Nuclear Erection

A brilliant and direct line on perfect stone. Nuclear Erection is a masterpiece in tenuous and technical climbing. Although rated 12d, you may find it more difficult and not as straightforward as some of the 13a pitches on the North Side.

The Selected Climbs in NC guidebook breaks this into 2 pitches.....utilizing a hanging gear belay halfway up. It's worth noting however that Shull and the other folks that have sent this route, linked both pitches. The guidebook also calls Pitch 1 12b and Pitch 2 12d....although I find that the crux is around bolts 4 & 5 on P1.

I believe that this route has only seen 3 free ascents to date, and maybe only 1 proper red-point.

The first 3 bolts involve fun and athletic moves that dance around the arete. Get to a stance on the face, and get ready for a good stretch of hard climbing. Bolts, pins, and cams in horizontals will get you to another shake/rest at a bomber hand crack below the upper bulges above.

The upper part of the route is steeper and bouldery....although there are some rest stances to be had along the way. Expect long reaches to poor slopers, high stepping, and wild undercling sequences. The boulder problem before the anchor might just be your redpoint crux. You can rappel from here with a single 70m rope, it just reaches the ground/slab.

Just left of Cornflake Crack

You'll need a 70m rope or 2 60s to get down

Single rack of cams from small up to #2

15ish draws/runners