Rockclimbing | Routes | North America/United States/Colorado

atlantis ( 5.11b )

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Obtain a topo from the Ranger station. Head down Prisoner of Your Hairdo Gully to the river. Head upstream a few hundred yards-walk along the wall. Atlantis is marked by a cairn which cannot be seen from the river. The first 30-40 ft wander up a slab to a crack system. P1: 5.9 Climb an easy crack up the right side of a pillar in a right-facing corner to its top. Go over a small roof with good gear near by, and face climb (a little runout) up and right over the bulge to a good belay ledge

P2: 5.9 Climb the beautiful flake up to a right-facing corner, to a massive ledge-belay on the top left side of the corner for a better start to the next pitch.

P3: 5.11 Head up a crack 20 ft to a horizontal, and follow the horizontal 20 ft right past a pin. Somewhat run out. Head up crack to bolt, crux at bolt. One bolt belay.

P4: 5.10+ Up a right-facing feature right off the belay to under a roof, belay at right edge of the roof.

P5: 5.10- Fun pitch, annoying belay in the chimney with some flaky rock.

P6: 5.7 This would be the easiest pitch to get lost on, I did. Continue up the chimney and ramp til its end. Traverse right, then go up a right-facing feature for about 5 meters. At this point, you are probably 25-30m out from the belay. You will look up to some broken features in the 'black grotto' and even some fixed tat hanging off the roof-this is NOT the way. We belayed in this area where there was good gear. Standing belay. Look right and down and you will see a massive, hanging, left-facing corner and roof-step over the corner to get on the ramp that would be the top of this feature.

P7: From our belay, we traversed down and about 30 ft straight right. The first 20 ft has no gear, and the first part of this is 5.9 slab--dangerous for follower. After going around a corner following a crack with good gear, head straight up through tiered roofs 5.10 with good, but spaced gear. A fixed pin you climb up to will blaze the way a little bit as you work your way to some right-facing features. Keep climbing out of sight of your belayer till you get to a good ledge belay with 2 fixed pins.

P8: 5.11- Crux off the belay protected by a bolt. Pull through some steep overlaps, and then climb easily to another massive ledge.

P9: 5.9 Follow topo, belay on block-tight little belay for 2 people-finger-size pieces and nuts for belay.

P10: 5.11- Another fun pitch off by yourself as you can't see your belayer. Belay on a small ledge at the top of the groove-corner feature. I think there was a fixed pin.

P11: 5.8 (R?) The pitches get short for a bit here. Peg pitch with a bolt-wow that's nice. Easy climbing, on good rock, I don't know if it's really R, but don't fall. Get on to another massive ramp and go up and left on 4th class til you see the next pitch with its bolt.

P12: 5.10 Short crux protected by the bolt, don't blow it after that, another small ledge belay.

P13: 5.10 Short crux after some peg wandering-its a little loose in the peg, but the hard climbing is on good rock, with a fixed pin-follow the topo, go up off the belay, then do a straight left traverse into the spot marked 'awkward'.

The belay is on the huge ledge feature with a tower-you could theoretically unrope here and bushwhack off the route, as per the Lost City escape However, the last three pitches are super--don't miss them. Take off the rope off walk up to the prow of the headwall about 200' away.

P14: One of the best pitches on the climb. 5.11 Climb some groove and face features unprotected and easy for the first 20' to the obvious, right-facing corner til you get to the bolt. Clip it, climb the crux, and use face holds to climb the sides of the OW, because who wants to climb an OW anyway? Belay on the pedestal.

P15: 5.10 Short crux off the belay, to easy crack climbing to large, broken ledge with boulders.

P16: 5.10 Climb through a few awkward roofs until you get to the narrows overlook. Enjoy the sunset.

Crystal Vision ( 5.11b )

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The rappels to access this climb are close to the Painted Wall overlook. Go to the overlook, and head about 200 yards right. Anchors to start the rappels are about 100 ft down a very small, steep gully. There are 4 double rope rappels into gully below. Follow this gulley nearly to a river. The approach was reasonably pleasant. There are two huge blocks leaning against the wall. the route starts above the higher one.
Obtain a topo from the ranger station. 5.10a The first pitch follows a rather dirty wet section up a crack and into chimneys. After chimneys follow low angle crack to small cave. long pitch 2. 5.10 pull out of cave, and up V. go right around roof and wander up a long slab past one bolt. Belay someplace left on a ledge or in the grass. 3. fourth class. head across large ledges with grass to face. The correct line is the most obvious one, about in the middle of the face. 4. Excellent pitch. It starts with a hand crack, which narrows higher. 10+ Find a reasonable spot to belay. Ours had a block in the chimney where a rope could be stacked. 5. 5.10 Some roofs followed by a huge unpleasant chimney, rotten on the left side with sparse gear on the right. 6. 5.10 more chimney, followed by an excellent fists roof. Up low angle OW 5.6. 7. 5.10 take rightward option. Good climbing first 30 ft deteriorates into mossy broken stuff. 8. This belay is in a rubble filled slot between two towers. From here to the top is excellent rock and features. 5.10 On the left side there is a hand crack that goes up 50 ft to a roof. Climb this and turn roof left. 9. Belay on top of tower. Make a very secure belay, because the next pitch 5.10+ (I thought 5.10+++) has very long fall potential. Step right, and clip marginal fixed nut. About 10 ft higher, there are more marginal placements. I was able to slot a wierd czech nut that might have held. Pull a few more hard moves to a very small stance, then one more boulder move to improving holds. A fall from this last hard move could dump you 60 or 70 ft into the rubble. Set the belay low in an arching crack beneath the Crystal Vision slab. 10. 5.11 Climb slab diagonally right, and then right into a crack system. Wait to place pro as high as possible. Follow crack to a roof and horizontal tending right. Uncomfortable belay. 11. 5.9 Go right around corner and follow interesting features upward and right. At a horizontal, go back left and up to a slabby belay, beneath a slab capped by a small roof. 12. 5.10 A OW follow thin crack on right to roof, traverse under roof left to OW, pull roof and climb OW. This is unprotectable for about 20 ft unless you have a # 5 camalot. Belay at top of feature. There is still about 400 ft of climbing up to 5.8 to get off. Wander up, then rightward. Spot a slot about 100ft up, and slightly left. Aim for this. We did it in two long pitches, which took about 45 minutes.

fender dihedral ( 5.10d )

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

This is the dihedral a few feet right of Wunches. It is easier, and not as good. The crux is at the top- a flare with thin hands in the back, and OH Yea, covered with shit.

unknown bolted route ( 5.11d )

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

this route starts near the top of route 66. Initially, the route goes through a deteriorating overhang, and then onto a slab, ending at the big ledge where the center route ends.