Equilibrium

This is a sixty degree overhanging finger crack roof. Start on the obvious jug to the left of the crack where the crack is still a seam. You can top out at the horizontal about ten feet out via a big flake, which is quite fun, or for full value you can follow the crack all the way out the roof, topping out on a hand and fist crack. Going all the way out bumps the grade to hard V11. If you take the crack all the way out, puzzle out the right foot sequence and the rock that is close at the end will be easier to get around. Also be warned, the left hand finger locks on this thing are particularly brutal. The crack is mostly good fingers. The name is inspired by how bizzarely balanced the rock this on is.

In the fall of 2015 someone took it upon themselves to chip a gently constricting and perfect hand jam into this boulder by removing a solid and un-flexing flake which was attached to the wall and taking up about a foot of the crack. A tool or other implement was used, and a story was circulated about there having been some "loose rock" in the crack that community minded climbers who really understood the world had taken it upon themselves to take care of and remove. The hand jam iteration of the problem was around v6, and similar to numerous other challenges around Vedauwoo in this grade range. Fortunately(unfortunately?) someone filled in the crack with mortar, presumably to preserve the original problem. The new iteration is solid v10, and just a touch harder than the old version, though it is a HUGE HUGE HUGE step down in aesthetics. Anyone who thinks we need to have man made crap proliferate rock climbs to the maximum extent possible need only go look at this thing. It is downright ugly, practically to the point of hurting ones stomach.

If this had been some honest mistake where the flake had broken off and the original problem was to be preserved, in my opinion the right thing to do would have been to get in touch with the person who opened the boulder (me) and involve them in the process of gluing the flake back in (or not, depending). This was not done here. Instead we have an eyesore.

Lastly, whoever chipped this boulder is just a disrespectful and ignorant person. Their actions are the height of arrogance. The person who put the mortar in there was trying to "fix" the chippers actions, so I personally hold the chipper responsible for that act as well.

This on the easternmost side of holdouts southeastern face, right at the base of the formation. The crack faces up toward the formation.

A couple pads and a spotter are nice.