Things Fall Apart

This amazing splitter is surely one of the best pitches in The Monument. Formerly an aid route, this splitter now goes free and should rank high on any desert crack climber's to-do list. The route splits an otherwise blank, streaked wall right in the middle of the Tiaro Rado climbing area and consists of 3 cruxes.

To begin, climb up some Chinle to the roof, plug in a couple pieces from a stance here and get ready. Tips locks and a couple crimps lead over the roof (protect this section with a #1 TCU as a green Alien is too big), make a desperate stab to another tips lock and a couple more moves lead to good fingers. Unfortunately, the good fingers are short lived; baggy fingers lead to ring locks up a slightly overhanging and slightly leaning crux. Push through the remaining ring locks and savor a couple perfect hand jam pods. Rest in these and prepare for the upcoming finish - 0.5s that slowly narrow down to tips. A couple final, big moves between tips locks lead over the mini-roof and to the anchors.

This route was first ascended by Joe Prescott and Joe Cole as presumably an aid route and was called "Student Aid", documented in

Desert Rock III.

This splitter should be fairly obvious, climbing a beautiful, streaked wall approximately 100' right of where the trail meets the cliff.

Blue TCUs through #0.75s with one #2 Camalot. I found one blue TCU to be mandatory as the crack was too thin for a green Alien or blue BD over the roof. The anchors have chains and biners. Bring a tooth brush as this can get a bit dirty after a heavy rain.