Sweetbread

I looked at this thing for five years and finally got to it on the same day we did Flank Steak. Herb courageously led the first bush-and-sand pitch on-sight, drilled the belay bolt and it was game on. I got the top anchor in after some 5.10 C1 effort and we got to TR it just long enough to whet our appetites. After two more tries, on a random smash-and-grab day I was able to free it. Many thanks to Herb, Ed and Gaar for going down with me to climb on this amazing addition. This thing is incredible. I chose the name because I don't fully understand sweetbreads. They're supposed to be a delicacy but they seem disgusting in theory. At first glance from the ground the pillar guarding the real climb may look repulsive, but if you can stomach that (actually good in its own way), you're rewarded by yet another one of the great culinary masterpieces at this wall.

It starts off with the reason it hasn't been done. This pitch is only about 30ft to the ledge, where you'll find a belay bolt that can be equalized with a BD .2 or a blue Alien or comparable. The main event lies above.

The pitch starts off with what is likely 5.11 less-than-tips in a slab of wavy, featured rock that then turns into the classic 2nd Meat Wall amazing black varnish. After the initial section, a tips or slightly-less-than boulder problem leads to a brief change of corners and then about 50ft of perfect purple Camalots in the left-facing corner to the chains. There are fortuitous rests in the upper section that keep it from being as hard as something like End of The Line, but it's similar in style albeit shorter. Enduro fat fingers in amazing stone. The rock on this pitch is of the highest quality, and it's got a great blend of styles. There is some lichen, but in my opinion it doesn't detract one iota from the quality of the climb. Dust your feet off on your cuffs for the first section.

Far left side of the cliff, just before you go around to Hot Pork Sundae. Look up at the choss pillar and you'll see the belay bolt and then the amazing pitch above it. There is a thin crack on the right side of the pillar that offers reliable small gear but you'll have to get through a bush or two and some sand to get there. I think it adds to the experience.

All types of it. For the initial section of the real pitch I took at least 6-8 pieces in the blue Alien/purple TCU/green c3 range. Then you'll need some tips pieces for the roof boulder problem. I used two green Aliens. Add in a BD .4 and maybe 6-8 BD .5 or the like and you're there. There are nice chains with rings. A 70m rope gets you back to the ledge easily and will get the leader to the ground if you lower to the end of the rope, but you will need about 50 more feet of tagline or the like to do the mega TR, which we found to be the best approach. An 80m rope would also likely reach the ground with both ends from the anchor. Have fun with the shenanigans and make sure to give the rope a good rodeo flip when pulling it down, lest you get it stuck on the ledge like a noob.