Cannonball Corner 5.10c
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| Type: | Trad, Alpine, 6 pitches, 500 feet, Grade III |
| Consensus: | 5.10+ [details] |
| FA: | George Lowe, Greg Cameron |
| New Route: | Yes |
| Submitted By: | Greg Cameron on Jul 26, 2003 |
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Looking up the first pitch of Cannonball Corner, w...
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Description Another route done in the early 1990s that never was written up anywhere. This route was actually shown and even named in Ken Trout's 1989 Black Wall article, but it did not appear to have been completed.
Cannonball Corner follows the huge right-facing dihedral system to the climber's right of Road Warrior. It is primarily a hand crack. Although this route has some great climbing, be warned - the 1st and especially 5th pitches have some loose rock. Also, the 5th pitch is often wet. Be careful on this climb.
Access the route by descending the Black Wall Rappel Route and walking right (north) along the base of the cliff to the base of the corner system.
Scramble up as high as you can, and belay at the start of an obvious corner. The corner that you start in is one corner to the right of the leftmost dihedral in the system.
P1). 150 ft. (5.9). Lieback, stem, and jam up the corner system to a good ledge. There are some loose, flakey sections lower down on this pitch.
P2). 80 ft. (5.9) Continue up the steep corner (5.9) for about 50 feet. Climb on lower angle. easier ground to a good belay ledge.
P3). 80 feet (5.9). Continue up the corner system to a belay ledge below two small roofs.
P4). 50 ft. (5.10+). Stem, lieback, jam, and undercling around the roofs, which are up and right. Climbing around the improbable-looking 2nd roof is the crux (the one place you can use a #5 Camalot is here, near the end of the crux). Belay at a ledge just past the roof.
P5). 90 ft (5.10). Often wet. Climb up and then angle right through the roof system. There's some tricky climbing towards the end of this pitch. Belay at a stance following the hard moves.
P6). 40 ft. (5.8). Make a move right, then easy climbing straight up to the summit.
Protection Two each to #3 Camalot, one 4, one #4.5 or #5 Camalot, 1 set medium-large nuts. TCUs are useful if you have them.
Pitch 2 of Cannonball Corner. The crux roofs of Pi...
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The business on pitch 4: transitioning from this p...
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The view from the spectacular perch atop Pitch 5, ...
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The traverse on Pitch 5, above all the loose flake...
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| Comments on Cannonball Corner |
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By Greg Cameron
Jun 27, 2006
| I just did this again with Rob Dillon on Saturday. The route's better than I remember and completely dry. |
By Rob Dillon
From: '81 Sunrader
Jun 28, 2006
| If this is a mere 2 stars then I need to get on some of those other lines!
Cannonball Corner feels kinda heads-up, what with the loose flakes and whatnot. A healthy appreciation for un-sanitized climbing will serve you well here. |
By Dougald MacDonald
Aug 12, 2007
rating: 5.10+
| This is a spectacular route, marred by a lot of big, loose, sharp flakes. And, at least when we did it in mid-August, there was some wet rock at key sections. Pitch 1 felt harder than 5.9, especially a strenuous chimney exit near the end of the lead. Pitches 4 and 5 have amazing situations: among the steepest pitches I've ever done in the mountains. The crux on 4 felt like 5.10+. (A #5 Camalot would be easier to place than a #4.5 to protect the crux move.) And with wet, cold hands, the final roof on Pitch 5 definitely felt harder than 5.10. It's hard to imagine Pitch 6 ever being dry, and although it's short and technically easy it's not a gimme. All in all, this route has passages of very good climbing and is well worth doing, but it's definitely not a casual day in the mountains. Go prepared for a hard adventure and be rewarded. |
By david goldstein
Aug 12, 2007
| I agree w/ Dougald's comments. A worthwhile undertaking but too wet and loose to bear repeating. The crux pitch was excellent, reminding me of a harder version of the crux of Syke's Sickle. |
By Brian Milhaupt
From: Golden, CO
Aug 15, 2007
rating: 5.10d
| It's totally dry now save the last pitch. We traversed left to join Good Evans at its crux via a difficult hand traverse after the bombay roof. |
By Henry Lester
Jul 20, 2009
| On pitch 5, part of the overhang (the flakes you are standing on just before the bleay) past the (usually) wet section collapsed - still very do-able, but some more will probably come off. It appears that the place to traverse (left) on to Good Evans is from the ledge about 10 feet above the belay at the top of the fourth pitch. The traverse appears to go to the belay on the last pitch of Good Evans. I think this would make for a better finish. |
By Tony B
From: Around Boulder, CO
Jul 29, 2012
| This entire thing is presently dripping and climbs about like polished ice covered in astroglide. It is nothing short of truly dangerous right now, and I expect it will take quite some time to dry out. |
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