Puppet on a Broken String

climbs the overhanging series of small dihedrals to the right of

Arêtamania

via sometimes cryptic but great movement.  Start by climbing to

Arêtamania’s

third bolt.  Rather than going left around the arête,

PBS

continues right up past three more bolts to a decent rest.  Just above the line splits.  The original and better line stays right past four more bolts to chains with a fixed locker hanging over the lip.  A slightly easier variation kicks off by clipping the next bolt of the original line then making a hard left under a small roof band to a bolt then up to separate chains.  Except for the

Arêtamania

start,

PBS

is essentially gym bolted with SS 3/8”.  Expect new route conditions, although minor IMO.

Puppet on a Broken String

Bolted Slab Left

Bolted Slab Right

Arêtamania

This is the short but stunning overhanging arête uphill of the slab routes.  Easy climbing past 3 bolts reaches the base of the arête.  Step around the arête to the left to a series of apish moves, mostly on second-knuckle holds, past 4 more bolts to chains.  A bit crumbly, but it’ll continue to clean up with traffic.  7 bolts, 2 for chains.

Note on the FA/name:  As mentioned on the area page, this is one of the lines that was bolted by an unknown party, apparently many years ago, and that doesn’t appear in any known guides.  When we first visited the crag, tied on to this route’s first bolt was a moss-covered piece of sling, that when untied revealed the sling was originally red.  Since this assumed “red tag” was discolored and covered by moss, and blinded by our unquenchable thirst for glory, we ignored it and dropped a rope on the line to see whether the bolts and rock were sound.  The rock was pretty nasty, but the worst was remedied by a combination of prying and flailing, and the moves were eventually strung together. Given the route’s mystery, the “FA” and "real" name remain unknown until the FA party steps up.  The bolts seem to be in good shape, and are fairly close together; but it would be comforting to learn the length of the studs if anyone might know.   Big kudos to the original developers for their vision and obvious hard work in equipping the route, and apologies if any offense has been taken.

Start climbing at the very lowest point of the crag, at the toe of a low-angle slab.  Climb more or less straight up into a field of moss then finish on cleaner rock to chains.  Moss-free holds can be found the whole way, but the moss does limit one’s options and makes this route a little more difficult than its neighbor to the right.  11 bolts, 2 for chains.

Clip the first two bolts of

Bolted Slab Left

, then diagonal right to another bolt just over a small roof and continue on the right-side of the slab almost to its top.  A diagonaling traverse up and left leads to the chains of

Bolted Slab Left

.  No moss.  10 bolts, 2 for chains.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Forsaken Wall