Ram Implosion Wing

OK, please hang with me here because I have some explaining to do regarding the route name and my three-star rating.

First off, I think it's a shame such a long, beautiful line would be slapped forever with a name as equally unpoetic, though it continues to leave me scratching my head in the middle of the night, wondering, "Wha tha fa ... Ram Implosion Wing? What? Why?" Whatever. Just make sure you're psyched to drag up a ton of metal and an extra rope up a tall adventure for what will surely be a sandy experience for some time to come. If this corner got more traffic it would clean up to be Quarter of a Man's big brother -- complete with two roofs in the top half ... and a short offwidth at the bottom.

Twenty feet of precarious choss is best skirted by a solid-looking crack on the right to gain a ledge where the real action begins. (Too psyched to reach the meat of the climb, I neglected to examine all my starting options and fired up the choss, which is hairier than it looks.)

From the ledge you have a few options for small- and medium-sized pro before busting a few OW moves. The wideness isn't bad except for the sandiness. It quickly pinches down to hands and then 1 and 1.5 inches forever to the final roof, where it goes back to hands.

Which brings me to an explanation of my rack suggestion of 15 green Camalots. If this crack cleaned up a climber could get away with maybe 10 or 12, running it out about 10 feet between placements, as tends to happen on liebacks with bomber cams once I'm high enough off the deck. I've taken many 30-foot lobs on green Camalots, but this thing was so sandy I was nervous once a cam was just below my feet. To feel comfortable going for the onsight, instead of back-cleaning as I did, I would have needed at least 15 1.5-inch cams, probably more; I brought 8 and still back-cleaned for 80 feet. Keep in mind the corner is indeed a full 200 feet and most of it is one size. And did I mention it was sandy?

Don't mind the sand, though. Both roofs are awesome and the big one at the top is clean. With luck the entire route will reveal itself to be solid, smooth and sexy toe to head. ... Do I still need to explain my three-star rating?

Break right where the trail meets the cliff, as for Optimator. "Call of the Raven" is the striking left-facing corner with a big roof at the top. The feature is one of the most prominent on the wall, butting the left end of the long, exposed ledge that Optimator starts from 100 yards up and to the right.

There is another, less direct -- though also striking -- left-facing corner with a giant roof between Raven and Optimator, which is currently a Brian Kimball project. (Kimball is recovering from a bad shoulder injury and is hoping to return ASAP, as I write this on Dec. 9, 2008.)

7 1-inch; 15 1.5; 3 2-in.; 2 3-in.(gold Camalots); maybe an old #4 or #5 Camalot for the OW, and perhaps one or two other pieces for the very start. You will also need several long slings (at least 4 to 6) and a 60-meter tagline. It might be ideal to lead on a 70-meter cord, as I did, since the climbing goes in then out; my 60-meter tag, which hung straight to the ground, only had four feet leftover.