The Politics of Dancing

Said by those who have climbed it to be the "Prince of Darkness" of the East. This route epitomizes sustained face climbing with killer exposure to boot.

Politics has a common start with "Crimp Chimp", then breaks hard left at the overlap/ledge until you are in front of the small birch tree. Take a deep breath, and make a quasi-committing move up to the first bolt. A fall from before clipping the first bolt would be less than ideal, so if one chooses, a yellow Alien can be placed from a comfortable, standing position in a small crack/pod to help tame the pucker effect before committing to the first, unprotected move to the first bolt off the ledge.

Either way, you'll then embark on an enjoyable, though repetitive, journey up the 85 degree face on some of the most impeccable stone in Vermont. A short but devious crux is encountered fairly low on the route, capped by several small runouts above. The runouts are all on very moderate/easy terrain, though, so there should be nothing to worry about.

Politics ends at a set of anchors on a comfortable ledge shared with the neighboring route to the right ("Crimp Chimp").

Two rappels with one 60 meter rope will get you down.

At the mossy slab that starts just uphill and right from where the climbers trail meets the cliff.

15+ quickdraws, plus a yellow and green Alien for the horizontal below the fifth bolt.