Joe Exotic

Joe Exotic/Sis Wife is a harder companion route to

Tiger King

, which starts just to the right. It has two distinct crux sections and stacks of other challenging climbing, but also some nice rests.

Crank an opening boulder problem to a rounded boss, and catch your breath. Segue into some weird “bulging slab” climbing to a very thin, dynamic crux on poor holds to good incuts in a break (the right crux crimp kept crumbling; it used to be much better). Climb steepening terrain to a second, punchy crux through the bulge. Eventually you reach a good rest, and then share the exit crux and final three bolts with

Tiger King

, ending up over the lip.

Clip five is tenuous, difficult, and a little scary, as well as conditions dependent. If you blew it, it would not be good. There’s a giant stegosaurus rock down on the ground that you could, in theory, hit. You might consider starting with bolt five or bolt six preclipped. I did this eventually, as I was tired of the mental battle with this clip, though I did make it on multiple occasions. All the other clips are fine, however.

Many thanks to OSMP and the FCC for making new routing possible in the Flatties.

It is just left of

Tiger King

, joining it at bolt 12 for a shared exit.

14 bolts. Long draws are helpful in spots.