The Paper Crane

I love this route and spent many days over the course of three years looking down over the Moab valley, taking afternoon naps on the Porch, and of course, flailing, climbing, and eventually succeeding.

The Paper Crane is a singular, stand-out line of well-spaced bolts up a beautiful, gently overhanging, tiger-striped wall that extends almost 150' up from the depths of the canyon to a perfect belay ledge just below the rim. “Axis of Evil," 5.12b/c, was a previously established route and though brilliant it escaped off to the left to a corner system halfway up the headwall avoiding the obvious direct finish up a stunning prow. This other line, dubbed "The Right Hand of Evil," had been cleaned and bolted by Mark Howe in 2004, but had seen little action. Supposedly it had been top-roped cleanly by Zach Smith, but had yet to see a clean lead. I myself toproped it several times over the years but usually felt like it was way out of my league. Then, feeling stronger, I called Mark and asked him about it, and he graciously encouraged me to get out there and climb on it.

Find the Front Porch and ID the route. Fix a line and rap in from the next set of anchors down-canyon, atop Axis Of Evil. Climb 20' up off the belay ledge to the first clip (long sling recommended) which protects an initial boulder problem reaching around an arete and into a corner. From here, follow the corner upwards to a layback flake that leads to a good stance below a small roof and a seam above. Figure out how to use this feature to stretch left -- perhaps the true crux of the route -- to the edge of a sharp flake. After this move, continue bear-hugging and liebacking up the edge of the flake and the arete to the right, performing either big, dynamic moves between good holds, or technical moves off of smaller ones. From here the climbing momentarily eases and you climb up and into a V-shaped inset that provides a comfortable no-hands rest. At this point Axis Of Evil breaks left out of the inset, and The Paper Crane traverses right. Take a deep breath and execute some devilishly technical moves traversing right, and slightly down, from the inset to an exposed, pumpy stance below a 10' vertical crack. Some long moves off of decent edges lead up to the crack, and then a technical double gaston gains the right end of a sloping rail and a chance to get a shake and perhaps make the next clip. The final crux comes as a sequential, pumpy fingertip traverse back left over a steep wall with little for feet, followed by a wonderful stand-up move to a stance that would afford a rest if you weren't feeling like you were going to barn-door at any moment. A deep breath, one more clip, and some powerful liebacking and jamming leads up the final 15' section to a bolted anchor by the tree. This last stretch is protectable with a #3 Camalot, but if you made it this far you have nothing to worry about.

This truly is one of the best climbs I've ever been on: multiple cruxes, amazing, technical movement and all played out upon a beautiful feature in a breathtaking canyon. If you choose to climb this route, please take care of this beautiful area and treat it with respect - it is a magical place.

15 draws, a long sling. A rap line, a lead line.