La Selva  5.8

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Type:  Trad, Alpine, 5 pitches, 800 feet, Grade III Consensus:  5.8 [details] FA:  Rico Meleski, Doug Bridgers June 1974 Season:  spring through fall Submitted By:  Bill Lawry on May 21, 2012 You & This Route  |  Other Opinions (4) Your todo list: Your stars: Your rating: -none- [change] Your ticklist: [add new tick]

BETA PHOTO: The first 2/3 of the route. Zoom in on the accomp...

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Description 

La Selva seems to have a reputation for vegetation. It is not as bad as it seems.

For route description, see Mick Schein's "Sandia Rock" (2003). There is not much to improve on it here. Some comments are below. All references are to Schein's guide.

P2: After heading up the bushy gully roughly 80 feet, there seems to be a choice of a) continuing ~straight up an undulating wide-ish crack in a sort of right facing dihedral or b) traversing a bit left and then up around a bush in a more direct line to the ledge (which is still out of sight). We went left and up and it worked well: no real rope drag and the pro is there for the exit moves. The belay ledge is at about 100 feet, where it is indeed difficult to locate a good anchor.

Courtesy of kevinnlong: "Regarding the end of P2. We went right up the minor right facing dihedral, which was nice. The top of this arrives at a spot that is about 10-15 feet above the P2 belay ledge. At this location, there is a huge boulder to sling, so the anchor is simple."

P4: One climbing pair in our group, with a strong leader, skipped the move of the belay to the tree and had no problem with rope drag.

P5: For those a little out of shape: try to save some steam for this one - still a few ~strenuous moves await.

Last 200 feet of 4th class: there is also some pretty good exposure in spots. One pair in our party climbed unroped while the other pitched it out.

Location 

This has the same starting pitch as Warpy Moople. The first three pitches are easily viewed from the "Front Porch" at the base of Muralla Grande: find the start of the route; then hike back down about 50 yards and out onto the top of the "Front Porch" formation.

Protection 

No bolts on this route. Schein's rack is good. A half dozen or so pieces 1/2 inch and smaller for the crux pitch (TCUs are nice); otherwise, we had a standard Sandia Rack up to #4 BD C4. A couple pitches are about 3/4 rope length so some extra slings are useful. Two or three long slings will help with rope drag on one or two of the pitches.

Photos of La Selva Slideshow

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BETA PHOTO: Unmarked version of route photo.	Greg G. in the midst of the crux.	Greg takes a well-deserved rest midway through the...