ROUTE OF THE SEASON
WORDS + CHARLIE BARRETT / IMAGE + JERRY DODRILL
BETA ROUTE
GRADE
Pratt’s Crack
LENGTH
5.9
170 feet
ROCK TYPE
STYLE
RACK
Granite
Traditional
Small to 10”
LOCATION
DESCENT
APPROACH
Pine Creek Canyon, Bishop 10 min.; good trail SEASON
Fall to spring
Rappel with two 60m ropes
GUIDEBOOK Bishop Area Rock Climbs, by Marty Lewis and Peter Croft
DESCRIPTION
Jody Pennycook climbing Pratt’s Crack (5.9).
13 | SPRING 2015
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Offwidth… Just the word itself sounds like a lot of work. It’s probably because most offwidths are, but if you have proper wide-crack climbing technique and the bravery to start up this pitch, Pratt’s Crack (5.9) can turn out to be an enjoyable rope length of climbing. Walking into Pine Creek Canyon near Bishop and farther into the Pratt’s Crack Gully, you can’t help but be amazed by the perfect architecture of the wall. The splitter right-facing corner of Pratt’s Crack looks like a perfectly sculpted corner of a building that should be in downtown San Francisco. The beautiful square-cut arête just to the right of Pratt’s Crack is Tom Herbert’s classic sport route Ecstasy, which clocks in at a hard 5.13a. Nostalgic climbers might remember the classic footage of TM Herbert climbing Pratt’s Crack and his son Tom climbing his arête Ecstasy in the 1990s movie Moving Over Stone Part II. Although Pratt’s Crack involves a lot of pure offwidth climbing, the gear var-
ies from tiny cams, which can be placed in the smaller cracks inside the offwidth, to large, slung chockstones and giant cams. If you need some help convincing your partner to try Pratt’s Crack, be sure to mention that the stellar, long and clean splitter hand crack Sheila (5.10a) is just around the corner. Sheila shares an anchor with Ecstasy, so it’s also possible to give that some convenient toprope burns. If you dispatch Pratt’s Crack quickly and you’re still looking to sample more of the classic long routes Pine Creek has to offer, you don’t need to look far. The five-pitch route Rites of Spring (5.10d) is located on the tall, clean wall just left of Pratt’s Crack and features some of the best pitches the area has to offer. With its location tucked into Wheeler’s Ridge just northwest of Bishop, Pratt’s Crack and the surrounding climbs are a nice way to escape the heat of the warm Owens Valley in spring, summer and fall. Be sure to look out for Tai Devore‘s new guidebook to the Pine Creek area, which is in the making now and should be out soon.