Coach's Demise

Ever wondered to what route those 4 old pins belonged as you rappelled off the first pitch of Werk Supp? Well here it is. Find this obscure short pitch just above the first pitch of March of Dimes or starting perhaps 15 feet L of the upper 70 feet of Werk Supp's first pitch on the North Face of the Bastille.

Described by Rossiter's guide as "this pitch parallels the upper half of P1 of Werk Supp on the left." This route probably warrants the bomb rating for the rock bomb potential at least along the line we took. From the little saddle behind the March of Dimes buttress, move slightly R and find a bugaboo (or KB?) a few feet off the ground. You can try to find ways past the pin to the R to avoid touching this huge, tilted, detached flake (now removed) precariously perched up and L of this pin, but neither of us felt it was less than 5.10. Certainly, moving up and R seemed likely to enter X or VS range (if this is the actual line, you should ignore this next bit about the flake and the rating). Then again, so did up and L.

Our efforts required a gentle lieback on this flake (now removed) and fearful stepping upon it to traverse L. The upper part of this flake shifted an inch with gentle outward pressure inward or outward. Arrggghhhh! Reminiscent of Cannon Mountain (NH) rock, this huge block could take out the belay or belayer below and would definitely take out a car on the road. Don't think you're safe yet. As you gain this up and R ramp, you must face other stacked blocks that make you try to minimize your presence.

Finally, reach a decent angle pin (partially hidden under a lump of grass in the crack) in solid rock. From here the route is more technically but less psychologically difficult. Continue up to a KB. Here you go up and highstep L into a briefly fractured band. Climb past what-appears-to-be a soft iron pin and reach the belay thankful for metastabilities. On the positive side, at least none of the 4 pins shift with hand pressure.

Perhaps somethings are better not climbed.

4 pins (in situ), hmmm, not much else.