The BLM office in Monticello has asked the Friends of Indian Creek to remind climbers that there is a 14-day limit on camping on BLM Land. The F.O.I.C. understands that there is a bit of a history of staying in the Creek for far longer, but heavy climber-traffic in the area has made the BLM take notice of this tradition. Be aware that overstaying the 14-day limit makes climbers look as if we feel the rules don't apply to us and thus has an effect on long-term access. Moving your campsite throughout the season, or perhaps finding a site outside the main Indian Creek area, will not only help smooth relations with the BLM, but will also keep you from possibly getting hit with a fine.
Hoop Dancer is located on the Hummingbird Spire. It climbs the first pitch of Sacred Space, which is a corner system below the notch between King of Pain south summit and Hummingbird Spire. It then climbs the splitter on the north face of Hummingbird.
Pitch 1: Starts in the corner with the large loose looking blocks about 30-40 ft up. Carefully hand jam up over and past the 4-5 stacked blocks, with the last one looking ready to take the plunge. These are what give the pitch the X rating, but really its not as bad as it sounds. Next do some awkward moves that place you in a squeeze chimney, and then over some more broken ground to the notch. 5.9R/X
Pitch 2: When you see the splitter you will then realize the first pitch was worth it. Move the belay down to the start of splitter and get ready to jam the overhanging crack with amazing position and exposure. U pon finishing the crack you will have to again climb on some very loose rock so be careful. Reaching the top I found no anchors and placed some cams in some very suspect rock. Definitely adventure climbing. 5.11
Descent: Downclimb to the rap anchors on the south end of the tower, and then make 3 raps to the ground. We made the mistake of trying to to it in two raps, but the rope drag was too much and I had to prusikk back up 130 ft to free the ropes.
Protection
triples in #1-#3 friends supplemented with camalots, 1 #3.5 friend and 1 #3 camalot, doubles of .75 friends and blue tcu's, several long runners for the first pitch and maybe a bolt kit for new anchors on top.
I've done Hoop Dancer and I really enjoyed it, but I'll never do it again. I beleive that someone will get hurt on the 1st pitch sometime soon. It is too loose and unstable. I've done every spire on the Bridger Jack complex and Hoop Dancer is the worst! Be careful!!
I respectfully disagree. The first pitch isn't that bad. Yes, it has loose blocks. Yes, they could be pulled down. But the pitch is pretty easy and is a good exercise in climbing around choss. If you can climb the second pitch, then you shouldn't have any trouble with the first.
Is there any etic of which I am unaware preventing a party from doing hte route and keeping their packs away from the base, then having the second cleen the questionable stuff safely frow above? Is the problem that the blocks are part of the climb and removing them will change the climb? If not, why not dislodge them and improve the situation? Routes are cleaned all of the time.
The blocks are VERY large and trundling them is easier said then done. I personally wouldn't care if someone trundled them, but simply pulling them down could do some damage to the ground/trail below or perhaps alter the first pitch so as to make it harder.
The second pitch is one of the best I've done in the desert. Simply awesome. We brought a single set of cams from TCU to 3 Camalot, plus triple reds and golds - this was perfect. I give the third pitch 10 stars and the first pitch the bomb, which somehow averages out to 4 stars.
Yes the 2nd pitch is one of the best hand cracks I've done in the desert. You can stem back and get some rests at the beginning. Take advantage of this as the crux is quite overhanging. After finishing, don't rap too far at once or it is quite difficult to pull your ropes.
A 70 meter rope will just reach from the top of Hummingbird Spire all the way to the ground. So you don't have to haul your second rap rope up with you. However, at the moment the rap biners on top don't quite reach over the lip of the tower making pulling the ropes hard. We didn't have enough webbing to change the anchors, but if I was doing it again, I'd take about twenty feet of an old rope, cut out all the old tat, and hang the biners over the edge.
P1: The blocks seem dangerous at times and protection is good in places but doubtful in others. My partner led both pitches and we climbed this pitch "lightly". The chiminey was the unnerving section to me. It was tight (and i am not fat) and some hand jams were a bit unnerving since these blocks seem to be loose or easily loosened. A lot of variety on this pitch. Hope no one "cleans" this route. Who knows... it might collapse the tower!
P2: Quite enjoyable but one blue Friend was stuck half way up. Had to hang there 20 mins to clean it. The crack goes from thin hands to better hands. Good edges for feet but hard to jam my feet in the crack thru the roof section of this pitch.
By Chris DuRoss From: Salt Lake City, UT Mar 30, 2008
Great route. We avoided death blocks by starting on Egg Drop Soup (highly recommended). Pitch 2 is one of the best tower pitches around (take an extra #2 camalot, or two).
The summit anchor is down to two drilled angles with biners extended almost to the lip. We made three raps to avoid rope pulling issues. The second rap was off of a spooky single drilled angle and non-equalized star-drive, which we backed up as best we could with a good chunk of our rope. I agree with Rob - someone needs to get those biners over the edge, then you could do a long rap from the summit down to two shiny new bolts and then one more short rap to the ground.
Sick line- great finish to egg drop soup. The raps off Hummingbird are bad even by bridger jack standards. When I loaded the rap off the lower shelf one of the angles noticeably flexed. I don't mind laying it out while climbing but I would be pissed to bite it on rappel.
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