Backflip 

The "absurdly thin and shallow crack" mentioned in the description of P4 is excellent climbing as good as the rest of the route. The guidebook topos show a fixed pin in this crack which is now gone, however you can sew it up with small stoppers.

Backflip is a three-star Lumpy Ridge classic if done by the most interesting line. It can be done in three pitches with a 60-meter rope.

Pitch 1: (5.8+, 170 feet) Climb the layback flake and a steep corner (crux) to a good ledge with two bolts. Continue left and up to a good ledge.

Pitch 2: (5.9-, 70 feet) Climb the right-facing corner above, make a delicate step right (crux), up to a roof, then undercling right and continue right to a small belay stance by some flakes and grooves.

Pitch 3: (5.9, 170 feet) Climb right and up an easy runout face to a thin crack. Climb the crack to a steep headwall and make a dicey move at the top of the crack (crux) gaining a ledge. Continue straight up a short steep right-facing corner (5.8), and angle up left to another short steep corner. Layback up this corner (5.8) to a ramp. Go up the ramp, then step down right to a hand crack. Climb the hand crack to a ledge at the top.

Descent: Downclimb (4th class) to a rappel anchor (slings around a block). Rappel 95' down behind Bookmark Pinnacle to another rappel station (two slings behind a boulder; no rap rings on 7/29/02). A short rappel and a traverse left takes you to the descent gully.

Protection: standard rack through #3 or #3.5 Camalot. Extra Aliens, an extra #1, #2 Camalot and some extra runners are useful for the long pitches.

Hmm, maybe I had my eye on the wrong crack there (I was looking for a pin, I guess that's gone), or maybe this is one of those many Lumpy 9s that I would find harder/scarier than Wolf's Tooth ;)

The pin on the third pitch is indeed long gone. I placed a small Alien and then a red Lowe ball to protect the crux move at the top of the crack. There's a great jug on the lip of the ledge right of the crack that you're shooting for; it's an easier move if you're tall. Most people I've climbed with have more trouble on the first pitch crux than on this move.

This is a 3 star route.The only exception is some hollow sounding rock on the 3rd pitch and some exciting gear on the fourth pitch. There is good gear at the crux, but it's a little runout with questionable nut placements for the first 1/2 of the pitch.

Fabulous! We did this route exactly as Ron describes above and it's superb. I think it's as good as Pear Buttress and Loose Ends, and the difficulty falls between the two.

One of my favorite routes on the Bookmark, it can easily be done in two 60m pitches to the horn rappel anchors or add another dirty 60m pitch to the top of the formation.

You can combine P2&3 with a 60m rope. From what I've been told, it's better than combining 1&2 which tends to get the rope jammed in the crack. There is a face climbing alternative to the undercling of P3. Go up and protect the moves with a #1 Friend in the undercling, downclimb, foot traverse R. You can get at least 5 wireds in the P4 thin crack.

Excellent. Better than Melvin's Wheel.

Easier than it looks. Soft at 5.9. Felt easier than Melvin's Wheel.

I upgraded the first rappel anchor (slings around a big block) with a new triple runner on 8/24/03. The three slings on this anchor were all seriously bleached by the sun. The dark blue runner I removed was completely white in places. Anyone climbing Backflip in the near future should bring a triple runner (and a knife) and replace another one of the old slings.

Climbed the route this past weekend as described by Ron (above). Had a great time under perfect spring conditions. Great way to start off the Lumpy season.

Gear- P1: Good gear mostly stoppers and camalots (0.75-3.0). P2: Mostly small stuff. We used stoppers, green and yellow aliens up to the undercling with 0.5 and 1.0 Camalot protecting the traverse. P3: BD swedges and stoppers with one red alien for gear up through the crux. Then med. stoppers and camalots up to a #2 worked fine.

Climb this as described by Ron Olsen above, as it's described in the Gillett guide book, and it's a three-star classic. With the exception of the easy second half of P1, most moves are consistently in the 5.8 to 5.9- range with a crux on P3 in fine position. Don't miss this one.

Mike Duncan and I climbed the route yesterday. We added a new rappel station. First, we rappelled to the east off the slings around the big block. Then we used the rappel station at the bottom of this first rappel to rappel south (not east!) into the bushy gully (Don’t stop at an old intermediate station with ratty slings in this gully, but continue to a level stance. Then we traversed L (west) for about 15 feet on the Bookmark face, where we a fashioned a rappel station around some large flakes using 5.5 mm cord and a steel rappel ring. From here, rappelled to the bolts atop p1 and from there to the ground, which landed us exactly at our packs. 60m rope recommended.

Did this route yesterday - I definitely think that the first pitch might be the most demanding. It is definitely the most sustained. On the fourth pitch, after the run out to the thin seam I got a small Alien in at the base of the seam. I am not certain how you might 'sew it up' as the seam is thin and flaring. My Alien placement was not so great, but I think I could have gotten a better placement a little higher; however, I did not want to clutter up my jams with gear (although I think this seam is straightforward enough that this was not necessary). I had previously done the fourth pitch to the top, but I think that I would bust out right after the steep headwall (in line with Bookmark Pinnacle) over the easy fins and rap from the fin around the corner. From there, it is three raps (or two and a long walk off) down the Pinnacle descent chimneys to the base of the pinnacle. 60 m ropes get you to the ground and you miss some of the less impressive climbing on an otherwise excellent route.

Great route.

We took a slightly different descent that I think is worth noting. From the big blocks at the top, we rapped down and then scrambled SOUTH (into the bushy gully between the Bookmark and the Bbookmark Pinnacle) another 15-20 feet to a rap station on a big chockstone. We took this down a FULL 30m (60m rope) to another rap station in the gully. Make sure to tie the ends of the rope, because it takes the WHOLE rope to get there. From here, we rapped straight to our packs.

Neither of the two rap stations in the gully had rap rings - both had carabiners. This is as of July 31, 2008.

Although a little overgrown, this direct line down to our packs was hard to beat.

The "thin seam" can be well protected. I put a 0.3 or 0.4 Camalot low in the crack followed by 2 smallish but solid stoppers at 3 foot intervals above it. 2 pieces would have been enough, but after the runout (it wasn't bad with very positive holds), I wanted some redundancy.

The small crack below the roof to the traverse is the most stimulating move on the climb! Kinda blind going around the corner! Excellent line definitely recommended! The name says it all!

I did the #2 variation of pitch 3 and thought it was very good. If planning on doing this bring extra thin gear. C3s worked very well for me.

This is the "softest" 5.9 I have ever done at Lumpy. Although easy for the grade it is a great, fun climb and I highly recommend it.

While a bit easier than most of the 5.9s I've done at Lumpy, I think Backflip is more challenging and sustained than either Melvin's Wheel or Pear Buttress. Giving this route a 5.8 would be a sandbag - I think easy 9 or full-value 9- is more accurate, on par with Mainliner.

Just a note on descents. The rob.calm descent no longer seems to exist. The 5 mm cord was nowhere to be found August 20, 2009. There seem to be plenty of alternatives, though.

Climbed this today with Matt Reeser, who lead everything but the first pitch which we broke into two on a good stance with good gear. If you're thinking of breaking into the 5.9 grade on this climb, I wouldn't recommend it. The cruxes are not very sustained, but everything else is and it is a challenge to place gear (though if you can, it's very solid for the most part). Ron Olsen's description is what we climbed with the exception of breaking the first pitch into two. I give this a solid 5.9 rating for technical difficulty.

Climbed this route on August 7, 2010. We also did not locate the rob.calm descent noted by Eds. We did find the descent noted by Robert McGibbon in the gully, and unfortunately we can't recommend it. The scramble to the second rap is exposed, and leads you to a rap station with ripped slings. The gully has a number of large loose rocks, and is filled with vegetation. Next time we'll walk down.