Drain Pipe

If you've hiked out to climb

Straight and Narrow

, Drain Pipe offers two more pitches for your effort, but if you're in the market for a casual 5.6 multipitch, look elsewhere. Both pitches felt harder than advertised and would make a 5.6 leader unhappy.

P1. Climb a hand crack in a shallow chimney, following it as it traverses left into a deeper chimney halfway up the pitch. This second flaring chimney climbs like an offwidth and ends on a big ledge. At the time of my ascent, there was a rap anchor here (cordalette around a horn).

P2. Move left on the ledge so you're in the corner system above

Straight and Narrow

. Climb the easy, tightening chimney until it gets too narrow to fit in. Next comes the hard part: getting out of it. Here you're forced to climb out and around a bulge in the now #5 crack. My partner was able to overcome it with wide stemming, but I was too short and resorted to ugly, flailing, desperate offwidthing.

The second pitch can also be accessed by climbing

Straight and Narrow

and veering right into the chimney at the top just before the anchor.

For a more pleasant outing, consider the

Drainpipe Left Exit

variation. The 5.9 crux is brief and well protected and the rest of the pitch is significantly easier.

Kelmen's guidebook calls this a 5.4, the hardest 5.4 on record? Even at 5.6 as listed in the Orenczak/Lynn guidebook, this thing seemed like quite a sandbag.

The obvious chimney system that starts just right of

Straight and Narrow

. The descent is short and easy: walk off east.

A standard rack to a BD #5. The #5 is useful on both pitches. Don't expect any fixed anchors, though you may find a rappel sling on the ledge atop the first pitch.