowly deteriorate, and careful footwork lets you get your hands past the poor flared jams into more parallel sections. Right at the top, some slippery knobs appear as the crack runs out. A long move left on a poor foothold gains a good flake, or continuing up the nearly non-existent crack and then moving left is a harder option.
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Rob
Intermediate climber
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This is a great route, you will visit it many times.
Greg's beta is right on, but I would not call the knobs poor as they are a blessing to have (the friction is also good) and the best knob is at the top of the climb where the crack peters out and you are looking for the next hand hold. A Red/Yellow Ailen fits perfectly a few feet below this hand hold knob.
I climbed it using only cams, the smallest was a green Ailen and the largest was #2 Camalot, bring many .5 (about 4) and .75 (about 4) and a few #1 Camalot Cams. The two crux moves that stand out are the initial fingers to thin hands (where the right crack starts, protect it like Greg says),the initial foot hold is good then you need to do some semi slick friction to get to better feet and hands, and getting through the flakes can be strenuous.
Have fun, and head over to Reeds Direct afterwards and take a good 'ol whooping from a 5.9?
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Lincoln
Mountain climber
Nepal
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Greg, you've outdone yourself yet again. I can sit here in front of my computer and get almost as much pleasure out of Lunatic Fringe as I would actually climbing it... you forgot to mention chaulking up just above the .75 camalot section, and wiping the sweat out of your eyes just below the #6 stopper.
:)
-Link
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Ken Zemach
Intermediate climber
Nepal
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I totally agree with one exception... you call the first part to the ledge 5.6??? Yikes! Ya'll are too good. Take if from a guy who was barely able to lead the climb clean: if the top part is 10C, the bottom ain't no 5.6. More like 5.8, or even 5.9. Not that it really matters...
One of the most stellar climbs you'll ever do.
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Kupandamingi
Trad climber
Nairobi, Kenya
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This climb lives up to the hype. I agree with Ken that the start feels a little harder than 5.6. I placed 2 pieces - one about mid-way up and one right before the ledge - and didn't have noticeable drag. As for the beta below, I did the not recommended crack transfer and for taller folks (Im 6') this might be the easier way to go. Great climb and thankfully plenty of rests for those of us that are weak and lack stamina
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Chris McNamara
SuperTopo staff member
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here is a cool topo
http://climbingtoposofsandiego.com/lunaticfringefinal2.pdf
from this web site
http://climbingtoposofsandiego.com/perpetual2_007.htm
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madturtle
Trad climber
folsom, ca
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Does anybody have a copy of the "Beyond Lunacy" topo extension they might send me (matthew_wetter at yahoodotcom) ? It would be most appreciated. Thanks.
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le_bruce
climber
Oakland, CA
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Turtle: you can get in touch with user 'ablegabel' here on ST, he has excellent topos of the extension you're asking about, and several more pitches above the Fringe that he put up with friends. I don't think he's big into scanning and sending via e.mail: when I got in touch with him for some info on this route and on some stuff he'd done on Lower Brother, he sent me a package in the mail of a bunch of excellent hand drawn topos.
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madturtle
Trad climber
folsom, ca
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Thanks! Another buddy of mine should be sending me a scan of the topo today. Did you end up climbing beyond lunacy? Any beta? Heard tales of some heads up 11c climbing on dirty rock...hmmm.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Beyond Lunacy topo
drawn by Eric Gabel, scanned by Dustin Stephens
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M. Volland
Trad climber
Grand Canyon
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Climb this route with one 70m rope by rapping to the bushy ledge just right of the route. Once on the ledge, pull the rope and let it fall down to the base/start of the climb. Then traverse the ledge to the right and walk down and around to the bottom of the climb where your rope will be waiting for you.
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Alexey
climber
San Jose, CA
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No tricks with 80m rope. From base to base, no second rope, no need to belay second from the top. Just pure fun
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pell
climber
Moscow
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After leading it try to climb it without using the left crack after .6 section. Also try not to use faceholds except of the last face move. Also try use only jams - no grabbing any features (there're some jugs and crimps inside and around the crack), no stepping on any feature. A fun jamming exercise.
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California, now Ireland
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No beta, but I was fourth up (of course not on the FA), Bridwell was rapping, so was Werner, can't remember the third person. Only time I 'climbed' with the Bird and Mr Rocket Science, hah hah.
But Lunatic Fringe should be on anybody's tick list. I hope to lead it someday... in my sixties ;-)
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