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North Country explorer from
Adam Crofoot, Allison Rooney, and I walked by an aesthetic crack during June of 2015. Allison and I returned to it yesterday while Adam worked a project across the valley.
The southern end of Haystack’s Ramp Wall overhangs by 20 degrees based on a clinometer. A deep hand/fistcrack runs 55’ from the ground to its top. Even given the recent wet weather, the line was entirely dry. Allison set up a top rope and we went to work under a bluebird sky with no blackflies and a light wind. By 4 PM we had a 5.11d line up--Lioness Rampant. Her last burn was a clean run; my lap wasn’t so clean, but I made all the moves and a couple hours later (and after messing with an adjacent line) my forearms stopped pounding. We ended the day at 11 PM, 18 hours after walking in from Loj.
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View of the fin (and our route) from the south.
View west on Marcy (with Adam climbing).
Allison Rooney swinging on rappel...yeah a 20 degree overhang is steep.
Kevin about 15' up the route.
Allison working the crack.
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