One of my two objectives for the 2009 climbing season was leading Pegasus (5.8) at Cathole. This is a classic Connecticut climb. IT is about 70 feet of a right facing corner/crack system. The climb is fun, mixing crack skills with plenty of laybacks and face holds. About two thirds of the way up is the crux. Face holds get thin and a dicey layback with thin feet gets you through. Protection is ok below but what would be a problem is the slight rightward trend to the route in this area. So if a fall were to occur you’d fall down (duh) and swing back to the left into the right facing corner.
Luckily I was successful in my attempt with Chrystal’s belay and photos of course. The climb turned out to be a mini epic in that Chrystal had trouble cleaning the route. One piece, under the overhang at the top, was sucked up into the crack between the wall and the overhanging block. This required a nut tool and luck to retrieve. After that I had to rap down in the dark to clean a couple other pieces. After narrowly getting these out Chrystal and I made the short but steep walk down to the car. Thankfully I keep a headlamp with me in my climbing bag for exactly these situations so we didn’t do too badly.