Deanna sending the 3rd pitch right before she onsi...
Description
Kudos, again, the the ASCA folks who rebolted this climb, taking from an obscure, old-rusty-bolts-that-will-snap scarefest to a super-safe, super-classic climb. Don't let the 5.11 grade scare you off, the cruxs are very well bolted with big, fat, new, shiny ASCA hangers. This climb is so well bolted, the cruxes could easily be yarded through (A0 style).
Anyhow, get to the route by first finding Wholesome Fullback. After you find this climb, hike climber's right for roughly 300 feet. As you go ascend slightly, you will be heading up into the mouth of a narrow canyon that splits Whiskey Peak and Black Velvet Wall. Keep your eyes peeled up for a bolt 10-15 feet off the deck; this will be the give away for the route's start, and will be on the same wall as Wholesome Fullback, that has now become the left side of the narrow canyon you are heading up. Again, the route will be between 300 and 500 feet climber's right of Wholesome Fullback. As you look up at the super-shiny new hanger, you will see several (3-4) other bolts about 40 feet up, twisting around a corner. Here you are looking at the second pitch, to give you a good idea of how short the pitches really are. So now you have found the climb.
The first pitch goes in Supertopo as 10d, but I felt it was more 10bish, a one-move wonder. Place some cams, and go up to the first set of anchors.
Pitch 2 is the business at 5.11 plus, with bolts right there the whole time. This is a super-steep, super-fun portion of this climb; a few of the holds are climbing gym-esque. As you reach the second anchor, you will already be getting psyched for the great-looking third pitch.
Begin this pitch with easy slab moves, progressing into several 5.10 moves to the belay. As the pitch continues, so does the difficulty. Thank goodness for those incuts...Here we go, this is the crux.
Pitch 4, you can see the three shiny traverse bolts, where the climbing is the most difficult right at the beginning of the traverse, and eases as you get the overhang, which are really jugs. Use long runners on the first and last traverse bolts, or suffer the consequences of severe rope drag. Also notice the original Urioste bolt...don't both clipping it, I talked to the dude who rebolted this and he said they barely hold body weight. After the overhang, do some .10 slab moves, and then, belay if you want, or just launch into the 5.6 (at most) patina haul to the top.
The descent isn't pretty. You need to scramble back down the canyon that the climb started in (via some 4th-classing climber's right from the summit), the one dividing Black Velvet and Whiskey Peak, but be wary as the canyon forks, as we found out. You will need to do one short rap of like 70 feet once you get close to your packs. Thanks again to the ASCA, they are really doing climbers a service.
Protection
Bolts protect the cruxes, and the anchors are new as well, but don't roll up with just a rack of draws and a rope -- no, no, no, you will also need a single set of cams to #2 Camalot (I am not sure what SuperTopo says to bring, but that is what we had, and were fine). Only one rope is necessary, and a 50-meter rope would work fine -- the pitches are all super short. The only reason a longer rope might be desirable would be if you wanted to run the last few pitches together, not a problem as after the route's crux, the difficulty eases way back to 5.6 patina pulling. Backing off this route would be easy.
The description here is spot on. Despite reading it here I neglected to put a long runner on the last bolt of the pitch 4 traverse and paid the price. A shoulder length sling would have made a world of difference. I highly recommend running the last two pitches together as there is really no reason to stop on the mediocre ledge.
The descent sucks balls. Despite paying pretty close attention we missed the fork coming down the canyon and had to back track up to get over to the base. Lots of bushwhacking and crappy scrambling.
There was one spot where I was happy to have a #3 camalot. If you are solid on 5.11 (I’m not) then you will be fine without it. Every pitch has stellar climbing and it’s a good one to push yourself on as it’s very well protected.
Good Route! The crux is a one move wonder off a small crimp. You really want to climb this on a cooler day for that move. I found the descent to be easy with little to no bushwhacking. Cut down and to the right on slabs early on the descent. Then you will have one small rap off a tree to get in the gully with a little down climbing to the base of the route.
absolutely amazing line- really good route. for folks unfamiliar with the geography of the gully or new to red rocks: when you get ready to make the rappel, look down. you'll see a white fin of rock separating the gully- you want to be on the right (east) side of it when going down. the other trick here is that once you get down, about 30' along the trail, step right toward the main wall rather than down and left.
not too bad other than that. thanks to the ASCA for the FAT bolts on the route- man, i cant imagine making that traverse on ye olde 1/4" urioste bolts! yowsers!
you could rap from the top of 3 if you wanted to- but you cant rap from above that- i seem to recall that there isnt a bolted belay at the top of 4 or 5.
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