Balbaak means, "better than it looks" in an obscure dialect of ancient Vedauwoo-ese.  Many climbers come sniffing around these parts of the Nautilus in search of the first pitch of Captain Nemo (an excellent 5.8 pitch), and walk underneath this classic muttering droll comments about nightmarish wide cracks.  Nonsense!  This is a worthwhile little gem with varied climbing and a nice finish.

Located right of Bug Squad, Baalbek begins in a chimney sort of an affair with a wedged chockstone.  Calmly stem and chimney up to the block, then awkwardly surmount it, and resume chimney detail.  A few strenuous moves above lead into a nice finger/hand crack, and eventually a set of new anchor chains.  Catch a toprope on Bug Squad (use a lower set of chains on climber's left as a directional, which incidentally will commit you to completing the TR).

Good climbing, nice shade until early afternoon, and reasonable protection.

Baalbek

Vulture Direct

Fourth of July Roof

Right Winger

Ted's Trot

Folded, Spindled, and Mutilated

Soak'em In Cider

Tarsalation

Etude For The Right Hand

Tempest

Friday the 13th, Part 2

Kiai

The Postman

Sun Up To Sundown

Slat

The Grand Traverse

Heel to Toe

Old Eyeful

Harder Than Your Husband

Cornelius

Cool Hand Luke

Popcorn Farce

Unknown Mantle

Practice Chimney

Handjacker

Humper

Where the Sidewalk Ends

Finally

Dual

Baldwin's Chimney

Flying Buttress

Lower Progressive

Nemo's Nemesis

Ghost Dance

Step Ladder

Lucky You

Bat Guano Crack (mistakenly aka B-G Crack)

Hamburger Crack

A Little on the Ugly Side

Shotgun Willy

Thin Lizzy

Piton Perch

Father   1

Hand Jam Traverse

Slab and Grab

Left Torpedo Tube

Gravity's Rainbow

Right Parallel Space

In The Dark

Candlestick

Middle Parallel Space

Bombs Away aka B52

Knothole

30 is the New 20

Lower Slot and Upper Slot

Campsite Host Boulder

Automotive Supply House

Whipping Boy

Captain Nemo

Hemoglobin

Par Four

Nitrogen Narcosis

War Zone

Petite Tarsalation

Knee Grinder

Air Voyager With Report

Slit

Jim Jam

Slab Stealer

Willem Dafoe's Blood Penis

Horticulture

Flare Thee Well

Banana Hammock

Hairlip

Escalator

Friday the 13th

Outrider

Failure to Communicate

Upper Slot Left

Ejector-Rejector

Nemo's Toad

Max Factor

Slick and Superficial

October Light

Crankenstein

Thunderbolt

In the Groove

Straight 4 Ward

Upper Progressive

Right Torpedo Tube

W.C. Fields

Bug Squad

Deep Throat

Joke

Infant Son

Easy Jam

H & H Grunt

This is the obvious layback crack immediately right of Max Factor.  Prepare for wild, insecure barndoor moves with your feet at an old fixed pin.  Other than that, this is a gem.  Most people will layback the rounded edge of the flake-crack; however it can be climbed straight-on, jamming in the flared crack...very technical but probably more secure and safer.

Apparently the second pin was added after the first ascent, it is still a bit exhilarating with both fixed pins in place.  The upper crack is tedious, thin, and technical; a person with yams for fingers may even call it 5.11.  Probably TR'd most of the time, it is a worthy lead.

A relatively fun and varied wide crack.

Start as for Right Parallel Space, but stay right in the slot and head for the shallow, hanging chimney.  Employ chimney and offwidth technique for about 20' feet until stemming is possible; this crux section is well protected using the hand and finger crack at the back of the wide crack. Stem for about twenty feet into an alcove where you trend left, passing an optional, uninspiring anchor and reach a low angle wide crack.  This crack has plentiful face holds on its left side and lasts for about 25'; it would probably take a 4.5 Camalot which we did not have.  When this last wide crack ends, face climb straight up to chain anchors at the top of the buttress; somewhere in this stretch it is nice to have a couple of cams 1" and smaller.  Rope drag can be a problem if doing this as one pitch so sling accordingly.

Rappel as for Middle Parallel Space -- two raps the first about 40', the second _ 100'.

Climbed after drinking 5L of wine and a bottle Admiral Nelson, this testament to American Freedom was sent during the wee hours of the Fourth of July.

Fourth of July roof is a roof crack situated on the climber's right of the Tongue Depressor. The route follows hands and fists out the roof. A belay can be found from the tongue depressor rap bolts. It is approximately 10 feet of horizontal and 10 feet of vertical climbing.

An interesting finish for

I'm Spartacus

(11b).

This route is listed in the Kelman guidebook as 5.7, but I personally thought it was harder than

Handjacker

.  The difficulty really depends on which side of your body is in the crack.

Start 15 feet right

Lower Progressive

and find a wide crack just before the rock rounds the corner and heads towards

Escalator

.

Pull off the ground through the crux start to get situated in the crack that widens into a chimney.  Wiggle up to the ledge for the start of

Escalator

and downclimb the chimney approach for that route or rappel from anchors above

Lower Progressive

.

This great route is a fairly long pitch for Vedauwoo, and has everything from chimneying to a nice fist/hand crack.  Another excellent moderate on the Nautilus.

The climb follow the obvious chimney on the left side of Ted's Trot Block between Cornelius and Lower Slot Left.  Climb a fun well protected chimney(I'm not kidding, it sews up with stoppers and aliens) to a big ledge.  Above the ledge, climb another chimney with a fun hand crack in it to the small roof.  Pull over the roof on bomber fist jams, and grunt up the dihedral to the top.  The last 20 feet are the crux.

To descend, rap off the back of Ted's Trot block to the first big ledge.  Walk back around this and squeeze down the worm hole - this puts you about 20 feet from your pack.

Begin a yard to the right of "

Slut

" in a crack with a handle in it. Follow it to the ledge. The crux at the top where the crack ends and the OW/chimney begins. The rock is friable, so be safe and toprope this one.

Sit start the chalked up seam and the lieback your way up to a top-out full of crystal pimpin' goodness.

A short but sweet wide testpiece for beginning off-width aficionados.  The hardest part is getting started and deciding which side to shove into the crack.  Try not to get too deep into the crack and remember that small movements are the key to making progress.

Etude For The Right Hand is located on the Practice Slab on the southeast side of the Nautilus.  It climbs the right side of an easy, textured slab past three bolts and makes for an ideal beginner's climb.  Other than that, there's not much to recommend it unless you're already in the neighborhood.

Hard, crimpy.  This is a fantastic problem with super movement. It starts on a huge jug and follows to horrible finger slots- The end is desparate slapping of slopers to a nice crimper at the top. About 15 moves total of difficult climbing. It has only seen a couple of sends.

This is a nice alternate finish to

Friday the 13th

. Climb up to the bolted anchor below the first roof, clip it, and bust left, then go up a steep crack. Belay on flat platform as for

Deception

. I thought the climbing was quite nice and am surprised this hasn't been posted. I thought it had more good climbing than the 2nd pitch of

Friday the 13th

.

A deep slot with a flake within is found to the immediate left of '

Baldwin's Chimney

'. Take the left side of the 'flake'.

"The Voo" says: slot move left past flake.

Once you move past the 15 foot layback, walk your way up the inside of the sloping tufa. Scoot under the large boulder at the block to find your anchors.

This route starts on

Father #1

but hangs a right on knobs at the first of the large folds of rock on the face (use long slings on your last piece of gear before heading right). Traverse up and right below the fold until you reach the bolted face climbing.  The crux comes near the top.  It is a pretty cool route with interesting face climbing and some crack thrown in the mix.

This is one of the finest boulder problems in Vedauwoo, and would be a classic anywhere.  Start on the two big incut crimps a little above head height, then go up right to a tiny crimp before floating out left to the arete.  Finish to the right of the arete up the crack.  This is a must do for anyone seeking out Vedauwoo's face boulder problems.

Classic hand jams & good pro.

Starting in a right-facing corner, climb a hand crack with a pumpy start.  Follow the crack to a small ledge and then cut left following a left facing diagonal crack.  To finish, step across a gap into a fun offwidth or face climb (right) up to a large boulder.

Getting there:  Slat is located on the southwest quadrant of the Nautilus, and is left of

Ted's Trot

Block in the Three Sisters Area.  From the parking lot, walk about 100 yards along the south side of the Nautilus.  You can see the left-facing, diagonal crack at the top of Slat.  Then, scramble up through the boulders to the base of the Nautilus.

Descent:  Head straight north and down climb a tunnel/chimney on the northwest side of the Nautilus (about 20 feet from the top of Slat), or traverse along the south side of

Ted's Trot

Block and down climb the tunnel/chimney half way between

Ted's Trot

Block and the top of

Cornelius

on the northwest side of the Nautilus.

The Grand Traverse is a classic 5.10 to the right of the Torpedo Tubes.  The first pitch is very popular in itself, and many (most?) people chose to do this pitch and leave the second pitch for another day.

Climb the nice crack system right of the Right Tube and Gravity's Rainbow, good (hard) 5.9 or easy 5.10.  The crack protects well, nice hand jams and stemming, with one distinct crux-like section; the rest is just the usually pump fluff.  At the roof there is now a 2-bolt anchor, but to continue skip this and traverse way right (the "Grand Traverse") on slopey holds with decent gear (large TCUs to 2" cams, roughly) to a stance below a bulging fist crack at new bolts on the under side of the bulge.

From here you can lower off with a single (60m) rope, and belay your second sitting on the beer cooler that Erik brought to the crag, and later toprope Max Factor into submission, OR, belay and prepare for pitch 2.

P2 grunts up the wide fist crack (crucial crystal on left wall for foot) through the bulge and above to the top of the crag (5.10+ or so, but a short crux).  Wander due S over boulders to the top of the crag above Middle Parallel Space to rap off.

Start on the left side on a sidepull and sloper ball, and a small second rock at the base of the boulder, if you look from right to left, is on as a foot hold. Move your right hand to a wide pinch, then bump to a small crimp on top of a small flake, heel hook on a sidepull, cross to a decent ledge, and match. Slide your heel to a sloper ball, gain a good, solid ledge higher up, and top out. A campus start can be done, but that would make the grade harder. If you want to try it, start with your left hand on the sloper and your right hand on the pinch.

From the bottom of the climb, this appears to be a serious offwidth.  It is not.  A standard rack should do for protection.  The top of the route puts you adjacent to rap anchors that take you to the opposite side of The Nautilus. This climb is Mondo Bizzaro and not too difficult.  The only thing this route requires is a small person/ contortionist.

This is a very stiff and beautiful line, accentuated by the lovely lichen covered water streaks on either side.  It is quite overhanging with two cruxes, hardest right off the ground, then another after the handjam pods.  This is a groovy climb, the only standout line on the boulder it resides on.  It shuts most everyone down.  Do it!

This route is located about 2 minutes from the parking lot and is next to

Easy Jam

.  Follow a trail around to the left of the Nautilus until a dihedral is found (Easy Jam) with a beautiful finger crack curving up and to the right.  Climb the finger crack and belay at a shelf 30-40 feet up.  A walkoff can be found by going to the right, squeezing through a small hole, and descending a easy chimney.

This is a very good and sustained pitch with lots of variety.  It's located on the north side of the Nautilus just west of the Horticulture area.  Start up the left-facing corner system and climb through moderate but sometimes insecure terrain. The first half is harder than it looks, with [tricky] gear in spots, maybe 5.9+ or easy 5.10.

Once you've arrived at the base of the overhanging, flared hand crack, things get much harder.  Power up this sustained crack for 15 or 20 feet, the crux is getting over the bulge at the top of this section.  For people with thin hands, the jams may feel relatively secure, but many will find it thin and flared.  A nice rest stance comes after the overhang and under the final roof/offwidth.

Work into the wide crack, this upper crux is getting off the stance and into the crack initially. This bit felt like 5.10c or so, and can be protected with a #4 Camalot.  From there, easier 5.9 fists takes you to the top. Walk off to the west.

Quite a nice route, even by Nautilus standards.  I took the liberty of increasing the rating a bit over the 5.10d listed in the guidebook.  I've done other 5.1la routes in Vedauwoo that felt easier than Cool Hand Luke, and this felt similar to

Boardwalk

(5.11b) in difficulty and type of climbing, so the 11a seems justified by Vedauwoo standards. (Also, three others who climbed it that day thought it was 11+ so it may still be tough for it's rating).

This climb is located about fifty feet left of

October Light

.

Start in a left-leaning trough that slowly peters out to a crack switch right.  Follow this hands crack to a ledge where you can make a belay or with long runners climb through steep thin bulge to an all natural belay.  This route is always guaranteed to be free of crowds and is actually pretty fun.

This is a short problem that consists of an interesting (mandatory) mantle/press move.

This ascends a super fun, full body chimney behind the “Etudes”.  Either TR after a jaunt up the slab or lead by walking deep into the corridor around the right side of the slab face. This can either be a solo, or if you go back far enough, a corner/crack allows for adequate protection.

Located left of Lower Progressive, this is a stiff little piece of offwidth climbing to contend with. Beware the Vedauwoo 5.7 wide crack!

Note that the photo on page 88 of the guidebook has the climb incorrectly labelled- the 30 arrow points to Lower Progressive, where as HJ is the climb to the left. The obvious flake at the start is a fun, if moderate, boulder problem.

It has good protection and sustained climbing. We have now entered the realm of climbs that are a LOT harder if technique is not employed. If you have followed the progression described in Easy Jam, by now you should feel confident on this one.

Arm bars, heel-toe, foot torque-cams, knee wedges...use it all, and pause every so often to remind yourself that, indeed, this IS fun.

Descent: Rap off bolts to the right(above Lower Progressive)

Start up the easy chimney and gain a ledge midway. Once on the ledge, work yourself into the OW and ascend until you can stem- The route name will be obvious. Fun, committing, short.

Start on the sloping, crystally jug with feet on the far side of the chockstone. Jam up and out the crack, following it to the finish.

This route is located on the far right side of the Nautilus as you view it from the parking lot.  It is a wide right-facing dihedral.  To access it scramble up to the ledge at its base.  The crack in this dihedral is fat.  Suck it up, use some technique and/or lay it back in sections and go.  I wish I could give a more vivid description of this generic looking dihedral.  I'll just say that it held my attention from start to finish.  I jammed, stemmed and did some laybacking.As far as fatties go, this is a good sampler.

Climb a 5.7 handcrack in a slot to a shelf and belay (30 ft). Get back into the crack on the left (crux) and continue on sustained jamming and stemming to the top. The crux is height dependent (9+ for those under 5'4" and 7+ for those over 6'3").

Number 2 in the wide crack intro course (see

Easy Jam

), Baldwin's Chimney is a noticeable jump up in difficulty, primarily due to the length of the route.  At the left end of the Parabolic Slab, on the NW side of the crag, find this little beauty.  Use all the considerations in the

Easy Jam

description, and proceed with confidence. Consider neoprene kneepads to lessen the pain- you can really get into a knee-foot stance so much easier if you are not wincing every time you weight your knees.  Focus on securing your lower body in the crack, then pushing off your legs to advance to the next stance.  The descent succumbs to moderate exploration.

Located about 50 feet left of

Stinkzig

, this line goes through the prominent, overhanging slot/stem box.  Due to the enormous ledge between ground and the slot, it is best to do this climb as 2 short pitches though the full climb is probably only 100 feet.  The guide calls this one of the best pitches of 5.10 at Vedauwoo.  It is strenuous, technical, awkward, and can be made much more difficult if you don't work the back wall of the slot.  I found it difficult compared to similarly graded mid-10s at Vedauwoo and Lumpy.  Start in the flaring hand crack below the slot.

Pitch 1: Jam the strenuous 5.8 crack 20 feet to the ledge.

Pitch 2: Jam the overhanging crack and stem the slot (crux) on super-polished feet up and out to a 5.7ish OW finish.  Belay and enjoy watching the 2nd struggle.  If the 2nd isn't solid, consider placing more pro to protect the big swing out of the slot.  My 2nd had difficulty getting back on after falling.

This route follows a left-facing hand crack to an off-width finish.  It has very solid jamming, but making your moves are tricky with thin footing and the way the crack is recessed.  It is located to the right of the parabolic slab on the Southeast Side (left end).  It is a prominent crack that is right of the large, detached flake that looks like a giant, shark's tooth.

The downclimb traverses to the right and descends a chimney.

I believe this climb to be under-rated at 5.9+.

Nemo's Nemesis has thin, technical, sustained slab climbing up a clean face.

From an undercut ledge, sketch your feet onto the slab using 2-pad crystal clusters. Pinch crystals the rest of the way up the slab.

Ghost Dance is a Vedauwoo area classic, combining a striking line with difficult and sustained climbing.  GD is located left of the

Friday the 13th

alcove, on the SE side of the Nautilus; look for the left of three prominent, L-diagonal cracks before the alcove (the middle one, New Mutants, has a visible chain anchor at 60 feet), behind some aspen trees.  From a block get yourself established in the crack.  Struggle with the gear (an RP can be helpful) just as the "jams" become flared, karate-chop insecurities.  A couple of difficult moves leads to wider, more positive jams, which in turn lead to wider struggling above.  The upper crack is sustained, and succumbs to the usual Vedauwooesque thrashing.  A long pitch.  Descend by heading west (climber's left), following the line of least resistance to easy down climbing.  Tape can be helpful in the shallow, technical jams.  A really fine route: do it!

Look for a wide chimney with a sweeping flake inside it formed in a dihedral directly south of

Elevator

. Beware of the thorny bushes at the base of the climb. Begin chimneying up the wide crack using the crack formed by the sweeping flake and the main wall for feet. Staying farther out of the chimney will help to make this climb feel like 5.6.  When the chimney squeezes down to an offwidth (crux), pull into the crack using the flake and do a couple of offwidth moves to the top. Set a gear anchor.

This is a fun, bottomed out, overhanging, flared, wide crack.  Start at the very bottom of the crack on hand or fist jams.  The original version just steps off when you get the last jam where the crack shuts down, but you can do a fun and interesting topout by chimneying up the gap between the two obvious boulders.

Stout.  This pretty line starts out entering a short, wide ceiling to a shelf.  Take a quick breather before pulling the small roof on thin hands to the steep and sustained wideness to the top.  You can choose to battle for the deep fist-jams or use stacks for the sustained upper part.  This is a classic line, give it a shot!

Who would want to climb a route with a name like this?  You do.

Follow the S side trail from the parking lot, and just as you near the crag at the far end (at a large boulder), and immediately right of a 3-bolt face climb, you will find this friendly fissure.

The climb is short, wide, and unprotected.  The crux is getting into the crack, and once in there you should be in fat city.

If you are taking the Intro to Wide Cracks tour, it should be somewhat obvious by now which side-in you want to orient yourself for this climb.  Be confident that you can use body friction to your advantage on this one.

Descend to the E (right) down the slabs between the top of the climb and the back wall.

This supposedly is the tamer version of the TT cracks.  Step across a hole and enter the deep embrace of the flaring chimney.  Maneuver around a chockstone to a shelf.  Next tackle 15-20 feet of offwidth and you are done.  If you loathe offwidth,  step a few feet to your left and finish on

TTL's

hand crack (physically harder but technically easier for me).

I was a bit tired, but personally I thought

Handjacker

was easier than this climb.  I think 5.6 may be a bit of a sandbag but another effort is in order before passing final judgment.

This line lies directly below Upper Slot.  It makes a logical start to that climb because of its position.  Scramble up to a bulge with a large u shaped groove above.  Place a large cam to the right of the bulge and muscle/ scratch your way up on to the face above the bulge.  Ascend the groove past two old bolts by thin stems and crimps.  It is possible to protect the final move out of the groove on to the ledge below Upper slot by placing an ok RP on the right side.

This boulder is an iconic piece of rock that any Nautilus goer has seen and/or questioned its climbability. A mushroom, a trouser snake, whatever shape, it's a wild one! A couple of more positive holds on the shaft lead to some gripping and heinous sloper pulling to gain the tip. This is where friendship is born.

The crux is the first 10 feet of the climb, after that the climb is pretty much over.  It is an excellent climb if you like balancey, bouldery, climbs protected by small gear.  This is not your typical, Vedauwoo, thin crack climb.

This would be better if it saw a bit more traffic.  As it is, the climb is a little lichen covered especially a the top. Watch the branch behind you while topping out.

I always think of an old climbing buddy from the Gunks- Rich Perch- when I think of this climb, although I don't think he had anything to do with it.

Located on the S side of the crag left of Lower Progressive, PP takes the obvious chimney line which ends right of the Parabolic Slabs overhanging side.

This climb is mostly easier chimneying and stemming (wide at points) that has a distinct crux at a chockstone.

The key to passing a chockstone in a chimney rests in your body position, which in turn depends upon how well you are using your lower body (feet, legs, etc.).  By stemming or chimneying high, less reliance on pulling with the arms is required.  On this climb, face holds and jams may help augment the pure stemming and chimneying techniques employed, but they should not overwhelm these methods.  Climb methodically, in control, and be confident that each move is reversible, and each body position is secure.

Descend to the right, eventually locating some rap anchors.

Just right of

Mother #1

is a splitter hand crack that fades into a seemingly perfect, finger crack before ending completely at a horizontal seam.  Scramble to the base of the hand crack and enjoy 35 feet of sinker hand jams before arriving at the "finger crack."  Notice now that this is not a finger crack at all but instead is a flared seam that will only accept the smallest wires on your rack.  Place a piece, or two or three, then climb a scary and technical sequence on pebbles and crystals.  Plug your thank-God piece in at the horizontal break then traverse left along the break and link into the top of

Mother #1

.  A beautiful line and well worth the time if your RPs made it into the pack with all those #5s.

Traverse left and right on this wonderful hand crack boulder. The hand jams are all there, but the foot holds are small and are what make it difficult.

Run and jump to good crimp line, and use an obvious ledge for your foot. Use small dishes and edges to traverse a bit on the crimp line to a sketchy flake that feels kinda loose, so be careful, trust your feet on the upper slab, and top out on small boulder wedges between the slab and the roof. If hold breaks off, this line can be done without it, but that will bump the grade up.

The Left Tube is about as impossible-looking as 5.10 can get.  While it is a bit of a struggle for those without the requisite mental deficiencies required of the genre, this exercise in wide crack climbing is worthy of your attention.  With that said, feel free to just walk past it and continue on to Grand Traverse or Captain Nemo for some fun climbing...

Located on the far side of the Nautilus from the parking lot, this climb is the left of the two end cracks, an obvious, flared, bottomless monstrosity rising above the cute little subalpine wildflowers.

The beta: set good gear, believe in yourself, and go for it.  Focus on knee-heel bars to overcome the bulge; above that the climbing eases, though many will find it strenuous to the top.  Look around for anchors on top, they are not obvious.  To descend climb boulders up to the climbers left to get to the anchors atop Middle Parallel Space- one rope off.

I would recommend against wearing shorts and a t-shirt on this one.  I would also recommend against staring at this for too long before roping up and climbing it.

This route is easier than it looks. A combination of stemming and chimneying gets you quickly to the top. Watch out for thorns in the bushes at the base.

Gravity's Rainbow climbs up to the left-facing corner and long undercling that is just right of the

Right Torpedo Tube

.  The initial section is poorly protected 5.9 or 5.10- leading into the short, obvious, hanging corner about 30 feet up.  Place gear, then launch up and left into an impressive undercling.  The jams are OK to start, but as you move left, the rock swings out from underneath the feet...just as the jamming and underclinging gets hardest...very out-of-balance stuff, pumpy too.  The irony here is you will never have wanted to get into one of the Tubes as badly as you will when you are about to barndoor off into space at the crux.  Once in the

Right Tube

, slither, flex, and curse on much easier climbing to the top.  See the

Left Tube

for descent beta.

This is true chimney climbing that should not be missed by anyone. It's a bit runout, but reasonably secure, with some face holds to augment the chimneying.  Kneepads can make this a more enjoyable experience.

Locate the beautiful, deep chimney on the right side of the large buttress at the SE side of the crag.  Don't stare too long at the right, overhanging offwidth (

Vulture Direct

, a classic sandbag).  This climb takes the obvious chimney that forks left from the conjoined wide crack start with Vulture.

Left side in or right side in?  Remember that it's far less strenuous and easier to rest, if you lean back against a lower-angled wall instead of being forced forward towards one.

The climbing is runout, but be confident, and stay in control.  There are two bolts to clip.

Rap from the obvious anchors.

Start on good jams at the very back of the roof and work your way down and around the lip, where it becomes offwidth.  This is a very unique problem.  The only negative thing about this crack is that you have to avoid dabbing on the aspen tree as you pull the lip.

Candlestick takes the straight-in chimney left and below of the Parabolic Slabs overhanging underbelly.

This is another of the 5.7 wide cracks where technique greatly aids in enjoyment and success.  The climbing is sustained and the protection is reasonable.  By now you should know how to decide which side of our body you want in a given crack, but consider also that often you will need to switch sides mid-way up some wide crack.  Having your gear on a gear sling greatly aids in this type of maneuvering.  Also, it is often necessary to move around in a wide crack or chimney to best utilize the size and orientation of the crack.  Often the more shallow you are the easier the climbing, but this proves counter-intuituve to the leader (who often wants to get as deeply wedged as possible).

In this case, you do a bit of caving to get in deep enough at the top (for a real caving experience try TM Chimney over at the Main Area- a very unique and brilliant chimney climb).

This line follows the wide crack (crux) up to a spacious ledge before chimneying behind the huge pillar.

P1. Chimney while jamming and protecting in the lovely handcrack. Surmise the difficulty of the line if the pillar were not present, then easily surmount the pillar for the first belay. According to the comments below the anchor atop pitch one has been fixed courtesy of the ASCA.

P2. For pitch two, step across the pillar back into the hand crack and ascend to a horizontal crack, pull the small roof via another crack to the right. Easier, unprotected slab climbing gains the rappel anchor.

This is a thought-provoking climb involving crack, face, and slab moves, all in just 40 feet!  Start up a broken crack system, being careful for rotten rock.  Surmount the hand crack, and rest on a ledge.  Place gear in the crack before it peters out, and climb some face moves to the top of the block. Exciting.

50' left of

Bat Guano Crack (mistakenly aka B-G Crack)

is a wide crack to squeeze chimney. Rap any of the multiple anchors on top of the Nautilus formation, or walk off to the Southwest.

I did this after a couple visits four years ago and only left a comment on the page for

War Zone

. Someone reached out to me about it again, so thought I'd make an independent route submission for it at this point. The name stems from having two small children and still trying to climb. We were fortunate enough to wind up with several families with kids around the same age and the parents are still trying to get after it. The bolts were originally placed by Matt Couppel.

Find a line of low horizontal bolts traversing left to a hanging inset crack just left of

War Zone

. Pull onto the protrusion, and work your way left with extreme difficulty to access the crack. Continue up the inset crack to a bolted anchor.

And now, the final exam to Intro to Wide Cracks 101:  after

Easy Jam

,

Baldwin's Chimney

,

Right Parallel Space

,

Piton Perch

,

Slit

,

Handjacker

, and

Candlestick

, it is now time to do one of the area classics of the grade, the Slots.

Beware of any climb at Vedauwoo named Slot (here are 2).  These were (and still are) sandbags for the grade, but the confidence gained of experience will work in your favor.  Body position, proper and rhythmical movement, foot and leg position, and confidence will all serve you well here.

From the parking lot, head left around the crag.  Just left and around the corner from the Stand and Deliver Boulder are a series of overhanging wide cracks.  Lower Slot takes...the lower one, and leads to a classic, leaning OW (Upper Slot).  What else can I say at this point but: Go For IT.

This was put up in loving memory of Juan and Teresita.

Find this boulder by entering the first paved camping loop in the fee area. Look for the sign that reads "campsite host." Evade the likely uptight host, and ascend this classic boulder via any line you can find.

If you want a challenge, go around to the side with the BBQ grill. There is a boulder in the ground that marks the start of a V2 or V3 problem on the larger boulder. Start on tiptoes and a small left hand crimp with a thumb catch. There is a crimp for the right hand, too. The first crux is getting off the ground, and the second crux is getting off the boulder. Be a hero, and do it in the rain!

35 yards right of

Captain Nemo

.  This route is one of the best of its grade.  Three 11 cruxes (thin hands, caterpillar, bizarre wide-crack) provide unusual variety and will keep you thinking.  The upgrade (from 11b to 11c/d) reflects the difficulty in onsighting it compared to

Spectreman

or other routes of this grade.  Try it and tell Rob or Skip what you think. - Lord Slime

The route goes up the offwidth to the right of a route called Hello Stupid near

Father #1.

Climb an offwidth to a ledge (or scramble in from the right) to get to the meat of the climb.  A flaring and overhanging offwidth looms above you offering some chickenwings, arm bars, and a little stacking.  It is fists to hands above that.  This is a fun route in a sick way.

The first pitch is one of the best moderates in the area, and for 5.10 climbers the second pitch should not be missed. This was one of my first climbs while learning trad and is a great introduction to the Voo. The easiest approach is to walk the entire length of the east side of Nautilus, past

Friday the 13th

. Walk around the north end, and then head back in the direction of the parking lot. Just past

MaxiLash

is a large roof with a dihedral leading to it.

P1 (5.8, 70') - climb the shelves below a left-facing dihedral, which goes to a right-facing dihedral as you turn the corner. The first pitch is a popular hand crack which starts off small and gets bigger as you go. End underneath the roof at the chain anchor.

P2 (10d, 80') - the start of this traverse lures you in, but the reason this is 10d lies just around the corner. The wall drops away, and the crack turns to flaring jams and slopers. Trying to place gear on this section is awkward to say the least (you might want to take off that helmet!). Pull over the bulge at the lip and belay at the anchors.

This has a low crux getting your high feet (standard Vedauwoo start) with fingers to hands to off hands sizes.

This climbs a handcrack to thin traverse...be careful of the dead "tree"...it wobbles lots. Then go back to hands for the rest.

This route is located on Nautilus' "backside", just left of

Ted's Trot

and 40 feet right of

Hairlip

.  This worthwhile route starts out as a wide layback, rounds a corner to a no hands bivy, and then gets down to business.

Good hand jams with interesting footwork take you to the big pod, which is better than it looks.  Get good gear in and then do the crux.  By this time, I was experiencing the route's namesake.  But I seem to breath this hard on most Vedawoo routes.

War Zone is another excellent line in the

Friday the 13th

area of the Nautilus. This line ascends the low angle face to the steeper headwall to the left of

Friday the 13th

and

Deception

.

Climb up the interesting incipent cracks on the lower face before launching on the fun bolt protected face above. Good edges and crystals make for a thoughtful, balancy, and stellar climb. As always, the grade is debatable, perhaps soft at grade, particularly compared to Vedauwoo crack lines.

This is a hand crack in the Three Sisters Area.  The crux comes immediately.  It is a short easier climb that provides an alternative approach for  toproping

Tarsalation

, leading

TTL

or leading

TTR

.

This is a short hand crack with high feet and good hand jams to begin. Throw a jam over the constriction, and you're home free after a few fist jams up top. There is a painful knee jam optional.

Unique! This thing is sustained with spectacular movement.Start on

Middle Parallel Space

, then follow a series of unlikely crystals and edges up a clean face that teeters between slightly less-than-vertical to dead-vertical and maybe slightly overhanging. Some of the holds have been reinforced, so be careful to pull down and not out when on route, which ends at chains on top of the pillar that makes up the

Middle Parallel Space

chimney. The bolts used to be an old amalgamation of homemade hangers, Mammut with ring hangers, and some newer looking bolts/hangers but luckily have all been replaced.

Most of the bolts are spaced out so that you'd definitely catch some air if you fell just about anywhere.

I include Slit in the Wide Crack Tour to emphasize it is perfectly acceptable to use face holds, and adjoining features, to overcome the wide crack portions of a climb.

This climb resides in a small, obscure alcove on the SW side of the crag, just beyond the parking area.  Scramble around in the boulders until you find a small grouping of cracks in a hidden opening.

Slit takes the wide chimney at the right end of the alcove to a stretch of offwidth climbing. It is a short climb, and it is possible to use holds off to the right.  But the OW section may require some technique, in which case remember the fundamentals: feet and legs power the wide crack machine, while arms serve to secure the progress gained.

I like this climb, but am not sure why. It is short, a bit chossy, and not all that classic, but if you feel compelled to climb all the moderate wide cracks on the Nautilus, here ya go.

This is a good looking hand and fist crack. There's a chimney between the approach slab and this route and it's an easy step across to start the route. It's convenient to belay on the slab and there's gear available for a belay anchor (#3 Camalot and larger) so that leader and belayer don't accidentally end up in the chimney.

The jams are mostly wide hands and fists with a few good hand jams for those with average size hands.

This is a very low offwidth roof formed between two boulders.  Luckily the ground doesn't affect the problem much, if any.  It is flared, very wide, and about a body length long.  Start with your feet up in the crack at the very back of the roof. Better than it looks.

This not so classic route is named after the not so classic scene in the not so classic horror film the "Antichrist". Top-rope from the anchors on

Hesitation Blues

which are right above.

Start up a lieback flake for a few feet, bust right on crimps to a large flake/shelf, and then go straight up on more crimps. The difficulty varies depending on how far you traverse the flake before heading up. The route is actually worth doing if you're looking for that last pitch in the day but are too worked after cruising up

Hesitation Blues

to get psyched for leading.

This is an excellent line. About 100 feet right of

Captain Nemo

is an alcove/dihedral area.

The first pitch climbs the obvious corner (bit hard to get into) then follows the nice handcrack up the slabs to the right. Place some good pro before heading around / under the bulge, look for features on the right face. Belay at the good shelf.

The second pitch uncomfortably enters the offwidth to the left. One or two large pieces will protect the section. Continue above the ledges in another wide crack (#3 Camalot in crack to the right) to 'summit' ledges. Anchor with medium to small pieces.

A bolted anchor can be found by going straight forward from the top of the second pitch, 31m to the ground, tie your ends.

This difficult line is located approximately 50 feet left of

Ghost Dance

.  Once you see it, the name will immediately make sense.  While it appears as though this may not be a good one to lead, I assure you that it does take descent pro.  The downside is that you need to hang out in some pretty strenuous stances to work the gear in just right.  Also, if you place gear above you, you will definitely screw yourself in a major way.  This climb is a bottomed-out flare with a distinct crux in the middle.  I will give you one tip...believe in your right foot.  I have climbed hard .11s at Vedauwoo that were significantly easier than this climb.

Start as far back under the roof as possible on very flared, yet good jams. work through the awkward offwidth and jam out to the lip.

Just to the left of Easy Jam, climb and obvious right leaning crack with a little of everything.  Start with awkward off-width/tips crack moves (weird huh?) into hand and fist to the top.  Be kind, leave a sling of your own (and cut off some old ones) before rapping from the anchors.

This route would be fantastic if it was twice as long.  Also, the crux start will be even more difficult for shorter people.

Walk around the corner to the right of

Lower Progressive

to a broken, right-facing dihedral with a fin of rock in it.  Scramble up this (beware loose boulder halfway up) to a ledge.  The route begins here and follows a left-rising splitter up to a notch.  Pull a difficult start to gain some jugs before the crack.  Angle up and left on hand jams to wide-hands, then back to hands.  Good footwork will ease the difficulties.  Reach a ledge and rappel from 2 Metolious rap hangers.

From the parking lot, listen for crowd noise, then follow this to the start of the route.  Located at the far SE end of the Nautilus, Friday the 13th is tremendously popular (at least the 5.10a start) and for good reason.  This climb takes the obvious L-facing corner just right of the deep chimney recess, through a large roof, then, higher, a second even larger (and much more challenging) roof.

P1. The start is the crux, with several off-finger jams to contend with.  After a short bit, the crack widens to hands, then fists for short little stretches.  There is a 3-bolt chain anchor below the first roof from which many people slingshot toprope (don't hog the route though!).  A 5.11- variation climbs left towards the chimney (good climbing) and a steep, hanging crack.

P2. If you want to climb the roof (5.11 something), continue through in one pitch.  The initial moves are strenuous but secure, then rounding the lip requires a bit of go-for-it.  Belay above in a recess at some fixed anchors.

P3. The final roof (hard 5.11) has a cool cut-your-feet-loose move, on technical thin jams.

This route gets early morning and mid afternoon shade.  Truly a classic crack line!

This route begins just to the left of WC Fields. Follow three bolts via slab and thin edging/crystal pinching to a horizontal about 50 feet up, move left at the horizontal and belay on a ledge. Walk off/down climb a large chimney to the west (one chimney west of WC fields).

This route is a great warm-up or cool down for Cool Hand Luke.  Start up a thin crack through a bulge to a ledge, string a long runner, and traverse left and up to the nice handcrack exit.  The crux is entering the final handcrack.

This is the right-facing corner to the left of

Upper Slot

. The crux is moving off the ledge: there are good jams (and gear), but it's quite strenuous to get going. Once you get going, look to the right for some useful face holds for your right foot. Those with long legs can stem over to the right to a seam after a few moves to get a rest and take the edge off a bit. The crack gradually widens and the difficulty eases off considerably.

See the climb Slut for a description of location of the alcove and TR location. This is the furthest left line in the alcove, just left of Slut (5.7).

Fun moves, sometimes a bit open handed and thin, lieback up this left facing flake. You'll probably notice a few spots where old footholds have broken revealing less lichen and brighter rock. Seems as the loosest has broken off leaving a fairly fun TR problem.

The crux is an opening high step and palm directly left of the sport bolted slab. We will add a bolt here. The climb traverses into a thin, arching seam with sparse gear. A hard move clears the seam and launches onto the slab. Maybe add a bolt here? It then joins the first belay of

Captain Nemo

.

Max Factor is one of the best 5.11 finger cracks in Vedauwoo.  Locate this beauty at the far end of the crag from the parking lot, just around the corner right from the Tubes.  The climbing is positive with excellent finger locks until you reach a distinct crux just before the crack bulges.  There are good smears for the feet on the right, and if you utilize your left toe well in the crack then relying on the shallow, technical jams at the crux won't seem so desperate.  Still, it seems that one short section is a show-stopper for a lot of climbers.  Above, the positive locks resume.  Lower off of the (new) bolts on the underside of the big bulge (this is the top of P1 of Grand Traverse) or continue up the 5.10+ crux bulge of that route (possible in one pitch).  This climb was tried many times by many climbers before Australian Kim Carrigan onsighted it, and compared it in difficulty to Fish Crack in the Valley (5.12b).  It has cleaned up considerably since then; in 1980 the crack was filled with gravel, loose bits of rock, and vegetation, and felt like 5.12 to me.  Today most climbers will agree it is 5.11 something-or-other, and an area classic.

Start on a crack that dissipates after 20 ft.  Traverse left to a bolt and continue left to another crack that begins midway up the wall.  Build anchor, walk off to the west.

October Light is an excellent testpiece that seems to receive very few ascents.  I would highly recommend this route for someone looking for a good challenge.  The route is located just to the left of Hurley-Fowler and

B-G Crack

and is very obvious.  It is the intimidating hands through offwidth crack that splits the buttress.  Get psyched up and go for it.  The pitch starts off as good flared hands through a steep bulge and continues to get wider.  Save a #4 Camalot for the top.  Don't expect to find a line on this Scarpelli masterpiece.

Stiff. It is overhanging the whole way. This starts off with wild moves on overhanging buckets, then you have a crux encounter getting into and through the first ten feet of the crack. It eases off to 5.10 after that. This has cool, technical climbing with lots of variety.  Crankenstein doesn't get nearly the respect it deserves, this is one of the best harder cracks at Vedauwoo.  Do it!

Start slightly inside the chimney on the cracks that angle left. Continue up this crack. You can belay at the bolts under the roof, or continue upward to a slightly overhanging bulge to a handcrack on the right. This leads to a short chimney exit.

This route starts with some moderate offwidth and a strenuous move over a bulge to get into a large flaring crack. From the ground, this large flare is quite deceiving as it looks like you'll be jamming and stemming up it, but, in actuality, this is a flaring chimney with the crux coming at the top of flare where the wall gets steeper and the flare opens up wider. The route finishes with some awkward hand and fist crack climbing over a right-leaning bulge.

This short fun route is one of the most fun at the grade 10a.  Slightly overhanging hands with great feet ends in a small section of slightly OW deep fists.

The Right Tube climbs the right of the the two end cracks on the Nautilus, at the far end of the crag from the parking area.  A true fist crack, the bigger your mitts the easier this baby is going to feel.  If you have small chops and cannot get fist jams, good luck, it may be 5.12 for you.  The upper part of the crack is considerably easier than the start.  Read Left Tube beta for anchors and descent info.

A moderate offwitdth-hands Vedauwoo route that is well worth doing if in the area.  It's a ten minute scramble from the Nautilus parking area to the left end of the southeast face of the formation.  The route is the left of two cracks formed by a series of three rocks near Practice Wall.  Gain the crack and start heel and toeing your way to the shelf.  Once at the shelf enter the crack again (crux) and continue on solid sustained hands through to the top.

Descend via one rope rap atop practice wall (30 feet climber's right).

W.C. Fields is an obscure, fairly tight chimney on the front of the Nautilus. The base of the route is quite vegetated, which is probably part of the reason why it doesn't attract much attention despite being in the middle of the most popular area of the Voo.

Scramble up to the start of the chimney or traverse in from the right. Once inside, a hand and fist sized crack that offers good protection soon appears on the left wall. The chimney widens near the top, which comes as a relief after wiggling around in the tight confines below. Upon topping out, you'll see

Outrider's

bolted anchor.

This has varied climbing in a deep flare.  It starts out offwidth, then thins to hands at the overhanging crux.  It is great stemming practice.  The rock is a little rough, which along with the flare makes placing protection somewhat strenuous.  In all, it is a fun climb.

From vedauwoo.org:

A nifty hand crack to the right of an obvious finger of rock.

Thrilling climb! Four stars for the novelty! If you're claustrophobic, this climb might not be for you! Lol.

I remember seeing this listed in the The Voo but with no description. So this is what my partner and I attempted:

Starting in the pit where

Father   1

starts, right of a giant slab that leans against the Nautilus, you'll see a flared finger crack. Climb up to the second horizontal crack where the right-leaning crack begins. Beach yourself on to the right-leaning crack (the crack over is bigger and appeared easier to us). Now you've come to the crawl space: it's a gap that's about 50 feet between two giant boulders. This is one place I wouldn't want to be during an earthquake. Figure out how to crawl to the other side where you'll find the anchors for

Hairlip

.

Wide cracks have a well-deserved reputation for being one of the more difficult genres in our sport.  I suspect this is due to the simple observation that in wide crack climbing, technique goes a long way.  Struggling up a wide crack without technique is like climbing a steep trail on skiis- without wax: just plain miserable.

Locate Easy Jam by heading left from the parking lot, and wandering through the maze of boulders to a short slab with a nice-looking diagonal crack in it (

Cornelius

, 5.5, excellent).  Just left is this wide crack challenge.

Wear protective clothing- minimizing pain or discomfort is a good place to start.  Now decide which side of your body you want to have inside the crack.  Think which orientation allows for the most friction (often very helpful) while reducing any awkwardness.  In leaning wide cracks it is often advantageous to have your back against the lower angle side, so that rests can easily be found by leaning back (as opposed to being forced up against the crack).  For this route you will want your left side in.

Arrange your gear on a sling, so there is nothing on your harness to get caught.

Keep in mind that in wide cracks and chimneys you can often optimize your body position to provide added security.  Done properly, it is hard to fall out of a wide crack, although the tendency for the leader is to get too deep in a wide crack, which is not always the easiest way to climbing one.

The secret to wide cracks is focusing on your lower body.  It is the legs that do most of the pushing and stabilizing.  Use your arms to maintain your position.  For this climb, heel-toe jams with the left foot work well.  You can also torque your left knee to help.  Arm bar with your left, and move systematically: secure your arms position, then release your lower body (legs, feet) and slide them to a higher position.  Now lock them in, and slide up (don't pull) with your upper body by pushing with your legs.  Lock the upper body and repeat.

This climb is a little runout, but short. If in doubt, try it on tr.

A nice progression on the Nautilus for learning wide cracks is: Easy Jam 5.4,

Baldwin's Chimney

5.4,

Right Parallel Space

5.5,

Piton Perch

5.6,

Slit

5.7,

Hamburger Crack

5.7,

Candlestick

5.7, Upper Slot 5.7+.  Remember that, unfortunately, easier wide cracks tend to be squeezes, and are often poorly protected, so take this progression slowly.

Start by scrambling up to a crack to the right of Thunderbolt.  Climb this crack up to the bolted anchor on Thunderbolt.  Clip a bolt at the anchor and traverse to your right (10 feet) to a sloping ledge to a gear belay.  Alternatively, start up the crack, then squeeze through a chimney and go directly to the same belay ledge.

The first pitch is a little grungy. Therefore a better option is to climb the first pitch of Thunderbolt and traverse right.

For the second pitch step across to an island like rock.  Then leave the island stepping into a crack.  Follow the crack up and walk over to a thin chimney.  Suck in your gut and take this to the top.

Belay at the top of the chimney.  To descend, step over the chimney and walk over to the

Middle Parallel Space

anchor (two raps to the ground).

Locate the wide crack right of Baalbek, i.e. 2 cracks right of Bug Squad, 3 cracks right of Max Factor.  Proceed to curse, thrutch, and thrash up the first 3 feet of the crack proper, then come down for a rest.  Repeat until 1) worked too much and in need of a beer, or 2) you succeed in getting to the 5-foot mark.  If in search of beer, locate the trail back to the parking lot, open vehicle, locate cooler, and swill.  If at the 5-foot mark, continue to the 6-foot mark, and repeat every foot until at the anchors.  You will know when you reach the anchors because you will feel an incredible sense of relief and an overwhelming desire to vomit.  I climbed this left-side in, and really, the bottom bulge is a stand-out crux; the upper, fist crack is really just maintenance climbing, but the sort of maintenance that is investment-based, i.e. you keep fighting because you do not want to repeat the lower part.  Rumor has it one of the hot young Boulder Rock Club climbers did this baby recently and declared it as hard as Vogue, Tommy Caldwell's 5.14b at the Industrial Wall.  Now isn't this a fun sport?

Description

Protection

Routes in Nautilus