Jon Cannon on the fantastic airy traverse at the e...
Description
Quality route located on the left side of Turkey Tail, in the same alcove as Turkey's Delight, but on the opposite side.
P1 ascends a fairly sustained hand and fist crack to the top of the dihedral, followed by an interesting and airy traverse right to a large belay ledge (8).
P2 pulls over the roof on initial jugs and then an awkward move or two (8); go up a low fifth-class ramp to the obvious flaring offwidth (9). A #4 Camalot provides reasonably protection - a #5 would be quite solid. The P2 offwidth felt like a Vedauwoo 9 to me.
I give it 3 stars for the splendid South Platte granite, two quality pitches, and great position.
Protection
Standard rack up to #4 Camalot size - optional extra #2 and a #5 Camalot
Photos of Hummingbird Way aka Snively's Crack Slideshow
You can also rap this route on a 60m rope. On the first pitch there's a wire cable around a huge rock. On the second pitch there are two bolts -- and now two equalized pieces of webbing and rap rings.
Difficult climb for the grade.
By Matt Chan From: Denver, CO Mar 30, 2006 rating: 5.9
I don't think I would bother dragging a #5 Camalot up this. I felt pretty good having a #3, 3.5, and 4. There were a few points where I walked the #4, but I'm not exactly comfortable in wide cracks. I combined the 2nd and 3rd pitches and I was very happy to have both my #3.5 and 4 still with me for the traditional 3rd pitch. For that part, I slammed in the #4 and stemmed the whole corner, which was a blast. Be careful if rapping with a 60m cord, I would guess that it would be close (we used a 70m and didn't have much left). P1 - 5.8+, P2 - 5.8, P3 - 5.9
By Bosier Parsons From: Colorado Springs, CO May 9, 2008
This route has great rock, is a beautiful line, and is definitely wide.
As usual, I forgot that having small hands makes wide cracks feel hard: I found few hand jams on this route, and not so many fists either. If your hands are gigantic, this is the route for you. If you have small hands and are generally terrified of wide cracks (like me) you'll be happy with some big gear. We placed the two biggest curve hexes and the #3, #3.5, #4, #5, and #6 Camalots on both pitches.
Getting down with a 60m rope works fine - there are 2 raps.
How is this a "hand and fist crack"? Did your hands get stung by bees and swell up before you got on this climb? The crack leading up to the traverse is mainly fists to offwidth, with a few hand jams to be found.
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