Eyeless in Gaza

Eyeless might be the perfect sport climb. It's long, but not an endurance nightmare. It has cruxes, but the route could not be considered bouldery. It has a few heartbreaking moves at the top that don't seem that bad when you're fresh, but when you're pumped, it's a whole different story. In other words, you have to consider yourself a true sport climber to send Eyeless.

This might explain the shenanigans that went into sending this route. Climbers attempted this route for a few years before it was bolted. They used dubious pro, including pins that were pounded in behind some of the thin flakes that make for great incut edges for handholds. Between every attempt, the pins had to be pounded back in because the force of the fall loosened them. The route was eventually clandestinely bolted and sent, proving that Eyeless was always meant to be a sport route, despite the predominant ethic of the day.

To find the route, locate the beautiful orange, slightly overhanging wall with a line of flakes leading to anchors at the 60 foot mark. To start, climb up a strange dike for a few feet and then head right onto a mini-slab and then up the face. The technical crux comes early, at the third bolt, and involves a tenuous lock off to reach a small flake sidepull. The pumpy moves continue as the angle is unrelenting.

You might find it surprising that the redpoint crux is clipping the final bolt (or you may have before reading this). The hand holds are just slopey enough to make you want to move on, yet there's that pesky issue of clipping the bolt. A sequential move or two and a powerful move up into an undercling leads to the anchors.

Eyeless, like many other routes in this area of the cliff, stays dry in the rain. If it's raining, don't lean out too much while clipping the anchors, as you might find meaning to the term "Splash-pump."

6 bolts.