Want to do native son in april and was wondering if its possible to climb in the rain since the routes so steep? Also any beta on it would be great.

-- Zach (zachrenae@msn.com), August 27, 2001

Answers

Be sure you find out about the route in particular. Tangerine Trip drips and is hard to do in the spring. I got hammered by a storm three pitches from the top of Zodiac. High on the route, you can't count on staying dry, it's windy and the water blows around

karl

-- Karl Baba (karlbaba@hotmail.com), September 03, 2001.

I actually soloed Native Son in the spring of 99 and it was OK. Miles Smart soloed it during the very wet spring of 98 (El Nino). The only place you will encounter water is at the right side of the Equator, just before you start angling up and left on the left side of the Golden Finger of Fate. The water absolutely PISSES out of the crack - you could even count on it as a water source on the wall if you scoped it first. That being said, this same water pisses directly onto one of the belays on Aurora, so I would definitely NOT do Aurora if things are wet for that reason. I soloed the Trip this spring and it was fine, but things weren't really wet. Native Son is definitely a bitchin' climb, that's for sure. Oh yeah, once you get onto the Golden Nipple pitch and above, you'd be fully exposed to all the elements.

Cheers, Pete

-- Pass the Pitons Pete (peterzabrok@home.com), September 29, 2001.