Poodles are People Too 

So who DOES know what's up with all of the poodle routes? Inquiring minds want to know ...

Lots of people know what's up with all the poodle routes. Precious tradition might dictate, however, that such tales be reserved for the late night b.s. session over HVCG campfires, rather than speculated upon and bastardized over the internet.

The JTree Commandment:

Thou shalt not bastardize the poodle joke.

Oh, and the other JTree Commandment:

Thou shalt urinate on thyself at campfire, and cultivate thy foul language when breaking fast, and covet thy SUV-driving neighbor's wife, and misrepresent thy identity when thy tent is impounded by the NPS. Just no bastardizing poodle jokes.

uh ... yeah, right. What he said. Except the part about urination.

The whole "Poodle" thing got started with this route, a tribute of sorts to Charles Cole's giant "Standard" poodle "Gus." It expanded to poke fun at the various macho, pompus or just stupid sounding route names being put up during the 80s. (ie: "Scary Monsters = Scary Poodles; Knight In Shining Armor = Poodle In Shining Armor; etc.) It just got out of control (very silly) from there. (Tales of Power = Tails of Poodles; The Atom Smashers = The Poodle Smasher). Soon other people who had no idea of what prompted all this were naming poodle routes too. Some of the other Poodle routes are quite good too.

Let's see some more Poodle Route names~!

The way I did the crux after a few false starts involved a strange mantle like move off of my right palm... behind me. I went up and down 3 times looking for a more secure way, thinking that a fall from there if one slipped would be up-side-down. Consider a helmet for this route.

Maybe 10c. The first thirty feet is all business. The moves are sustained and technical. The gear is bomber and thin. There seemed to be two cruxes packed into this section. A thin layback move and then a long awkward jam to the left.

So good... Spot on about the two cruxes on top of each other. The runout over the small roof and the topout also kept me focused. Less fun were the ropes coming down from the parties rapping above and the peanut gallery waiting in line for nearby routes below.

Careful about where you place pro - some of those tapers are essential for fingerlocks. Great line!

Best on the wall IMO. While the first 50 feet is the technical crux, the mental crux for most will be the small roof about half way up. You'll want a yellow alien (or equivalent) to protect this move. Expect a little spice as you surmount the roof.

This is a cool route!! It looked pretty scary from the ground but, there is excellent small gear whenever you need it for the first
crux(s). Protect the roof above with a green OR yellow alien. These moves are not hard but the gear will be below you so if you come off you could slam kinda hard in to the slab (maybe)

A single 70M rope will get you down from the anchors on top and to the right.

This is a beautiful thin line with great gear at the cruxes. Save a yellow alien for the roof. This is the only gear for ~15ft before and ~20ft after the roof.

really good route with solid pro where it counts. not for the budding 5.10 leader, though!

i thought that while there were two cruxes in the first 30 feet, the upper one was definitely the business. the polished feet make it pretty exciting, too.

Great route. Mostly face climbing with a thin crack for pro. My friend talked me into bringing extra TCUs and I was very glad to have them, and not just for the bottom section.

you can sew this thing up at the crux with a set of stoppers plus some brass. I wouldn't say the brass is mandatory though. Very slick from all the feet paddling around on this one.

Technical feet and thin locks make this an exciting and classic route. This route protects reasonably well enough, but be prepared to do some hard climbing above thin gear. I remember getting a bomber Black Alien placement down low as well as some thin wires.

Leading past the lower thin section leaves the rest of the climbing in a much more relaxed mode (e.g., bigger stances)

Did this for the first time 20 years ago, and slipped and slid all over the crux. Yesterday not so much but it left me thinking that it's a tad hard for 5.10b, but perhaps I didn't find the correct solution. Takes wires very well - there's a bomber wire placement between the two opening cruxes. Three stars, as it hits White Lightning in the top section and one could bail there, so not completely pure.

So, my middle-aged ambition is to cruise this route with just wires.

Maybe it was just the style or the amount of blood I left on this route but it seems hard for the grade. I onsighted several other routes in this range but this one had me stumped right at the first crux, tore my finger up pretty good and lobbed onto a green alien about 5 times. Maybe 10- after you know the moves but harder for the onsight.

Excellent route with thin and insecure crux. A sandbag at .10b IMO.