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Jorge Urioste, Joanne Urioste, and Joe Herbst (1978)
Rock
G
13
Standard rack to #4 Camalot.
1600
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Description:
Called a grade V, Epi (5.9) is usually done in a long day. You can find topo and adequate pitch description in Swain's Red Rocks Select. (supertopo has very accurate topos as well) Swain describes the route in 18 pitches but with a 60m rope, a competent team can do it it 10-12 pitches. The most famous element of the climb is the 300 feet of 5.9 chimney. All belays as per the Supertopo plus a couple others are bolted. The belay after the roof is not bolted (one bolt is there for pro/redirect)- This belay takes medium cams and/or smallish stoppers and cams, but takes a minute to find it. Enjoy this one, it's listed as a North American Classic for a reason!
Submitted by: vegastradguy on 2008-12-01
Views: 6351
Route ID: 14093
Ascent Note:
| Ratings | |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 5.9 |
| Safety Rating | R |
| Exposure |  |
| Rock Quality |  |
| Scenery | |
| Fun Factor | |
Onsight ascent by:
A fun full day
Started up the route around 06:00, finished the chimneys ~10:00 and summitted ~15:30. As far as I know, we were the only party on it today. I didn't have much experience with chimneys, but apparently was more secure in them than I thought - despite numerous foot-slips I never did fall. Still, I'm glad my more experienced partner was leading those chimneys instead of me. They are pretty runout in places - why this route isn't listed as a 5.9R is a mystery. Who's blood is streaked all over the wall below the top of pitch 4? It looks like someone fell below a sqeeze in the chimney, decked hard on a ~8in ledge and bled profusely. Yow. I thought that once we got out of the chimenys we would be climbing in the warm sun - wrong! Still shade and cold and now darn windy as well. The climbing above the chimneys seemed pretty 5.9ish - I would say not at all sandbagged - it went by pretty quick and soon we were past the little roof and in 5.easy territory. I would say that above the chimneys placing pro and the climbing is easy - the challenge is to do it all quickly enough so that one finishes before nightfall. We simulled up the ramps til the big tree and the start of the so-called '2nd class'. We unroped then, but were glad we kept our climbing shoes on.
We took no falls, and the wost mishap was that a black nalgene (some of our water) came out of my partner's pack as it was being hoisted up a chimney. Oh well - I wondered if that is covered in the 'guarantee of unbreakability'?
I would say the descent was the most un-fun part of the route. We missed the 5 big cairns and went all the way to the end of the ridge, then backtracked, started down and did the rest in darkness. I found a headlamp with a very long-distance spotlight option to be extremely handy here. Until the descent joins with that of Frogland the cairns are sparse and false trails many. With the 3W spotlight on my headlamp turned on I could often stand at one cairn and spot the next some distance away. If you realize its been too long since you have seen a cairn, _do not_ just keep going expecting to find your own way down - backtrack and try another option. Sticking to the established trail really is the fastest (and safest) strategy I think. Once the descent joined Frogland's suddenly the trail was very well-marked and had more than plenty of cairns.
If I did the route again I would start earlier and take more food. I ate only 2 gels - the extra weight of a little more food would not have been so bad.
We took no falls, and the wost mishap was that a black nalgene (some of our water) came out of my partner's pack as it was being hoisted up a chimney. Oh well - I wondered if that is covered in the 'guarantee of unbreakability'?
I would say the descent was the most un-fun part of the route. We missed the 5 big cairns and went all the way to the end of the ridge, then backtracked, started down and did the rest in darkness. I found a headlamp with a very long-distance spotlight option to be extremely handy here. Until the descent joins with that of Frogland the cairns are sparse and false trails many. With the 3W spotlight on my headlamp turned on I could often stand at one cairn and spot the next some distance away. If you realize its been too long since you have seen a cairn, _do not_ just keep going expecting to find your own way down - backtrack and try another option. Sticking to the established trail really is the fastest (and safest) strategy I think. Once the descent joined Frogland's suddenly the trail was very well-marked and had more than plenty of cairns.
If I did the route again I would start earlier and take more food. I ate only 2 gels - the extra weight of a little more food would not have been so bad.
Added: 2007-11-26
