Thanks for the suggestion about climbing Lucky Streaks on Fairview Dome. I was wondering what it was rated and how many pitches there were? So what was the climbing like? Crack,face or friction?I was also wondering how the belay stances were(any hanging belays)? Did you camp out in the meadows? What was it like? How far away from the best climbs? Thanks again.

-- michael donofrio (smd@massed.com), December 30, 1998

Answers

Response to response and question for steve purcell(steve@mds.com)

I think Lucky Streaks is rated 10b which is just right. As I recall the crux pitch has one or two 10a moves followed by a 10b layback move, and above that is a 5.9 shallow corner. I think there were six or seven pitches. Overall, I think it is pretty easy for a 5.10 rating. The second pitch is 5.9 and the third is the crux. Other than that everything was 5.8. Nothing funky or tricky just good climbing with good pro. The fifth pitch goes left to another crack, it protects well with aliens or TCU's.

The climbing is crack with knobs. I face climbed untill the knobs ran out, did a few crack moves and then back on the face when the knobs reappeared. You could probably climb it all with crack skills or all on the face. There were no hanging belays, but some small stances. You could climb this route and never weight gear.

Camping in the meadows can be a problem, except of course now that it's mid winter. We got a space in the walk in campground. The approach is very short and easy. The regular route on fairview is right there, it's a Fifty Classic (?). There is also a route called Rosanne there that is excellent but very scary. There is also good climbing on the dome accross the street from fairview.

Lucky streaks goes straight up for almost a thousand feet. It looks much harder than it turns out to be (due to copious quantities of knobs). ...must be one of the best climbs in North America.

Steve

-- Steve Purcell (steve@mds.com), January 04, 1999.