Alan Watts leads Crack of the 80s, Donner Summit, 1985.

Alan completed his successful second ascent of Star Walls Crack in the morning, and we had some time to kill before heading south to Yosemite, so Alan says "Let's try Crack of the 80s." As Alan explained to me, this route had resisted all attempts including efforts by Mark Hudon and Max Jones in the 1970s (who predicted it would not be climbed until the 1980s, hence the name) and more recently Kurt Smith, an aspiring Valley hard man who had been working the route on toprope for years according to Alan. Alan decided to try leading it before resorting to a toprope, and racked up with a bunch of RPs and micro-cams. On his first try, he fell off below the crux then hung for a minute to figure out where to place another piece of protection, then lowered off. On his second try, he stuck it. Believe me, it takes some skill to photograph a first ascent of a 5.12c route while belaying. Not a bad shot considering. When we got to the Valley, Alan casually mentioned his ascent to Kurt, who was predictably apoplectic. Ah, life's simple pleasures.