Toxic Shock

Overview

UNDER CONSTRUCTION A very high quality route located on the Inner Wall at Index which has a couple of pros and cons. Cons: can be wet and take a bit of time to dry out, takes about 15-20 minutes to hike to (forever at Index). Pros: off the beaten path (due to arduous approach), in the shade all day so it's good for hot days.

Getting There

From the parking lot for the Lower Town Wall, cross the tracks and walk towards the LTW. Once you see the Great Northern Slabs, take the trail to the left and follow it to the Inner Wall. As long as you don't split off onto one of several faint trails, it should be fairly straight forward and Toxic Shock will be located in front of you upon reaching the Inner Wall.

Route Description

The beginning has several different options:

Option 1 5.9 Finger crack/Layback.
Option 2 5.8 Either of the Hand/Fist cracks located around to the right.

The upper pitch is a straight forward and beautiful hand crack with plenty of options for gear. Towards the upper portion of the crack, one can find very restful stems off the wall to the right and can even chimney through portions of the top to add some diversity to the climbing.

Essential Gear

60m Rope
4 runners
Double cams from #0.4 - #2 Camalots
I also use a single Yellow C3 Camalot (equivalent to blue metolious) for the lay back or a couple of larger cams in the #3-4 Camalot range for the twin cracks.

External Links

Youtube video of the climb made by Doug Taylor:
Toxic Shock Video