Super Slab

This is one of Eldo's top ten classic climbs. Super Slab begins at the top of the ramp that leads from the roof routes to the base of

Ruper

. Begin fifty feet left of

Ruper

underneath some heavily chalked underclings twenty feet above the ground. This climb offers spectacular and scary climbing on generally solid rock.

The first pitch checks in at 10+ and is the strength-related crux of the route. Climb up into the underclings and up the left-angling seam above, 10+ protected by good pins. Continue up thirty feet until parallel with some pins leading straight left. Traverse straight left past three pins (9) to a belay at the base of a left-facing dihedral.

Pitch two is a short one, continue up the dihedral for fifty feet (6) to a belay ledge.

Pitch three has two options. We traversed left into the 11a/b third pitch of

Doub-Griffith

. I recommend this as the climbing is great on this variation and is pretty well protected with two bolts and a decent pin. For this variation, traverse down and left on runout 5.6 from the belay. Head up for and obvious bolt and continue up a sort of arete with an delicate 11 section after the pin. Continue up on 5.7 climbing to a small belay ledge at the base of the beautiful 70 degree slab.

The normal way to do this pitch is to traverse in from the left, above the bolts on nebulous terrain to join the second half of the pitch I just described (8+).

The fourth pitch is the best on the route, and is the route's technical and psychological crux. This pitch checks in at about 10c with delicate balancy laybacks and precise footwork. Climb up to the obvious bolt fifteen feet above the belay. The crux is the twenty-foot section above this bolt. Head for a shallow left-facing dihedral with a pin scar. Make a scary blind placement (small TCU, or stopper) hope that it is good (you can indeed get a good placement here, if you spend too much time trying to place this piece and fall, you will probably hit the belay ledge, not a good prospect) and climb right of the dihedral for ten more scary feet to reach a good hold. (If the TCU blows on a fall from this section, injury is almost definite, however as I said you can if you are patient get a good piece in here that will hold a fall from the crux moves above, it is a hard piece to place though). Continue up on slightly scary 5.9 that traverses left under an overhang and surmount this on good holds on the left (9), do some 5.8 out right to reach the upper ramp. This pitch is about 10c overall and instead of requiring pure strength, requires a good sense of body position and good footwork.

Bring a purple Metolius TCU or equivalent for the crux. Otherwise a light standard rack is suffficient.