Chris Wex Don Traverse

This historic traverse was first completed in the 1940s by Chris Scoredos, Don Hubbard, and Arnold Wexler. Today this route is an R rated adventure. The leader and follower will be exposed to ground fall potential and a fall on gear on this rock is questionable at best. There are multiple incidences of trad gear failing due to rock quality at Carderock.

Start: Garbage Chute Corner

P1: Climbing 20 feet up the Garbage Chute corner, then traverses right across the the cliff (downstream) at the obvious horizontal break in the cliff. Continue past the corner of Trudie's Terror. Belay at the scrubby pine. (~150ft)

P2: Down climb the easy ramp/corner. Make an exposed move over the water to gain the foot ledge. Continue out the ledge until you are below a licheny, slightly vegetated crack (V1). Climb the crack to top of the cliff.

V1: from the vegetated crack, continue traversing right and turn a corner. (this variation is the historical description but has not been climbed/verified recently)

Start at Garbage Chute (the easy looking corner to the right of Cripple's Crack}

Bring a single rack to 4" and a few long runners.

This route is runout and traverses, both the leader and the follower will be exposed to ground fall potential on the first pitch.

The nature of the rock of Carderock is such that trad gear cannot be relied upon. There are multiple reports over the years of trad gear failing due to the soft, flakey nature of the rock.