Ham on Rye

There was a major rock fall in this area around '05-'06 that was visible from the road, and I thought this climb had been erased. But I hiked up to it this fall and much to my surprise, it's still there!

Located in the big inside bend R of Reservoir Wall, L side of Pods Wall. You will see a splitter going up into a flare and exiting the flare to a big hands splitter.

The start looks dubious but it's not too bad. Climb up some easy chossy ground R of the splitter, get a high piece and move L to a flare with a thin crack. Exit this flare to splitter big fingers going through the sizes to thin hands. Then the flare to big hand splitter mentioned above.

If you can overlook the chossy start and overall dirtiness, this is a decent pitch. One thing to recommend it is that it lives in a sun collector/wind block, similar to the Johnny Cat area. An even more compelling reason to climb it is that it tops out the cliff and is an excellent approach to climb The Cat (the cap rock tower on top of the Reservoir Wall). If you go to climb The Cat, there are two routes. They're both on the front, tall side of The Cat. The left route is a L facing corner, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. FA Alan the Brit (Heavy Duty) & Brent Obinger. The right hand route is a R facing corner, Rudy's Corner. FA Renan Ozturk & Ivan Cross. These climbs went up simultaneously. There were 8 other people and 6 hulahoops on the summit of The Cat for the FA.

If you go to climb Ham on Rye or The Cat, plan on bringing new webbing for the anchors. Ham on Rye is named after a Bukowski book.

Right end of Res Wall/ Left side of Pods Wall.

tips or smaller through big hands. A 70m rope does not quite reach.