Back on topic... CCK was the cover shot of a not-so-well-known instructional book on rock climbing several years ago. Anybody know which one I'm refering to?

CCK 1975.

Did CCK Direct today. Still as fun as always. Fixed cam in the overhang if anyone is interested. Looked a little beat up. Fix tricam in the flake.

Speaking of 5.7 leaders who are ignorant of chockcraft, one might extend that difficulty range up a grade or two. The fixed cam Coppertone mentions above on CCK Direct is a yellow C3 in a crack that takes several sizes of large stopper, right above the C3 placement. The large stopper is trivial to place and is both stronger and more reliable than a small cam. The placement itself is as obvious as a stopper placement can be. At that point the leader is standing on a ledge and is under no pressure to get something in fast.

Small cams are wonderful and have totally changed the protection game. But they should never be viewed as bombproof (and please spare us your 30 foot whipper onto a black Alien stories). The entire unit is not as strong as a big stopper and the margin for error with small cams is significant and can never be entirely eliminated. Substituting a small cam for a perfect large stopper placement is, in my old-fart opinion, either ignorant or incompetent; take your choice. The fact that the cam in question looks badly stuck and is now a deteriorating eyesore is just icing on the cake.

I'll take a good nut placement anyday.

The direct in 2010.

That fixed cam was there since last spring at least. (unless this one is a replacement for the one I saw there...) Same for the tricam.

Ditto curmudgeon. Well said Rich for us oldsters.

Quite possible since I have not been on the route in the past year. Although the cam clearly looked cleanable. I didn't want to waste my time trying as I was trying to get as much climb time as possible coming back from a torn biceps tendon. Rich still does a nice job on the Sharp end for an old fart.

Note the qualification.

On the dull end, Dave is not mentioning that I tried for something like half an hour to get a nut out on Limelight, almost buried it irretrievably, finally got it back to its original stuck position, gave up, finished the pitch, lowered him down to it, and he removed it in ten seconds max.

Oopsie.

I remember climbing CCK in the early eighties. My partner always used to make smart comments to me when I was on the sharp end, like "T - wanna get a six pack when were done here?" He'd rattle me a bit, but it was all in fun. On this occasion, there were some female climbers topping out on Updraft above his belay ledge and they dropped their rope on him belaying me. He started singing neil Young's "You're such a stupid girl". I finished the climb and we went for a six pack.