The Cathedral Spires are closed from March 1 to July 31 for raptor nesting.
BETA PHOTO
Description
While Bishop Crack is a two pitch route, the first pitch gets my vote as the best single pitch 5.11 crack in Colorado. Several years ago we headed up to The Bishop with our minds full of sending the whole damn unit, however, there is nothing like having eyes far bigger than our stomachs.
Bishop Crack starts left of center on the perfectly vertical East face, a brilliant yellow wall in the morning sun. A wide 5.8 squeeze gets the juices flowing for perhaps 30 ft. This seques into a fingers thin crack for a bit and then promptly widens up to butt and hips dimension for 15 ft of 5.10 wrestling. I thought that the hardest move was in getting out of the wide crack and onto the thin fingers (read two joints) crack. What follows is brilliant crack climbing for 50 ft on perfect stone. Wires and small cams will sew it up. Look for some fairly good edges on either side of the crack, for the most part you don't ever really have to jam the toes except for a few places where it really lets you turn on the motor.
A sling belay will be found at 100 ft from which it is possible to rap. For the true hard men, a hope we had long abondoned after 100 ft of relentless jams, the second pitch fires up on more of the same in a perfectly vertical crack that gets thinner and thinner the higher you go. From our escape stance below the upper 5.12 section, it appeared that the edges found on P1 had all but disappeared. Even doing only the first pitch, Bishop Crack ticks in as a brilliant climb.
Protection
Bring a full rack of wires, slew of thin camming gear, and several wide camming units.
1-7-03 There is only one 1/4" bolt at the end of pitch one. I equalized with a nut, but who knows how long that will last. Come prepared to drill, leave gear, or climb and/or aid 5.12.
Richard's assessment of P1 is good. Dump anything larger than a 2.5 Friend/1 Camalot before you leave the slot. From the top of the slot to the anchors Brian mentioned (still there), the crack is mostly #3 Metoulius in size (bring several). This made for great locks for my fingers and the rest of the climbing felt more like relentless 10 to 10+ (size matters). Keep in mind that you've just grunted out of a 10- slot and hiked for at least 1/2 hr. to get to the Bishop. Maybe that's included in the rating? Afterwards, you can do another lap on this sexy finger crack and/or do at least P1 of Flounder (solid 10) to the right about 80 ft..
Ben, I agree that there didn't seem to be anything harder than 5.10. The finger locks and the good feet Richard mentions reminded me a lot of Carol's crack at D-tower.
Last I checked the "anchor" had one horrible bolt and 3 good stoppers. It can be rapped off.
I urge those who aspire to do the second pitch to try to fire it ground up, a standard rope is long enough and it feels wonderful to try. I disagree with setting belays anywhere but at the very end of a rope or at a nataral stance, neither of these cases are true with the bishop.
I think the midway anchor is jingus and needs to come out. It's a shitty 1/4 inch bolt that's bent and a nut. If you're up there to climb The Bishop, you need to take it to the top. If you can't free it, it's really easy to pull on gear to the top. Take plenty of green and yellow Aliens, and you'll be fine. The finger locks through the crux are surprisingly solid!!
"I think the midway anchor is jingus and needs to come out. It's a shitty 1/4 inch bolt that's bent and a nut."
Was the bolt original material? If so, replace it not remove it. For my own part, I belayed off of that anchor and was happy to have it. If it is a retro-bolt, then it should be removed.
The bolt's been there since at least '73 back when this was an aid route. The reason it's a free route is all those pins we used to whack into it :-). I remember huffing up the chimney with this absurd amout of iron hanging off me and being so glad to be able to clip the bolt without having to drive a pin while half-wedged in the chimney. Made it a hell of a lot easier to pass the belayer, too. I'd swear there were two bolts back then - split the route into 3 pitches.
I agree with Stetler that this is a great one pitch route. Who cares what people have done before? You can cop a marginal rest, bruising your feet, before the upper section. I took a couple of 40 ft falls on purple metolius going for the redpoint. Most of the upper section, but not all, had good locks for me. My fingers are average for a climber of 30 years.
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