Geir on the fifth pitch. Shawn, Geir, and I had a...
Description
A well-thought-out and fun route on the far right side of Sheepshead. This climb has a wide variety of climbing, including chimney, crack, face, and slab, making it interesting and challenging at the grade. It even has an unusual and fun descent.
Pitch 1 (50 feet, 5.8) -- climb up past two bolts and a few traditional placements to a two bolt anchor.
Pitch 2 (120 feet, 5.10a) -- make a hard move to the right, clipping a bolt. Then climb up past one more bolt to a nice crack. Continue up the crack, staying to your left at a bulge, where the crack widens to a short chimney. At the top of the chimney bear right and climb up past a few more bolts to the anchor.
Pitch 3 (100 feet, 5.9) -- climb up on a slightly run-out, but easy terrain to a series of bolts. Continue along the bolts until the climb bears left to a sloping ledge with a two bolt anchor.
Pitch 4 (140 feet, hard 5.9) -- climb up and right past bolts and interesting face climbing. After about 5 bolts, the climbing eases off a bit to lower angle climbing. Pass over a diagonal crack which takes some gear and continue up to a nice ledge with a two bolt anchor and rap rings. Note that this anchor is one of the rappel stations for the descent.
Pitch 5 (100 feet, 5.9) -- climb up past two bolts and into a chimney. The chimney narrows to offwidth as you climb higher and face holds appear on your left. Move on to the face and continue up to a two bolt anchor with rap rings.
Descent: -From the end of pitch 5, rappel 100' to the anchor for pitch 4. -From the pitch 4 anchor, rappel straight down about 80' to an anchor on your right. -Rappel from this anchor 50' to a large ledge with vegetation. -Scramble down and climber's left about 30' to a small flat area by a large tree. Hidden about 10' to climber's left is a rappel anchor on a mildly exposed slab. -From this anchor, rappel 95' straight down to the steep gully, where you will find yet another anchor. -From here, rappel down the gully about 70 feet. Scramble to your packs.
While the descent can be done with a single 60 meter rope, it is advised that you use two ropes for this climb in case retreat is necessary before finishing pitch 4.
Location
Approach: while walking up the hill toward Sheepshead, keep an eye out for a cairn marking a trail heading to the right. After a minute, the trail deposits you into a wash which heads up toward the right side of Sheepshead. Continue up the wash until you are between Sheepshead and Carnivore Pinnacle (the next formation to the right). You will see the bolts for the beginning of Stampede on your left. Continue up 50 feet or so to a large dead tree. The route starts in a gully to the left of this tree.
Protection
Gear and bolts, approximately 50% bolt protected. All anchors are bolted.
This is a great route and the second pitch is interesting as do not be decieved and try the right side of the bulging rock. Lots of differnt stuff. On the rap look closely to climbers left for the third and fourth set of hangers (more like 20 feet and not 10ft
A great route with a wide variety of climbing. 16 draws, a couple slings for chicken heads on the last pitch and a full set of cams (couple small but mostly medium to large) is all that is needed.
By Meghan From: Sierra Vista, AZ Jul 1, 2008 rating: 5.10a
Great route!! Sustained and diverse 5.9. Every pitch is different and none are much easier than 9.
By Meghan From: Sierra Vista, AZ Jan 4, 2009 rating: 5.10a
I climbed this again yesterday and think it's actually harder than I originally thought. On climbing it again, I think it has a few .10a moves and a lot of sustained 5.9. Really good route.
By susan peplow From: Phx J-Tree Jan 4, 2009 rating: 5.10
Meghan, it feels like 10a because it is. A budding 5.9 leader would likely have some serious trouble on that route!
Fun line still exfoliating but that's to be expected.
We ran pitch 1 & 2 together with a 70' cord. Like others have mentioned the 1/2 pitch has a wide variety of climbing. Bring your skills ladies and gentlemen!
We did it with (2) teams of two in 4 pitches. Russ & SteelMonkey leading pitches 1/2 & 4. Felicia and I taking the middle blocks.
Good climbing and a nice addition to the area. The last of the winter sun clearing the belay just around 1pm - the route stays in the sun for the afternoon.
Enjoy!
By Meghan From: Sierra Vista, AZ Jan 4, 2009 rating: 5.10a
Thanks for the support on the .10a business. I thought it worthwhile to post so that the "budding 5.9 climber" wouldn't get on the route without any warning that it's a little stiff. We also ran the first two pitches together and did it in 4 using a 70m. Might be able to do it that way with a 60m. Happy climbing!! :-)
By Meghan From: Sierra Vista, AZ Jan 5, 2009 rating: 5.10a
Yes, that was me... Good meeting you! I loved your crag dog!! He hung out with us while we ate, drank, and climbed Sheep Thrills. :-)
By Russ Walling From: www.FishProducts.com Jan 8, 2009 rating: 5.10a
Pretty good route. Not great, but better than good. 2.5 stars. Running pitch 1 and 2 together gives you a pretty good value outing. It may not be the best way to do it, but the first pitch is so short and goes so quickly, that it feels like more of an approach pitch than actual climbing. YMMV.
The raps are pretty straightforward. We rapped off the top of the route to the big ledge with the tree. Using two ropes (60m or longer) you can do a giant rap from here all the way into the gully. Scramble down the gully for maybe 40 yards and you will see some bolts on the right wall. Single rope rap these and you are back at your packs and the start of the route. Be careful as your rope might try to get stuck in some mid-way-down bushes when pulling down the monster rap.
A short slide show from the route can be found here (Do a mouseover for captions on the "i" and nav controls on the bottom of the pics.)
If you're comfortable spacing your placements a bit on moderate cracks, a single set of cams from .5 to 3 BD size is sufficient. A #4 could be placed in three spots, but other stuff will go in a few feet above or below in each of these spots. Great second pitch!
Great modern route! Pitch 2 is a real gem (slab, hand crack, chimney, finger crack, steep face!) but pitches 4 & 5 were also very cool we thought. Just to echo what others said, climbing felt hard for 5.9 (compared to Too Tough... which we did the day before & Absinthe IMHO). Thanks to Geir for another great topo.
I might have placed a #4 C4 but I think that was mostly because I wanted to unload it. I THINK you could get away with up to blue Camalot as the OW constricts in the back & I recall placing couple of nuts actually.
By Christian From: Tucson, Az Feb 23, 2009 rating: 5.10a
If anybody finds a pack-in-pocket Marmot windbreaker in the chimney on the last pitch (forgot to pick it up on the rap) and wishes to return it, please contact me through the e-mail here on MP or at (520) 577-5520
Thanks much
By Christian From: Tucson, Az Feb 23, 2009 rating: 5.10a
Definitely worth it to bring two #4s on the second pitch. What a thrash on the last pitch, I guess having a bunch of gear around your waist is not a good thing in that kind of situation.
On the second-to-last rappel, a 70m may reach the next anchors, otherwise a 60m just ( make sure you have the midpoint) reaches a little ledge where you can step off into the gully and then scramble to the last anchors.
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