Dream Easy

Every once in a while a new route is put up at a popular crag that is of good quality. One that for some reason has hidden itself, escaping the eye for decades. A line that reveals itself only when it chooses. Dream easy is one such line.

The climb consists of vertical cracks connected by sections of knobs, and face while maintaining a moderate grade. Most parties will face their greatest difficulties on the face sections leaving the security of a crack system for the insecure edges of a granite face. Or, some may have difficulty with the short chimney on pitch one. Those who are able to pull through their own personal cruxes and continue upward will be rewarded with an enjoyable four pitch climb that gains good elevation, and ends up a headwall.

Pitch 1) Ascend a short section of knobs without pro (5.8) until a left slanting ledge system is reached. Climb this ledge and head straight into a short yet ominous chimney. Easy stemming with good pro will lead you up the chimney until further upward progress is seemingly impossible. The trick here is to not get stuck deep inside the chimney. Back out to the edge of the chimney and find a huge jug up and left. Use this jug to exit the chimney (5.7) and mantle the chock stones that make up the stance for the belay at the bottom of the second pitch. Belay on gear 2-4 inches.

Pitch 2) Stem and mantle a chock stone directly off the belay and continue up the left slanting ledge system. Keep your eyes out for a small dike angling up and to the right out on the face. Traverse this dike passing a bolt. When the dike ends, connect together thin face moves up toward a tree (5.8). Traverse the top of a wide flake to the right crossing the top anchors of Duck for Cover. When the flake runs out, climb a low angle face past two bolts (5.8) to a rounded horn and a gear belay.

Pitch 3) Climb straight up a nice hand crack (5.7). Before the crack peters out, switch cracks to the left by using knobs (5.7). Gain the discontinuous crack and climb up past shaky gear to a lower angle section of high quality crack. Follow this wonderful section of hand jams as the crack angles up and to the right. Belay at a small stance from bolts.

Pitch 4) The money pitch. From the belay, step right and into a crack system with intermittent sections of hummock. Climb up this section until a passage to the right seems possible. Climb a little higher to find pro, then down climb and traverse the easy, low angle, high quality face. Gain the crack out right and climb up until good pro is found. Make a thin move left (5.8) and climb the steep, clean crack up into the headwall. An excellent lieback (5.8) past a bulge will lead you to the left and the bolted anchor.

Decent: From the top of pitch 4, make a double rope rappel back to the top of pitch 3. From the top of pitch 3, make a double rope rappel down a steep section to the top of a chimney. From the top of the chimney, rappel off bots with two ropes to the ground. You will want to step way out to the left and away from the bottom of the chimney when pulling your rope to the ground, as the chimney is a rope eater.

Between Lunatic Fringe and Reed’s Regular Route. From Lunatic Fringe, traverse the base to the left. The knobby face that marks the beginning of the route is just left of a large west facing chimney. The left slanting ledge of pitch one is visible from the ground. Start directly below the right facing flake of Duck and Cover (.11 R/X).

Single set to 4”. Bring a couple extra 2.5-3” pieces, a healthy amount of slings, and two 60m ropes.