Its HARD!!!

I got totally spanked by the P2 crux, and I was wondering if I was off route perhaps...I am guessing probably not and that I simply failed...

I went up and left off the belay, toward a little tree with some slings on it and straight up from there into a little alcove filled with loose rocks.

At this point a grappling match ensued between my upper body and my lower body to try and get stabilized within the little alcove. Not surprisingly, I lost, but not before getting a good nut, up and left, near the edge of the roof.

To make a long story excruciating, I reached as close to the lip as possible and found only slopey-ness. I tried going right over the roof instead, where the holds were small but positive but I ran out of energy from all of my thrashing and contorting trying to go out left.

So whats the deal? Please keep in mind that I already realize that I am somewhat of a weenie; I would prefer if you folks could give me information that I don't currently possess...

Many thanks...

Steve

Somehow, on the lead, I got turned around in the alcove and was facing outward kinda sitting down and resting, first time I went up there.

The beta is to lean out climber's left and swing onto the face over there. A muscley move and then you are on secure footing again and can rest.

I go left by rocking over onto a really high foot and hoping my left hand finds some kind of side pull. This is one of those climbs where it really is easier to be short. And also to not wear a helmet. Do the straight up P1 variation and win two extra chances to smash your head against rock!

Yeah I was rocking the helmet and I'm 6'4...i just hate not being able to see whats around that corner! as far as the variation, I followed what the book called the original line up past the tree with some slings rather than the thin face with little pro and slopey crimps.

I also ended up facing outward in the alcove. It was a wild stance looking out away from the cliff. I thought it was pretty hard and felt harder than 5.8 so I assumed I did something completely wrong...
wild route....

Just look at the date of the first ascent, 1957...wasn't much harder then than 5.8.

Well, in 1957 it was the hardest climb at the cliffs. I wouldn't be surprised if it started out as a 5.9, but by the time Art Gran's guidebook came out seven years later it was already down to 5.8, right there with Jacob's Ladder...

Yellow Belly has a significant place in Shawangunk history. Its ascent by Jim McCarthy 52 years ago represented the end of the depressed Eastern standards that were a byproduct of the Appalachian Mountain Club's conservative hegemony over the Gunks climbing scene. Until that point, 5.7, with the occasional Wiessner 5.8, was the top of the Shawangunk scale, but Yellow Belly surpassed not only all the old 5.7's but was certainly also harder than Wiessner 5.8's like Minniebelle and was probably the hardest climb in the Northeast at the time.

Not only did Yellow Belly represent an increase in standards that had been two grades behind the West Coast, it also represented a psychological breakthrough for McCarthy, who went on in short order to other 5.8's, then 5.9's, and then 5.10's.

Anyone know the year of the FFA of Neanderthal at Stover...

I know this doesn't help much....

My first climbing trip ever was to Stover in the fall of 1972, and it was a free route at that time.

FA Lou Lutz and Bob Chambers (1957)
FFA M. G. Block and Bob Dickson (1957)

TS

The famous Lou Lutz. A real fixture in the Philly area for many years.

I know this is thread drift, but I can't remember how many times I've done that climb. Not that I ever "looked forward" to climbing at Stover, but that climb was one that was done on almost every trip.

stover = climbing on crayons