5.10 crack testpieces

[marc_leclerc]

Pitch 2 of Daily Planet! Unfortunately you would have to get up the first pitch to try it.... but I'm sure you could pull on gear or something.

[smallman]

Excellent 10 cracks not mentioned yet:
Wiretap (pitch 1) stout 10a.
Centre Street 10c
the Zip 10a
Climb and Punishment 10d
Genicide 10b or 10c.
Rock On. 10a
Hand Jive 10b
Caboose 10c
Thriller on the Pillar 10b
Little testis 10b
Jabberwocky 10 b

[thebigchin]

Crescent Crack

[Dru]

Feel Me I'm 100% Rubber at the Rehabilitation Projects isn't a "pure crack testpiece" because of all the faceholds (it's more like gear protected face climbing) but it doesn't have any bolts and it is one of the steepest 10b finger cracks I can think of. Steeper than Blazing Saddles for sure. Doesn't get done much as it's in a mostly-sport area but that just means no lineups.

[BK]

Andre Ike and I stumbled on a real treasure yesterday - "Squeamish" up on the Feather wall of the Squaw. Superb 5.10 crack climbing that if you are crafty with your rigging, you could link the 30 meter pitches into some real barn burner 60 meter pitches. You'd have to be crafty not to hose yourself and your rack should be pretty fat as there's only one protection bolt in 5 30 meter pitches.

test piece or not, excelent route. way to go Robin and Harry!

I should add that two #5 /#6 camalots is handy for one fearsome looking offwidth section otherwise its a single set of wires and doubles in cams to a gold and one blue is plenty.

[slopr]

Some more good mentions everyone, Squeamish sounds interesting (as does that entire wall).
Hand Jive is a good mention, i remember it being sustained & tricky for 10b
A few of these "classics" need to be narrowed down however as the OP is requesting recommends for TESTPIECES -not classics as well with no bolts for pro!

Therefore i would ask that the following climbs be stricken from the record:

-The planet pitch 2 is definitely a testpiece for the grade (10b), the sad story is that although it will probably fall out soon- there is still a bolt @ the high crux.
-Jabberwocky is 5.9 with a V0 start move & widely known as 10a, great climb-far from a testpiece. I would maybe even say the easiest 10b is Squamish if you insist on that being the grade.
-Little testis has a 10b move, again great climb but not sustained enough to be considered solid for the grade.
-Ditto for crescent crack, one of the best for sure but it starts easy and gradually gets harder to one 10d move at the top. 5 star classic- 1 star testpiece.
-Cimb & punishment has a pin that gets hung & whipped on every weekend, as well just the one crux. Until the pin is gone this is not a testpiece, once it is gone i'll bet some nancy puts a bolt there.

Often times a tespiece is anything but classic, that is why they are awesome.

What about the 5.10 corner on whirlwind? i think. the steep one up & to the left of snake coming out of the bushes. Anyone done it? How about peanuts @ comic rocks?

[Dru]

What about Gord's Block then? No bolts, pure crack, short and burly.

[Tenn]

A few to add:
- First pitch great game. Lots of great hand sized crack climbing with a mirror image exasperator crux.
- Talking holds in the bluffs is a good quality and burly .10a - definitely not a typical bluffs .10a.
- Biffo the bear (.10b) and popeye (.10d) at comic rocks both feel quite burly for the grades.
- How about rutabaga second pitch? No move harder than .10c or so (as long as you go the right way at the end) but pretty long and sustained. A great pitch either way.
- If someone elects high plains drifter then I suggest Astrologger. No move harder than 10+ but extremely pumpy and sustained. Must be one of the single best pitches at Squamish.

Good to hear some mention of Squeamishness. I found that a rewarding and quality .10 route. Lots of jamming and laybacking that will keep your attention to say the least. More people should go do it.

I would agree that Gord's block could be a test piece of short .10 pitches. If that thing was full length it would be .11b.

Even Steven definitely deserves mention and more traffic. Heard an interesting story about the origin of the name of this one...Apparently the first ascencionist had spent the spring scrubbing up bop till you drop at the cirque but then got called away to work before climbing it. When he returned he learned that a friend of his had gone and done the first ascent of it while he was away. He was choked, to say the least, as he had put in a lot of work into this quality line (has this one been mentioned on the list??). Some time later while climbing at the pet, the guy who had done the f.a. of bop came up to the guy who had scrubbed it and said he had something to show him. They walked down to the lower pet and there was a freshly excavated and cleaned crack line. The route was offered up to the guy who had scrubbed bop. He sent it, claimed the f.a. and named it "even steven" as the score was now settled.

Never been on it, and it has a bolt but pipeline must surely be a .10d test piece as well.

[BK]

true story (more or less) on even steven - dave lane and john howe

good call on gords block - for 20 feet of climbing, thats a test piece if ever there was one.

Also, New life is dry enough to go and first pitch is classic 5.10 - but no test piece

[BSP]

Whirlwind is a great testpieces. I recommend it.

[Don]

"Canadian Compromise 10a into Quagmire Crack 10c- if u are a 5.10 climber & onsight this u are stoked"

I want to second the motion on this one as being a definite testpiece. Its long, its sustained, its a gear battle, which i think are qualities of a true testpiece. And it was one onsight that i was super stoked to get!

Another one that should be on the list - Just Blessed. Wicked crack back in the Valley of Shaddai. Get on it!

[slopr]

A few slightly more obscure, stout 5.10s - all worth checking out:
• Popeye (I've seen a few strong climbers fall off the first move)
• Desperate Dan
• Mr. O'Clock (The Weak Link is pretty exciting for 5.10 too, but it's got a couple bolts)
• The Full Pitch in Time
• Backwoods Beebop
• Token Brits + Perfidious Albion (maybe not testpieces, but not your average Bluffs 5.10s either)
• Hangover
• The 5.10 at Skunk Hollow

With the exception of pitch in time, which is pretty full on 10b i'd say. I have never done or heard much about any of these so thanks for the ideas!

Cool story about Even Steven, thanks, more like that on this site please. Love the stories about how some of these pitches came about-old or new.

[paulc]

Funny, I was just thinking about Just Blessed. Haven't tried it, but checked it out. Looks great and crux at the top?

Even Stephen has some pretty stellar rests, but the climbing is hard and has a couple of different cruxes.

Mr O Clock is pretty hard for 10d, the gear on the first half of the route is all tiny. If you move fast you are ok then you get the nice hand rail traverse at the end on great gear. When I lead this, I got to the ledge at half or 2/3 height and lowered down a loop of slack for more small gear. Bring the RPs.

Yeah Dan Mannix. Not sure where he is right now. Last call I got was from Vegas.

P

[gnarnaphobe]

Already mentioned 3 times but I'd like to re-elect the milk run corners as an Ultra 5.10 testpiece, that sh*t is SUSTAINED! I sent it saturday and my forearms are still throbbing...

[NateDoggOG]

Apron Strings is definitely sustained, and I'm proud to call it my best onsight yet.
I got the redpoint of both Gords Block and SMs Delight the other day, both of which were good climbs.
Gords took me a couple days to work out.

The final pitch of Peasant's Route has a bolt, but it's a test piece for sure.