Royal Arches Rap Route

Does anyone know the condition/existence of the added belay station 85' below rap 10 (supertopo guide) that goes down the "5.5 polished gully? Per a thread in Supertopo, a belay station was added circa 2007 .

supertopo.com/rock-climbing…
(scroll down to posts in 2007 to see edited rap topo)

When I descended the route a year ago, I don't recall seeing these bolts.

I believe I saw them over a year ago when I last did the R.A. rap.

Bring two 60m ropes and you wont have to worry about down-climbing the 5.5 gully.
Also recommend simu-rapping and bring the rope down with you as u go. as opposed to tossing the the rope down 1st. This will help prevent any snags on the last half of the rapps.
the 1st part is slab wall so..no snags there.

just IMHO after doing this route twice.

have fun.

Gizzard

I just did this rap route and there is a slung chock stone in that gully that you can use to rap off of. Not the best but it worked. We rapped with a single 60.

Rapped last month with a single 70m rope. There was a new looking bolted anchor so you don't have to scramble down the 5.5 polished gully. 60m should be OK too. Not marked in the latest ST guidebook.

I rapped it with one 60 m rope about 3 years ago. We slung the chock stone in the 5.5 gully but we did not need to. About 30 feet looker's left of the chock stone there are some difficult to see Bolts that looked relatively new. So just keep an eye out, they were about even with the chock stone.

I rap it with a 70m to avoid the 5.5 gully downclimb, though a 70m is overkill for the top half of the rap route. I'm usually left with lots of extra rope once I hit the rap station - enough to rap another 10-15 meters.

I personally avoid using two ropes on the rap route due to numerous occasions with ropes snagging. Imagine two 70m ropes tied together, 460ft in length, snaking its way down the wall every time you pull the rope. There's so many trees and areas for ropes to get snagged. If you do it correct you'd skip quite a few rap stations but it's super sketchy and a waste of time if your rope snags.