Looking for some beta on Epinephrine
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Headin out this weekend or next to do Epi. |
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Supertopo has some printable topo. supertopo.com/rock-climbing… |
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Ming wrote:how comfy are you on RR 5.9 chimneys and 5.8 face climbing?Translation = how comfy are you on 5.7 chimneys and 5.6 face climbing in the rest of the country? If you haven't climbed in RR before, the ratings are very soft. |
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Not sure about printable topo, but the one in Handren's book is good, and you can copy or take a photo of it. Alpine draws would be better, or a mix with regular draws. Placing an average amount of gear, 14-16 would be plenty, especially if you are linking pitches. There are a few places above the Elephant's trunk that you can back-clean draws pretty easily. There are a number of bolts, but mostly on face climbing - still a trad route, just has some bolts. Standard RR. |
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SOME of the routes in Red Rock are soft. Many others are right on at the grade or even a little sand bagged. Epi feels about right for the rating. |
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I did the route with my wife awhile back in mid-june and we had a great time. John's last paragraph is right on. We had to wait on the ledge in the shade for awhile, and when the sun left we blasted off and got to the top with plenty of daylight left. Chimneys are definitely 5.9, awesome route. |
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Supertopo and this site have all of the pitch and gear beta you require. All of the pitch/gear advise should be taken with a grain of salt, but the quantity should give you a good idea of what to expect. I took a set of larger nuts, a short set of TCU's, a tripple BD C4 rack up to a #3, and single #4 and #5. I think that I only placed the #5 once or twice and it was never necessary. You could definitely get by with a double set of cams if you are comfortable with running it out on sandstone. The 200' pitch marked on the topo is really 200'. I thought the route finding on the last pitch or two was a little funky and the final stations were harder to find as the hangers were missing, but you really are just following the burn mark of the hundreds of climbers before you. You might be better off just following your good sense and leaving the topo in your pack after you get onto the top of the black tower. |
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Did it with a single seventy and a standard rack. We brought a five I think for some reason and placed it but didnt need it. Easy route finding and mellow climbing. Linked it I to ten or 11 pitches I think |
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Gary Clark's Page about Epinephrine from his "North American Classic Climbs" website has great PDF topos of the route and the descent
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Early is the key and hydrate like mad before leaving to go climbing. We did it in mid-November with 1-liter hydration bladder each in Metolious 'Big Wall' gear slings (quite small actuall) with room for keys, wallet, and Cliff Bar and were fine on the water, but again it was mid-November and we really hydrated well the night before and continuously from the hotel to the parking lot. |
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Climbed the route in April and we had the following gear: |
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Climbed it the weekend of June 1. Started about 830am or so at the base of the route. First pitch was in the sun, but that was it for the day. We brought a lot of water and needed every drop of it, but hey, that's just us. The pitches above the Black Tower go into the shade at about 1pm. |
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Hey Everyone, |
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LOL (insert evil laugh here) |
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Ming wrote:LOL It's too bad that someone put the reflective tape which tame the hike out by alot (or so I read).Really?! I did the same decent off of Lone Star a couple of months ago and there was no tape thank goodness. Of course, we got totally lost despite me having done the decent before, but I'll take getting lost over a decent marked by tape. Hopefully climbers continue to remove anything like that in the future. |
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Seems to me that for us getting off Epi was harder than getting up it. But then again it was dark, we ran out of food and water, and it was early March... That being said the climbing was awesome! Watching the sunrise from the summit was miserably awesome too. Turned out that in the light the descent was pretty mellow! |
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Ming wrote:It's too bad that someone put the reflective tape which tame the hike out by alot (or so I read).Please tell me you are kidding. |
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If the descent is really marked with tape that needs to be remedied pronto by the locals. |
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As far as the descent goes, pay attention as you hike in to where the descent will need to go to not cliff out. I don't remember having any issue with it, though I'd done the Frogland descent earlier in the week which the Epi descent joins up with. |
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John Wilder wrote: "onsighting" the epi descent in the dark would be very challenging. this time of year, i'd probably hunker down and enjoy a nice warm evening on the top of the ridge and walk down in the am. The only people who would have THAT much difficult with the descent given the beta found in guidebooks and on the internets are gym climbers who don't belong on the route to begin with. We onsighted the descent in the dark with low IQ's, dehydrated bodies, and again not being the sharpest tools in the shed. A few hours of ridge-walking and we were back at the car enjoying some frosty PBR's. The view of the city at night was beautiful, and you are correct insofar that the temps were pleasant. Once we descended below the level of the Whiskey Peak summit I started pouring sweat. Not pleasant at that point. Ming wrote:LOL (insert evil laugh here) Notice none of us mentioned the descent. It's too bad that someone put the reflective tape which tame the hike out by alot (or so I read). When I did the route a few years ago it took us 10 1/2 hours to climb the route and 6 hours to hike out as we made every wrong turn you can make. Have fun! :)The reflective tape was there, and oddly enough wasn't on the areas that might confuse anyone with any mountain sense. The tape was after the ridge drops down to the saddle with Whiskey, where the only people who could get lost are those wondering "what are those strange rock piles everywhere for?" - fortunately the pieces are rather small and sparse. If I didn't have work the next morning and cold PBR's awaitin' I might have taken it down; maybe 5 or 6 small pieces, probably wouldn't be noticeable in daylight. These are simply the musings of a low-IQ punter and thus YMMV |
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Your idea of "very experienced" is quite different than ours. But you are a hero for saving those folks lives. Good thing they called you from the summit for help. The descent is quick, no worries, dark or not. If for some reason you took that long this time of year, one could then assume you would be out of water. Laying down and spending the night would seem pretty ridiculous to me. You might want to take Mr. Wilder's phone number with you. He will rescue you in time of need. |