Mark climbing something hard. Not sure, what the r...
Description
Coney Island is often difficult to spot. It stands precipitously above the road, although it poses most hazard to drivers during the approach. All of the climbing departs from huge ledge systems that provide loads of room to maneuver without pitching rocks onto the road. Nonetheless, it is always advisable to be hyper aware of the possibility for rolling rocks into the road. The crag is split into upper and lower tiers, both being composed of arch-typal Boulder granite. The climbing is often well edged, with solid, in-cut flakes. Mostly vertical to a tad beyond vertical, difficulty often results from thin moves and big reaches on bad feet. Smearing with technical footwork are common place.
A. The Bait, 11-, 1p, gear. B. Twist And Shout, 13, 1p, bolts. C. Fly Trap, 11+, 1p, 40', bolts. D. Flies In The Soup, 11, 1p, 40', bolts. E. Prong, 12+, 1p, 40', bolts. F. Fly Swatter, 10, 1p, 35', 3 bolts. G. Work It On Out, 12+, 1p, 25', bolts. H. Dampened Enthusiasm, 12-, 1p, 30', bolts. I. Red Badger, 11+, 1p, 25', bolts. IG. Over Enthusiam, 13, 1p, connects I->G, bolts. IG. The Badger Traverse, 13-, 1p, connects I->G, bolts.
Upper Tier
J. Feeding TheBeast, 12, 1p, bolts. K. Joy Ride, 12, 1p, bolts. L. Der Letzte Zug, 12, 1p, 70', bolts. M. Die Reeperbahn, 13, 1p, bolts. N. Loading Zone, 10+ R, gear. O. Psyclone, 11+, 2p, gear. P. Quintet, 10, 2p, gear. Q. Give The Dog A Bone, 13-, 1p, bolts. R. Coney Island Baby, 12- R, 1p, gear. S. Gagger, 14-, 1p, bolts. T. Another Way, 9 R, 1p, 130', gear. U. Runaway 8, 1p, 120', bolts. V. Pri Moe, 10+, 1p, 70', bolts & gear. W. Lucky Strikes Again, 9, 1p, 60', bolts.
Drive about 9 miles west on Canyon boulevard. Continue west of the crag proper about 200 yards to a large pull-out on the South side of the canyon. This will drop down to the river on a brief dirt road that offers good parking and is discrete. Hike back down-stream to a faint trail (the river is on the right) that heads off up-hill on the North side of the canyon. The trail forks shortly with the right hand branch going to the lower cliff. Continue upwards to approach the upper cliff. You travel a distance that seems long, over some easy exposed rock in the trail. The routes begin at a small saddle and continue down-hill and to the right for 200 ft or so.
Last Sunday while waiting out the rain my friends and I did a little "route appreciation" up and down Boulder Canyon. We stopped and hiked up to check-out Coney Island. The upper tier looked clean and there are some routes we were all pretty excited about returning to climb on a better day.
But the lower tier was a pile! I was frankly shocked that someone bolted the crap out of the short right section. In many places these "routes" would be boulder problems.... In my twenty years of climbing that has to be the worst pile of shite I've ever seen bolted. I thought the Sport Park and Punk Rock were pathetic but that really takes the cake!
I just wonder....does every little itty bitty piece of rock need to be turned into an over-bolted playground?
I think that this website needs a section for ranting about why anyone would climb at this or that cliff. Granted, Lower Coney Island isn't classic but it isn't chipped, there are a few good hard routes, and the last time I checked no one was complaining that Boulder had too many of those. Lighten up and save your ranting energy for climbing.
Yes, Peter, there are some great routes on the left side of Coney Island. They, however, in no way excuse the over-bolted piles of crap on the right side. Its this sort of irresponsible drilling that gets land managers attention. Is it too much to ask when we hope that people drilling on public lands show an itty bit of restraint when choosing what to bolt?
I don't need to save my energy to climb....I've got plenty to do both just fine thanks.
Peter Beal....com'on, I think I can formulate a fair opinion on the subject of over-bolting and responsibility when putting up routes without climbing every route somebody decides needs to be fired in.
Sorry I'm down on a few routes but thats just the way I feel. I never said Coney Island was a pile. In fact I look forward to heading out there and getting on some classic looking lines on the upper tier. I just think somebody got carried away a little on the lower section.
Has anyone done the 13b on upper Coney Island? Would you mind dishing out the spray on whether or not it is a good line, where the crux is and all that? Thanks!
Okay, so Mike and I got up to Coney Island, and we climbed Runaway. It is an amazing climb (some runout spots and loose rock), but to the left is a route with a bunch of quickdraws still attached to the bolts, I believe that route is "Gagger."
We set up an anchor at the top of that route, and we had a 60m rope, so we were planning on doing a multi rep (We had to climb around the crag to get up there. There is no walk off from the top of Runaway). I rappeled down to the TR anchor... these bolts are not fully bolted in, and are unsafe to tie into.
DO NOT CLIMB TO THE TOP OF GAGGER*
P.S. we found an old POS green Alien, funny as hell.
Coney Island
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