Pickpocket  5.8 R

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Type:  Trad, TR, 1 pitch, 80 feet Consensus:  5.8 [details] FA:  Jim Erickson, Dave Breashears (solo) 1976 Submitted By:  Ivan Rezucha on Feb 5, 2005 You & This Route  |  Other Opinions (5) Your todo list: Your stars: Your rating: -none- [change] Your ticklist: [add new tick]

The route diagonals from bottom right to top cente...

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2013 Raptor Nesting Closure in effect - NOW LIFTED MORE INFO >>> As of Feb. 1, 2013, a seasonal wildlife closure is in effect on Redgarden Wall in Eldorado Canyon State Park to protect nesting and roosting sites of the canyon’s falcons. The closure starts Feb. 1 through July 31, or until further notice and includes the following climbing routes: The Naked Edge (last 3 pitches only), The Diving Board, Centaur, Redguard (last 3 pitches only), Red Ant, Semi-Wild, Anthill Direct (last 3 pitches only), and The Sidetrack. For more info, visit dnr.state.co.us/newsapp/press.asp?PressId=8152 From an Eldorado Canyon tweet, the Redgarden Wall closures were lifted May 6, 2013. This information is a public crowdsourcing effort between the Access Fund, and Mountain Project. You should confirm closures, restrictions, and/or related dates. Keeping climbing areas open and conserving the climbing environment Action Committee for Eldorado

Description 

Short but challenging and definitely dangerous if you're a 5.8 climber. Rossiter calls this VS, but I had lots of (mostly dubious) gear. To be safe, be a solid 9 leader with good gear skills. Rossiter suggests soloing it as did the first ascent party.

Start: Pickpocket is on the "Pickpocket Wall", the lowest part of the west face of Redgarden. Follow the stream trail until it turns uphill along the west face of Redgarden. You'll see the chalked 5.13 Captain Crunch with a few bolts and a pin. Left of this is the left leaning left facing shallow corner of Breakfast of Champions 11a. At the right end of the Captain Crunch overhang is a pocketed wall, with pockets leading diagonally left to a bit of a break in the upper overhang. That's Pickpocket. The blunt arete right of Pickpocket is Steak Dinner 9vs. The short slab right of that is South Face 7vs. Left of Pickpocket are a 9vs and 10bvs, both obscure and hard to figure out.

The climb: Step onto the face and get some gear as the traverse left is on pockets that are worse than they look. You can get a green Alien on the left side of a downward pointing flake and a decent nut beyond that. A pretty hard move up leads to good hands and a stance below the overhang. I got in 6 pieces here, the first 4 being dubious. After peering over the lip, I downclimbed and got 2 good pieces, which I'll describe, since they may be hard to see. Up and right near the lip is a crack that takes a small cam. A little below the horn you lean off to reach the lip is a short hard-to-see-into crack that takes a good nut.

Above the lip you can place a good cam up and right before pulling the ceiling, but it's pumpy and semi-blind. If you're feeling good, skip it, walk your hands left along the lip and step easily over the lip.

The slab above is very easy. Get a nut for a directional and optionally a #3 Camalot/3.5 Friend in a slot higher up. You could perhaps set up a TR from that slot with 2 or more cams, but I didn't think that was real safe. Instead, you can walk off the back of the slab, across some scree to a big block. Place gear and belay here, or scramble down and belay from the trail to be more sociable.

Protection 

Single set cams from micro to #3 Camalot/#3.5 Friend, single set nuts including brass. Long slings.

Photos of Pickpocket Slideshow

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Getting the jug at the lip. It's hard to clear the...	Getting gear above the lip. From the jug at the li...	Stepping over the lip. My right foot is on the hor...
Taking the VS out of the climb: 3 pieces at the tr...