Pizza Face

2019 edit/preface:

there's a lot of ranting on this page by my 24-year-old self in the description & comments. In hindsight, it seems over-the-top to me, and I was planning to delete it, but others encouraged me to leave it up. It does seem that an acceptable consensus was achieved judging by the comments below, but, I do apologize in advance for the self-righteous tone on this page.

This route is a perfect example of where, how, and why not to rap-bolt a route. As a toprope, it's somewhat fun and worth doing to hone your slab technique.

The route is not particularly well-bolted; set so close to the perfect crack of

Endless Crack

that escape would be possible at almost any point and a couple of the bolts could be clipped by someone leading the crack; furthermore, the rock quality of the first half is poor, with crumbly edges for the hardest moves (we broke several in one TR session). As Lumpy is largely a traditional area, it seems that rap-bolted routes should be placed with considerably more sensitivity (not to mention good bolt work!).

The route is found just right of a large gully, which lies right of

J-Crack

and

Femp

.

Endless Crack

is the obvious clean crack which begins and ends in the slab on the left; Pizza Face is squeezed in just right of this. To top-rope, lead either Mission Impossible or

Endless Crack

, and clip the top bolt (or more, if desired) as a directional. Note that from the anchor atop

Mission Impossible

, a 60m rope does not reach the ground, so both the climber and belayer must begin from ledge just above the ground (its easy for the belayer to then downclimb after the climber ascends 10 feet to a good stance).

The route has an upper pitch (after following

Endless Crack

for a pitch) of reportedly much better quality and position, though still run-out, but this pitch has come to be known as a separate route called Kite Slab.

6 QD, and a larger Friend or two for a wide 5.7 crack if desired. Mostly this route is top-roped (60m rope!) by leading either the first pitch of

Endless Crack

(5.9) or

Mission Impossible

(5.10a) up to a fixed sling anchor (bring extra carabiners).