First ascent:
Dave Bircheff and Jim Pettigrew, 5/76
Notes on the route:
Rumor has it that this route was originally called Heliopolis, and the
name was then changed to Lurking Fear sometime after the 4th ascent.
Lurking Fear has become one of the most popular routes on all of El Cap.
It offers some fine pitches, good location, and is low angle enough to
keep a neophytes lid from popping off. The fatal flaw with Lurking Fear is
first, finding the start, and lastly getting off the route. The last few
pitches involve gardening, bad hauling, and the mother of all slabs to get
to the summit. Regardless of these drawbacks, it is still a fine route.
Recent action by Steve Schneider (96?) at what appears to be an attempted
free ascent has littered the route with big fat 3/8" bolts. For the
most part these will help you out. In some cases, they may lead you off
route for a while, and can be confusing. The blue anchor points on the
topo are these new bolt stations, that in turn can be rapped all the way
to the ground, although 200 ft. ropes are recommended.
Gear:
This route has been done clean, and is the preferred method.
2 sets of stoppers with extra small/medium
2 to 3 sets of cams including #4's
TCU's or Aliens, 2-3 of each
all hooks
10 rivet hangers
a lasso?