Type: Trad, 750 ft (227 m), 5 pitches
FA: Uriostes, year unknown
Page Views: 15,602 total · 64/month
Shared By: Annie Ashenfelter on Mar 19, 2004 · Updates
Admins: Luke EF, Larry DeAngelo, Justin Johnsen, Aaron Mc

You & This Route


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Warning Access Issue: Red Rock RAIN AND WET ROCK: The sandstone is fragile and is very easily damaged when wet. DetailsDrop down

Description Suggest change

Kudos, again, to the ASCA folks who rebolted this climb, taking it 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 cruxes 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).

Approach:

Get to the route by first finding Wholesome Fullback, then hike climber's right for roughly 300 feet. As you go, ascend slightly. You'll be heading up into the mouth of a narrow canyon that splits Whiskey Peak and Black Velvet Wall. Keep your eyes peeled upward for a bolt 10-15 feet off the deck; this will be the giveaway 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. As you look up at the super-shiny new hanger, you'll 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. 

P1.  Step off the boulder and clip a bolt.  Make bouldery moves past the bolt to gain a stance. Place additional gear and move up the thin crack in a left-facing corner.  The climbing eases but the wall steepens.  Place gear and move up and right to gain the bolted anchor. (5.10d)

P2.  From the belay step right to gain a roof. Make unique, bouldery moves to gain a stance on the roof. Move right into the corner and up. Make a long reach left to clip the third bolt.  Continue up into a small alcove/roof. Climb through the alcove/roof following a continuously narrowing crack for another 40 or more feet to belay at a fixed anchor.  (5.11+)

P3. Make face and crack moves on a ramp and left-facing corner, passing several bolts, with potential for gear between them. As the ramp steepens to face and the crack closes out, make delicate face moves past a couple more bolts to gain the fixed anchor.

P4. Climb up, clipping two bolts, to the challenging traverse.  Place long runners on bolts 2 and 4 to avoid rope drag.  Decipher (or not) the best sequence for your height and finger size across the face and upward to the horizontal crack.  Hand traverse right and around the corner to gain a stance on the next face. Very thin seams and edges lead up a nearly blank face past two bolts in solid rock.  Head up and left towards a right-facing corner where you'll find the final bolted anchor.  Finish here and rap, or complete the uneventful 5th pitch to the summit and walk off.

Descent: rap or walk-off.

Rap: From the bolted anchor at the top of pitch 4, a 70m can get you to the ground in two raps.  The first rap (top of pitch 4 to top of pitch 2) is a rope stretcher, so be sure to knot your ends, stay climber's right, and throw a draw on the second bolt of pitch 3 to redirect the rappel.  From the top of pitch 2, rap back to base.  

Walk-off: Gain the large sloping terrace. Follow it along the base of the wall for about 100-200 feet. Down climb into the bush-filled gully.  A climber trail leads downward through dense brush for several hundred feet. Look right and step up and around a rock prominence and into another gully close to the wall of the climb.  Continue down the climber trail to a horizontal bench about 60 feet above the start of the route.  Either move left and rap off a tree or down climb easy 5th class to reach the base of the climb.

Protection Suggest change

Bolts protect the cruxes, and there are bolted anchors at the top of pitches 1-4.  Single set of cams to #2.  A 50m rope would suffice to climb these short pitches, however a fully intact 70m gets you to the ground in 2 or 3 raps.  The rap from the P4 anchor to the P2 anchor is a rope-stretcher on a 70.

Photos

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