Gill Route

The "Gill Route" (not to be confused with the

Gill Problem

) is probably the classic Jenny Lake testpiece, and an historic boulder for any number of reasons.  I'll leave it to the man himself to clarify the two:

"I did it in 1959, not 1958. Here's the scoop as I remember it. By 1959 climbers had tried to get up that part of Red Cross for some time, and had failed. There was no right fingertip hold at that time, merely a kind of smooth irregularity in the rock with a horizontal hairline crack on top. Nothing anyone of any generation could possibly use. After some tries, I stood at the base facing the rock, placed my left toe on a small hold, grasped the large hold in the middle with my left hand, then toed off the ground with my right foot, pulling hard and rotating while reaching up over the lip to the dime sized hold there. No jump, but it was a smooth dynamic move. What I called a "swinging lieback". At the time others could not do it that way, so one day I took my hammer and chipped off a tiny bit of rock on the hairline crack, so that there was now a fingertip hold for the right hand. Then, as the years passed, the route saw several ascents. But usually the route, but not my problem. Some time after that, apparently someone chipped the fingertip hold a little bit more, which is what you find now - but I haven't been there in ten years or so. It's true the ground level has dropped over the years, but that should not make a substantial difference, since it's not a jump. I was a gymnast and worked the still rings at the time, so had plenty of strength. Someone might be able to do what I did by pulling onto the rock, then going for the top, if they were just the right size and could crimp themselves into that hollow, pulling on the large hold, then reaching over the top. Even then I suspect it would be dynamic.If this happens I would love to see it, please post a photo or video!

John Gill"

Pads, or not for added historical value.