All these pitches on the lower section of the route are high quality. There's hardly a fixed piece on the whole stretch, and no climbers either. Good times.

Pitch 8 is challenging, but one of the better below Mammoth. The crack is thin, with both pin placements and clean aid.

The 10th lead will likely stick in your memory for a while. Here 13 years later I can recall the events quite clearly. Thinking it to be a simple, low angle affair much like the previous section, I launched into a quick lieback on an insecure, rounded edge, hoping to get some bomber cams soon. Off course it only got worse. I was greasing off trying to squirm into the weird runnel to get a rest. The gear, located way in the back of the groove was shallow, matchbox sized holes, needing stacked, tied off pins. Definitely not something you just plug in from a failing lieback position. And so on.

The mellow bivvy spot at the top of pitch 11 is a good shake down location, to get things tweaked before the all out, super exposed, hanging setups later on.