Looking down the first pitch of Black Magic from j...
Description
A nice route to combine with Lotta Balls, we thought it was just as good. Begin about 40ft right of Lotta Balls, at a sharp flake.P1-150ft. Climb the flake and then pass 2 bolts, heading right at the 2nd bolt into a thin crack. Climb the crack and face to belay at a single bolt (and gear in crack, or cool natural thread).P2-140ft. Straight up the crack and face to a 2 bolt anchor. Easier pitch, but a bit runout in places.P3-140ft. Avoid getting suckered into the left crack system by the fixed tcu (ruined, not booty). Instead go right from the belay into a crack with better protection and a more direct line. Address the roof above by blindly stepping right when up seems too hard. Voila! Find a welcome bolt and fire straight up and belay at bushes.P4-140ft. Climb easy white rock to the top. Descend as for Lotta Balls, down the gully to the climbers left, including rappels.
On March 23rd, 2007, the ASCA replaced 4 protection bolts on this route. Three on the first pitch and one on the third pitch. The first bolt is 1/2" stainless, the next two are 3/8" stainless, and the final bolt is 1/2" non-stainless. Thanks to Greg Barnes for the replacement effort.
The reason the final bolt is non-stainless is that it's extra long - 3.75". Those bolts are not made in that length in stainless (2.75" or 4.75" only). The original bolt was not rusted at all, and with softer sandstone the water evaporates through the rock anyway, so it should be fine for quite some time!
The original bolt on the 5.6 variation (the huge left traverse) is bad, and rusty as well since it's in a water streak. We did not replace that one since that variation is rarely done (and my arm was tired!).
RSS Feed
Slideshow
