Threshold Of A Dream 

This route is very good. together with the two routes to its left, you have a great little chunk of climbing in a concentrated area. However, be warned that this and many of other routes at the upper Animal World crag have a lot of loose / chossy rock. Most of this climb is clean, but a large, angular flake and a loafy jug up top look to be possible missile material. Knock on flakes and jugs before you weight them, and try not to yard out on anything that isn't bombtruck. I guess. Anyway, like I said, sweet route.

Justin...When we did the FA we used the base of the flake you are talking about as a fingerlock and moved right making a hard move to get established on the upper face.

The flake is loose and seems to be wedge in fairly well..that said I still wouldn't use it.

Thanks for the kind words on the routes. I think this route is a instant classic!

We did a start directly below the arete, rather than coming in from Days of Future Passed. Is this a new variation? The first bolt however was missing a hanger, but a nut cable can be used on the stud and yellow and red Aliens can back this up also until you reach over the roof and clip the 2nd bolt. Pretty good climbing overall and the direct start adds some more 5.11 down low.

Steve we added the direct start last week and were going to clean up the bottom section before reporting it.

Done with the direct start this is the best of the new routes, and pretty good over all for where and what it is. The 3 star rating assigned is accounting for what I believe it will be like once it cleans up a little more. At present, some of the small chips for feet were still grinding down and I snapped a good bit off of one of them. It actually got bigger now. With a little more srcaping and brushing, it will be a good route.

The flake up high sure seems like a death flake to me. I was scared to go any higher then the finger-locks down low once I looked up at it. It looked like a good hard pull from the top or a solid whack with a sledge hammer would probably dislodge the whole thing, but it might go all the way to the road and kill someone... there or on the way down.

I hope it won't, but my recent experinece at A.W. on the new routes has been less than stellar. I pulled a 200lb flake off of the 11 and several holds off of the 12 to the right.

Thanks Bob for bolting this. It is a decent route, and after doing it a second time I like it even more. I placed 2 Xs with chalk on the flake up high. Please be VERY careful with this flake and use it for nothing more than a low finger lock. From this lock, you can bust out right to good face holds. If this thing goes, it could make it to the road.

Much more enjoyable now that the flake has been secured.

David...I have seen two climbers...bigger than you yard off the top of that flake. The left side of the flake had chalk on it when we did the FA...people were using it for Days of Future Passed.

When I did the FA I moved right from the lower finger lock to a obvious in-cut hold...making a somewhat strenuous move to reach a ledge and stand up. I can usually climb around loose rock..must be all those years of climbing in GOG, desert and the Black Canyon.


It is well documented at this point about the flake...I will try to figure out what needs to be done in the next week or so.

Terry Murphy and I toproped and scrubbed this route a couple of years ago but never bolted it cos we couldn't figure out how to remove the offending flake. Granted it's fine just using the fingerlock at the bottom, but as Dave said the flake kinda leads you on. I did shove a block off about 5 foot from the bottom of the route and then watched in horror as it accelerated down the slope, jumped the fence and barreled across the highway about 15 seconds before a car drove by. Ughhh. Nighttime trundling seemed like the best option to remove the flake safely, but we never managed to get it together.

Great line.
But rip that flake out.

Bob.
Come on...
So two people of have yarded on that thing. It is only a matter of time before that thing kills some one below. I climbed the route as you intended Bob, but I scoped that flake out. It is pretty scary in my book. It should have been part of the cleaning process. We all know how much traffic these routes will get.
Much Respect.
SAL

So Sal...why didn't you or the other folks take it out...would not have bother me in the least???

No disrespect intended.

I guess I just wanted to validate the danger of the block and see if you would mind. I was up there with Doug Madara yesterday and did not really want his visit to be a stone trundling bash. :)
We will look into getting up there and cleaning that block. It would be a major bummer for that to dislodge with the amount of folks that climb there.
Thanks for the additions up there.
SAL

Sal...drop me a line...I was going to take care of it this week.

Tell Doug I said hello.

Later, Bob

GEAR UPDATE...I went back and drilled two six inch long hilti bolts in the left side of the flake to stabilized it. The bolts when in at least two to three inches into good rock behind the flake. This should keep the flake in and somewhat stable.

I would feel safe using the bottom of the flake for a fingerlock but not the flake itself!!!

Judging by the amount of chalk on the route it has become very popular and this should keep the flake in place for some time.

Jesus Cristo Bob! I applaud your hard work as I have done the same. I drilled two 10 inch deep holes and glued two threaded rods into them. I then camouflaged the holes with sand. The rock was a little hollow and since the bolt and hanger that keeps you off the ledge needed to be in that section of rock I figured I would just make sure it was bomb proof. What a pain in the butt. Some routes as well as those who trust that our bolt placements are in solid rock deserve the extra effort to make them safe.

Nice Bob. I will be up there today. I'll give a look.
Thanks for the hard work.
Cheers
SAL

A chossy, awkward pull over the initial roof to a very enjoyable slab/arete sequence to hold your breath watch where you step "hollow" sounding jug and flake pulling. If you've climbed everything else at Animal World then at least you have an excuse to get on it.