Blade Runner

Approach

Approach over the Southwest Shoulder. Locate Blade City. Blade Runner is one crack to the left.Scramble as high as you can and set an anchor.

Route Description

This Route was first done by Frank Sanders, solo, in the Spring of 2000. It is a wonderful, thin crack line with solid belays from pitons. Clearly a 3-Star Route.You could spend alot of time searching on El Cap and NOT find anywhere near this quality of thin nailing !!!

Pitch 1. (160 ft., A3+) Initially the crack will accept small cams, then small stoppers, then nothing but Bugaboos, Blades and Rurps. All seemed solid, most were tied off. Set your own belay where the crack widens to accept secure angles.

Pitch 2. (150 ft., A3) Continue on thin pins until the crack ends, then traverse right and join Blade City, climbing up to a solid hanging belay.

Pitch 3. ( 155ft., A3, 5.7) Climb the Blade City crack to the summit. The crack narrows and widens several times, leading to some clever placements and an amount of free climbing. Numerous wide pieces help alot here.

Essential Gear

Standard aid rack.
Additional Blades and Bugs for the 1st pitch ; believe that I used 30......and 5 RURPS and 2 BirdBeaks.
Additional wide pro for pitch 3. Several #4, #4.5 & even #5 Friends or Cams would not be too many.

Miscellaneous Info

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