5.11

Ray Innelli, down on his luck and out of options, accepts a job offer from hard-nosed developer Len Cummings for work on a ranch in California's Gold Country. Innelli begins with hopes of rebuilding an empty life and meets Wynn Hollingsworth, a once-famous climber who years earlier, following his own tragedy, retreated to a riverside trailer to eke out a living panning for gold. Innelli is soon ensnared in a rivalry pitting Cummings, his wife, and loyal foreman against Hollingsworth, his niece, and other escapees from traditional lives. Ambition, personal failure and desire for redemption play out in the shadow of a little-known rock wall rising above a river in the Sierra foothills.

About the title: Climbers rank routes based on difficulty and danger. In the 1930s the Sierra Club developed the Yosemite Decimal System to assess climbs in the Sierra Nevada. The system has classes, ranging from the easiest — walking on level terrain — to the most difficult. A 5.11 is climbing on vertical rock requiring experience, strength, stamina and technical skill.