Dihedral One

On the South Side of the Wind Tower there are 2 vertical dihedrals along the trail between the foot bridge and the cave. Both are open and somewhat irregular. Both are polished and smooth.

The first of these passed on the Streamside Trail (rightmost) is Dihedral One. This route is thin, hard, slick, and somehow- it is fun. This route has fun and interesting moves, but is not very aesthetic. At 5.10d, it is quite the sandbag, I grade it moderate 5.11... a slick, thin, tricky, 5.11 on questionable protection. I fell a few times on the route prior to success. My partner, after watching me do the route fell several times as well. We both normally on-sight 5.11. Mike Brooks was walking below so I asked him what he thought of the grade, as I believe he'd done it... 5.11? He concurred.

Go up the dihedral placing a single small TCU and a few moderate to poor stoppers before balancing your way through the crux. Pull over to the slab and find a place to set some larger gear for a belay.

Descend by finishing up on the slabs, or by traversing off and left to the back side slabe of the tail.

The Rossiter Book calls this route 5.10d and does not call it S. I beg to differ.

The gear can be made to be acceptable, but not good. The crux is close to the ground and a string of poor brassies and small nuts in a smooth and somewhat flaring spot is crux pro. The gear can hold fall, if you place it well. If you are not solid at this grade, get a crash pad and spotter.

The crux can be bouldered with a pad and spotter, but good luck reversing the move- take several pads.

Ball-nuts could help.