Birdland Beta

All,
It's been a while since I've been to Red Rocks and I am heading there this weekend. I've got my eye on Birdland and was looking for some beta. How does the crux of the 5th pitch crux compare to some of the other 5.7s and 5.8s in Red Rocks? I've done routes such as tunnel vision, johnny vegas, gerinimo, crismon, lotta balls and frogland.

Thoughts - cheers,
Monte

I thought the whole route was easier than anything on Frogland, Tunnel Vision, or Lotta Balls. Just take some smaller pro with you (small wires and small TCU type cams) for the first and for the last pitch.

When you rappel the route, let the rope slide through the chains at the end of each pull, and don't jerk the rope to try to get it to snap away from the rock. We got our rope stuck on one of the pitches and I had to relead because the rope got wedged behind the chains.

Have a great time!!

i thought the 'crux' section of birdland was thinner than that of johnny vegas, and a little more challenging, though i think that speaks more to how easy vegas is, not how 'hard' birdland is. it's a totally reasonable 5.7, and tons of fun.

Thanks all. I'm looking forward to it.

Cheers,
Monte