Teetering on the Brink of Madness

[scrubber]

Yeah, I looked over there. It's pretty hard to envision The Grim Reaper as much of an independent line anymore. Parts of it are there, but much of it is so close to The Crossing and The Climbers Must be Crazy that you'd just have to avoid their bolts to be on the line.

I think it's pretty much just one for the history books. It would be interesting to have a go at it once just to get the t-shirt...

K

[t-bone]

There was a post on MountainProject from 2013 that indicated the route is mossy - has anyone been up there since?

Also, I'm curious how much of a step up this climb is from Dancing in the Light? Judging from the earlier posts it seems that the 5.9/10- runouts are similar, but I'm guessing there is more sustained 10+/11- climbing? Any feedback would be appreciated...

[jstod]

There was a post on MountainProject from 2013 that indicated the route is mossy - has anyone been up there since?

Climbed this route last season and don't recall any problems with moss. There may have been some to the left of the crux on second to last pitch but that didn't interfere with the climbing. Definitely worth doing.

Julian

[gnarnaphobe]

T-bone: in my opinion teetering is one step down from Dancing in the light both in terms of technical difficulties and runouts.

If I recall correctly DitL has a significant run out on one of the lower pitches then is relatively well protected after that.

Teetering is well protected throughout.

LC

[scrubber]

I'd say that teetering has a slightly harder crux sequence, but DITL is much more sustained. I enjoy the unusual and varied climbing on Teetering quite a bit more. It definitely kept your attention when it was still 1/4 inch bolts.

K

[rolfr]

A few thoughts from the "back in my day climber". I always felt Teetering was a far more serious route, on the 4th crack pitch leading to the slab, the crux was well above your bolt, at a hard 10D/11A ,while DITL only had serious run-outs on the easier pitches. That pitch always had my attention!
For head spinning run-outs, pitch 5 of Dream On deserves mention, but that may also have been tamed by additional bolts and an added belay from the extension of Firewalk.

Slab climbing is such a head game , definitely an acquired taste. A handful of us oldsters are still putting up slab routes over the winters in Joshua Tree, but thankfully the bolts are much closer together.