Six Hold Traverse

If you can overcome a blanket prejudice against "manufactured routes" or if you've ever climbed in a gym, you may find this silly exursion challenging and entertaining. The "manufactured" tag comes from the fact that problem involves the stacked stone wall along the pathway just down from the Pit on the north side of Indian Rock. This is clearly an artifically constructed structure, but don't let that stop you. If it's any consolation, I didn't build the wall, nor was I the first climber to play on it. It's been a few years since I last did this problem, so it's quite possible that the whole wall has been overgrown with ivy once again. If so, it may be necessary to do some pruning to rediscover the holds.

The object is to traverse the wall from one end to the other. With the many gaps and fissures between stones, this is a trivial exercise. So we'll add some rules: everything on the wall is on-route for the feet, but you're only allowed to use six (6) handholds. Furthermore, each handhold can only be used by one hand (three for the left, three for the right, no matching allowed). The top of the wall and both ends are off-route for the hands. The start and finish involve stable stances with a leg wrapped around the end of the wall.

When I was introduced to the problem, it was the Eight Hold Traverse. Over time, it became the Six Hold Traverse. Further hold elimination seems unlikely, but consider it a challenge. Beta hints: I faced out at least twice in my sequence, and it may be necessary to release one hold before you can grasp the next. Like all good traverses, once you've mastered it in one direction, reverse it and run laps.

Pruning shears