Skip to Content

Breaking Rocks is Hard to Do - 5.9

Average Rating = 4.11/5 Average Rating : 4.11 out of 5
Route sequence (left to right): 20
Route Summary | Ascent Notes (13)
Premier Sponsor:
Rock
G
Full Rack
Consensus Ratings
  Difficulty 5.9
  Safety Rating G
  Exposure 3.50/5
  Rock Quality 4.25/5
  Scenery 3.75/5
  Fun Factor 4.60/5

Description:

This thing is nuts. You have to do some crazy stemming in the beginning. The locals told us to do this instead of s--- Hook, saying it was twice the climb. So keep that in mind. 5.8 variation (mjwestla): I have found that if you climb up the low angle crack/rock pile to the left you can traverse into the main crack above the crux. There is some gear to be had along the way but it's not quite the "sew it up" option you have with regular route. This puts you onto the route where the little garden shelf (some small shrubs) is about 20 feet up and from there you merge back onto the regular line.

Submitted by: happymondays on 2005-10-19
Last Modified: 2010-07-04
Views: 2081
Route ID: 19245

Topo Images

13 Ascents Recorded

GoRecord an ascent
GoRead all 13 ascent notes

Ratings
  Difficulty 5.9
  Safety Rating G
Red Point Red Point ascent by: mjwestla on 2010-11-13 (View Climbing Log)

4 out of 5 stars Ok, last entry for this...

Got a clean lead this time. Unlocking the proper sequence was key for me, although I was still kind of huffing after the business. Been sitting on the return visit to this for a while...

Added: 2010-11-13

Ratings
  Difficulty
  Safety Rating G
  Exposure
  Rock Quality
  Scenery
  Fun Factor
Onsight Onsight ascent by: Carnage on 2010-10-25 (View Climbing Log)

5 out of 5 stars fun

Super good route. I deemed the bottom super fun before i even got to the top of the route. Cant wait to do it again.

Added: 2010-10-25

Ratings
  Difficulty 5.9
  Safety Rating G
Hang Dog Hang Dog ascent by: mjwestla on 2009-06-20 (View Climbing Log)

4 out of 5 stars Climbing rocks is hard to do...

Tried this on lead and ended up hanging my way up the start. It seemed I remembered more feet than existed from a time I top-roped it. Anyway, it was pretty hard for the first 25 feet or so and then it backed down a bit, although it wasn't exactly easy. I had used up a fair amount of my bigger gear down low, so I had to get creative for the top half.

I missed out on this earlier since I TR'ed it and followed a direct line, but contrary to the guide book (which shows the route going straight up) after the main crack peters out there is a traverse with a horizontal (that accepts gear nicely and serves as good hands) that takes you right to a second crack system that takes you to the top. I wouldn't want to keep going up the licheny area above the first crack to the anchor!

Anyway - my summary is that it's pretty tough, but easily aided/hang-dogged if you freak out.

Added: 2009-06-21

Ratings
  Difficulty 5.9
  Safety Rating G
  Exposure
  Rock Quality
  Scenery
  Fun Factor
Top Rope Top Rope ascent by: mjwestla on 2008-08-18 (View Climbing Log)

4 out of 5 stars fun

The start is a bit wonky, but is probably the most entertaining part (on top rope - looks like a pain in the butt on lead). Once you clear the crack chimney thing it was pretty straightforward and I could see places for some kind of gear. The last 30? or so feet it turned into a green sloper wall that didn't have space for gear and was thus a bit run out. The anchor was set back on a decent sized belay ledge (shared by Stab in the dark and perhaps others). There were a few ways to work out the last sloper section, including a slippery roof option if one were feeling bold.

Added: 2008-11-09

Ratings
  Difficulty 5.9
  Safety Rating G
  Exposure
  Rock Quality
  Scenery
  Fun Factor
Red Point Red Point ascent by: csproul on 2008-03-22 (View Climbing Log)

4 out of 5 stars finally done sans grunting

I don't normally put repeat climbs in the database...but I thought it was noteworthy (for me) that I made it up this thing without any grunting/swearing and felt like I floated up the corner. Given the amount of thrashing that went on the last couple times I've led this, I thought this was a good step forward. This is actually one of the better Moore's climbs and a rare continuous crack.

Added: 2008-03-24

... Read all 13 ascent notes