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gblauer
Moderator
Mar 5, 2009, 12:12 AM
Post #1 of 4
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Registered: Oct 4, 2002
Posts: 2824
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Recommended Moderate EPC Climbs (find a rope gun for the 10d pitches!) : 1) (Always and forever): Las Chimeulas, a great way to get used to the rock and back on multi pitch. At an 8,9,8 rating, it’s the perfect “first” climb. 2) Mr. Hanky: A super 5.8 with some good exposure on the Wonder Wall. This wall is in the pool complex and will be in the shade the entire day. There are some intermediate anchors if you get skeeved or you can run it to the top. It’s juggy, happy and fun. 3) Spin Doctor: 5.8 in the Virgin Canyon. Shares same anchors with Penitente and Catwalk (two 10b’s). This is a really fun 8 with a cool (make me look good roof). I think it’s one of the best 8’s in the park. 4) 31 foot smurf: 10a/9+ in the Virgin Canyon. This is a single pitch “one move wonder” with a nice blocky face with jugs. Easy climbing before and after the low, but well protected crux. 5) Monkey Booty: 5.9+ at the Wonder Wall. This is very unlikely looking from the ground (you climb a ramp/flake thing, stand on the very tippy top point to get the first draw in place and then start cranking) but it’s all there and it’s a lot of fun. This is a new climb that just went in. If you stay to the left of the cactus halfway up the wall it’s a 9, if you go left it’s more 10ish . Mitch thought the 10 way was pretty easy. 6) Jungle Mountaineering: this climb has been retro bolted and is no longer a run out 10a R. It’s nicely bolted and the 4th (and final) pitch is amazing. I suggest that you do the last pitch a couple of times take the “high road” and the “low road” options through the crux moves. I would say that this climb feels more like a 10d than a 10a! A 5.8 leader could lead P3, it’s a nine, but, it’s really juggy and fun. The only thing...there used to be only 3 bolts on the entire pitch (100 feet) making it an “R”. Now there are 7. It felt marginally run out between the bolts, but the climbing was really pretty light. 7) Satori: Although the approach is an “approach from hell “ (up the miners trail, 3rd class scramble up a long ridge, up 50 feet of scree, take a left at the cairn [do not go up the fixed line] and follow the trail to the base of the climb.) This 7 pitch 10c was the highlight of our trip. It was in the shade the entire time, the warm breezes wafted gently and the climbing was stellar. Linking pitches is easy and when you finally get to the ridge, you are overlooking the virgin canyon. It’s worth the hike, really! The hike out was much easier. 8) Flamingo Wall: It’s a hardcore, sustained 11c. The first two pitches are 8’s and really really fun. Nice easy climbing, with an interesting corner (not hard, just thoughtful) get you to the base of a steep headwall. The first half of the 3rd pitch is reasonable and then the business begins. I found it difficult to read the route (I know, it’s bolted) and one mistake could get you really off track. It’s thin, steep and sustained. Nothing easy, no big rests and technical moves all the way to the top. Better to lower the leader and for you to TR from the top of the 2nd. Otherwise the leader would be in a hanging belay for a long time. You need a 70M for this climb. 9) Above the Flamingo climb, through the cave there are three more climbs; 10a, 10c/d, 8. I forget the names, but, they were all really fun climbs and out the fray. The 10’s were soft and the 8 was great. The 8 had a spicy finish at the anchors, so let someone else hang the draws if you are pushing your limits on an 8. 10) Resurrection: 10b in the Virgin Canyon. This was our warm up on Day 7. Pretty cool to “warm up” on a 10. It goes down really easy and I think a 5.9 leader could easily lead this after TRing it once or twice you might feel very comfortable leading it. Lots of great clipping stances and good rests all the way up. 11) Death of a Tradman: 10a on the Mota wall. This climb was very similar to resurrection in that it had lots of rests and great clipping stances. This is another climb that you might want to TR once or twice and then lead. 12) Yankee Clipper: This is a long multi pitch climb with a lot of moderate climbing. I think it’s better than Space Boyz. 13) Snot Girlz: Great 7 pitch climb, the first two pitches are the hardest and then it backs down to the 9’s the rest of the way. It’s a great climb and it has a stellar pitch…seems improbable, but the moves are all there. 14) Cactus Pile: 3 (actually 4, no one does the 4th) pitches on the Mota wall. 8, 10b. 9. Any 5.8 leader should feel very comfortable on P1, the 8 is an “easy peazy” lead with Jugs all the way to the anchors. The 10b is fun with a one move crux. The 9 is a bit spicy, I wouldn’t lead it unless you were feeling really confident. (This in comparison to the 9’s on Snot Girlz or Yankee Clipper.) 15) Team Hilti: 10d. This is a thin face climb on the Mota wall. It’s sustained and long. Thin move after thin move and you finally get to the anchors, exhausted! 16) Pins and Needles: 10D Another thin face climb on the Mota wall. Equally challenging, equally sustained. Where you think it’s going to be easy it’s hard and visa versa.
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mojomonkey
Mar 5, 2009, 2:36 PM
Post #2 of 4
(1462 views)
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Registered: Aug 13, 2006
Posts: 869
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Good list and info. Satori I wouldn't say Satori has a hellish approach. Though it is long/hard compared to most in EPC, I remember liking Supernova's approach less. The 3rd class ridge was cool. There is some loose terrain from the miner's road to the ridge though. About an hour at a moderate pace if you don't get lost, I think. The hardest part was just from getting lost. So if you head up there, DON'T follow the fixed line up and right through the scree. Look left of it for the red dot trail to continue. Yankee Clipper Even if you don't do the 12a to the top, I thought the 14th pitch is still worth climbing. It has some neat moves and gives you a great view down. Voodoo Trance You didn't mention it, but I liked this climb. Though the Jungle Wall was crowded, we were alone up in the bowl (accessed from a number of climbs... we scrambled up from above Jungle Boy, but there are other ways, including a walk from the top of the 3rd pitch of Jungle Mountaineering.) The first 2 pitches were lots of fun even if you don't plan to go higher. The third does start with a tough roof.
(This post was edited by mojomonkey on Mar 5, 2009, 2:36 PM)
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potreroed
Mar 6, 2009, 3:44 AM
Post #3 of 4
(1427 views)
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Registered: Sep 30, 2001
Posts: 1454
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Good list. The only one I don't agree with is Spin Doctor. That route only has 10 feet of good climbing on it. I can think of dozens of routes I would recommend above that one like, say, Baked Fresh Daily or Leap of Faith or anything on the Ripped Wall. Also, the approach to Satori isn't bad--in fact I rather enjoy it. You've been spoiled by the super-easy approaches to most of the routes!!
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maxwell4508
Jan 14, 2010, 6:01 PM
Post #4 of 4
(1096 views)
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Registered: Dec 24, 2009
Posts: 9
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darn it all, one of the three routes you couldn't remember the name of past the cave on the virgin wall is abuelo de Yehva, which means me. (grandfather of just born Yheva Martin, now six)
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