Sooberb 

Last pitch well worth the ho-hum of the first two pitches. I can't deny or confirm the grading, I took a few hangs on the crux. Pro is OK, some small tricky placements abound early in the roof (i.e. a small cam and small nut). A #4.5 Camalot would be tits for the wide section of the crux, just lob it in there and smile. I lacked such and did not smile. I disagree with the write up about big hands being an advantage. I have large hands and did almost no jamming, there are some [subtle] and hard to find holds at the crux which is really the meat and potatoes of this route. Beware, the initial section of the roof has some small loose blocks one of which I kicked off. If powerhouse roofs in spectacular positions are your thing this baby is the ticket.

I did this in '78 as a youth, and went back yesterday. I failed at the lip, but it was an adventure.

The first two pitches make a very nice climb. I don't know why Rossiter says it's a little junky. At Sick Flake, don't take the description so literally. Climbing the inside of the left side of the flake looks nasty. You can climb the outside face and angle left to the left edge. So you are still "climbing the left side". The first pitch is long at about 150 feet. If you're just doing the first two pitches, you can climb straight up over a small overhang with a nice move and up to the rappel anchors.

We belayed on the face below the rotten red band. The gear is better, and it allows more rope to be out for the crux. When I first saw the roof, it looked so hard and poorly protected that I considered the line further left. But I checked out the wide crack, and it wasn't so bad. Tony must be way better at jamming. I didn't even see any possibility of jamming until the lip. There are some cool trick moves to get to the lip. After that I haven't a clue, but I'll go back.

For gear I used a blue/#3 Camalot at the bottom of the crack. It's not needed for safety, but it keeps the rope out of your way. Then a nut and small cam (blue Alien), green/#0.75 Camalot (bomber), red/#1 Camalot at the lip. Maybe the #4.5 Camalot mentioned above goes in the V corner above the lip?

If you're rappeling with a single rope, make sure it's 60m+. On the second rappel, you have to swing left on the lower slabs.

I don't see anything in the write-up about big hands being an advantage...just that small ones might be a disadvantage...

I don't remember any 5.10 except for the roof, which is tricky and burly, and hard to place gear (standard Eldo stuff, really). Anybody who can lead or even follow the roof I don't think will have any problem on any other section of the route (but I have huge hands, I can't speak for people with tiny hands).

I jammed the roof, but I also used holds. My partner jammed the roof both times I've done it. I have small hands and had to go from some rattly-jams. My first partner for my first go at this did the same sequence and called them "solid." He had bigger hands.

Big hands advantage/small hands disadvantage? It depends upon your point of view. With small hands I found it to be 5.10c, so I figured if it was easier with big hands that was an advantage. I guess the semantic change to express that small hands were a disadvantage could be in order, but I can't differentiate on that anymore.

Hmm, maybe there is more than one way to pull the roof ... I do not remember doing any hand jams at the crux roof (nor any big obvious crack at the crux). But it was several years ago and maybe my memory is not to be trusted. Rossiter lists several variations over the roof and maybe we were on one of those. I have only followed the crux pitch and it seemed way desperate, but I didn't fall. As a point of reference I usually can't follow 11's without hanging.

We did this climb yesterday (Bill Wright lead it of course). It is indeed burly and the pro is less than inspiring although the Aliens jammed in the thin shallow crack left and below the roof slot did hold....

Neither Bill nor I did any jamming to clear the roof, except for jamming our butts into the slot while exiting it. We couldn't find where we could have jammed, Lord knows we looked! but the search for jams lead us to find some hidden hold that proved to be the key to the sequence.

Fun route!

WT

Linked this with Ignominity yesterday. The roof is very burly. Much more powerful than the Tagger roof but not as technical. I found the hand jam that Tony is talking about. Just one spot at the lip allows for a good jam before lurching up into the slot. The pro is decent (not great) but it's draining to place. Didn't do the regular first two pitches, but this was a great link-up.

The climbing above the crux roof is very good as well.

I've only climbed the first pitch of Sooperb. But, I must say, this was a long and enjoyable pitch. Damn near a full rope length. The flakey thingy was interesting, though, as it was thought provoking. Gettin' Funky!

If you're not up for a 10c roof, you can do Sooberb as a fun 3-pitch 5.8 as follows:

1. 5.7, 80'. Start on the trail directly below Sick Flake. Climb straight up the face, pass a bulge, and belay at the pine tree below the left side of the flake.

2. 5.8, 90'. Climb the chimney, pass the chockstone and layback up to a ledge. Continue up a steep left-facing corner to a good ledge with a big tree and rap anchor.

3. 5.7, 80'. Go up and left, climb past a small roof, and continue up a slab. Work right at the top of the slab to another tree with a rap anchor.

Descent: 2 rappels with a 60m rope. Angle the second rap to the left and watch the ends of the rope. This leaves you on a broken ledge. Follow the ledge uphill until you can downclimb to the trail.

This is a great route to do when other more popular routes are crowded with climbers.

This weekend, the two trees that have been used for rappels for the descent from Sooberb, Long John Wall, etc., have been replaced with camouflaged double bolt anchors. The first set of anchors from the ledge near the top of the cliff are on the slab just left of the tree and easy to overlook. This location was the best spot for the anchors given the quality of the rock and the pull.

First, thanks Chris Archer, if you helped with the rappel anchors. We had to scramble down unroped from the last pitch, but then the raps were great from the big ledge - we saw no anchors at the very top. It took us 3 raps on 60m rope. Second, the comments above correspond with my thought: this last pitch is more like 10d. The 10c rating seems based on 2 people's hands/thoughts. My hands are small and this was very hard/strenuous crux. Even with my small hands, you can jam w/ right hand, just to the right of the V at the lip, unless you've chosen to put a Friend there. But I saw no jam after that - you have to go for the horn inside the wide crack, then move to the edge on the right inside face; then finally, after about 10 hard consecutive moves, it is over. If this is mid-10,then there is nothing on earlier pitches that is 5.10....

The new rap anchors are indeed a great addition to the area. Thanks, Chris and the rest of ACE!