True Grit

A must-do for any stemming aficionado, this route starts from the same pillar as Reservation Blues and climbs the perfect open book directly above. The crux starts right away and involves a mostly pinched shut crack that barely goes via a nuanced blend of stemming, palming, and arete pinches. It probably took me 20 tries just to figure out how to step off of the pillar and easily double that to piece together the rest of the crux sequences.

After about twenty feet the crack starts to open up to occasional first digit mono locks interspersed with crimps. While this is definitely easier than the crux, it's far from easy and you want to dial it in well for the red point. Shortly thereafter it opens up to fingers-in-a-corner stemming more typical of the established lines at Trout. This feels easy while you're working it, but can be desperate on the go.

Just before the corner ends and jugs start to appear, the crack slams shut again and you have to execute one more technical stemming crux that revolves around a key left foot. Falling here is a real possibility and would be a total heartbreaker. My strategy was to TR this sequence every time I lowered from the RB/FL anchors to fully lock it in.

Overall, the movement on the cruxes of this line is some of the most beautiful and cerebral (and hard!) that I've done here.

While I've led it cleanly, I haven't actually red pointed this route by the strictest definition of the term. After trying and failing to last year, (I ripped two pieces and took a digger into the starting column) I fixed four pieces through the crux and pre-clipped the first (green ballnut). Done this way, I feel like it's reasonable to call this route PG13. Trying to redpoint with the small, fiddly gear through the hardest climbing would fully merit an R and possibly add a letter grade.

Regardless of style, bring the full compliment of tiny gear (RPs and ball nuts with the green ballnut being especially crucial) in addition to the usual 3-4 fingers and tips sizes required for Trout Creek finger cracks.