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The Little Smoke Bluffs:
Classic cracks is what Penny Lane is all about whether you want a sustained 5.11 like Crime of the Century or something a bit more tame such as Quarryman, 5.8, you'll find it at this crag. Must do's include: Penny Lane (of course), 5.9; Clandestine Affair, 5.9; Quarryman, 5.8; Up, Up & Away, 5.9; Popeye & the Raven, 5.10c; Crime of the Century, 5.11c. |
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PENNY LANE, 5.9
Ken spotting Peter on the bouldery start (left) & Peter pausing for his first piece (right) many more of which can be found on this 120' classic. Penny Lane was my first 5.9 lead that I'd waited the entire winter of '97~'98 to complete: first day of my first trip of '98 I lead it and then the next day I lead my first 5.10! CLANDESTINE AFFAIR, 5.9
Clandestine begins with a rather bold traverse that leads into a perfect finger crack. Sam had been waiting a while to tick this on and did a fine job of it (above). QUARRYMAN, 5.8
My third lead ever was Quarryman, 5.8, & it almost turned me off leading for good ( left)! Instead of traversing left along the flake like Ken (right) is about to do, I continued straight up & into the 5.10b variation: I had to downclimb about 15' and then finish the lead properly. It ended up taking me about 45mins. to finish this short climb and that was it for the day! |
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all photos ©2000 Michael levy |