Via Dentata
5.7 YDS 5a French 15 Ewbanks V+ UIAA 13 ZA MVS 4b British
Type: | Trad, 150 ft (45 m) |
FA: | TW, AR |
Page Views: | 59 total · 11/month |
Shared By: | Tal M on Oct 29, 2024 |
Admins: | Leo Paik, John McNamee, Frances Fierst, Monty, Monomaniac, Tyler KC |
Description
This is one of the more unique routes I know of on the Front Range and is the starting (or finishing, if you're a hardbody) point of the Wonderland Triathlon. It's impossible to miss the dike feature that makes this formation look like it needs a tooth cleaning, and this route traverses the parts that don't look like they're ready to actively explode out of the wall.
The route stays pretty close to the ground (generally around 30 feet up) and uses a mix of gear and bolts to protect it in such a way that your follower doesn't hate your guts. While either direction is pretty equal in difficulty, they do definitely feel like they have different cruxes and climb a bit different, so I encourage you to go in one direction, and then have your follower turn around and lead it back in the other direction.
Worth noting: there is no explicit 2 bolt anchor on this route, but instead a belay bolt from belay pedestals that signal the start and finish of the route - you're basically belaying on the ground regardless of where you're starting/finishing from.
Location
It is on the West side of the formation - the quite literally impossible to miss dike features. The starting/ending points are where the dike has 4th Class access.
Protection
Behind The Name
Via Ferrata routes are slowly becoming more common in the USA. Generally consisting of permanently fixed ropes and cables, ladder rungs, etc. in the wall to protect or enable the climbing, these are much like protected, exposed, and technical hikes, often traversing long cliff bands. Italian for "Iron Path", generally due to the amount of fixed pieces of protection in place to enable the route safely.
"Via Dentata" is a play on that, meaning "Toothed Path", following the dike feature that gives "Dental Dome" its name. If you really wanted to, you could fix your rope to the bolts and protection you place to enable followers in your party to treat the route literally as a via ferrata, though please do not leave any hardware or ropes or anything on this route - take everything with you afterwards.
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