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Location: OR : Smith Rock : Lower Gorge : West Side : Wildfire Wall : White Trash (5.12a)
By: Max Tepfer When: May 5, 2013 | view comment >> |
Comments: FWIW, the extension is in-credible! Definitely do it. Unlike anything else at the grade in the Park.
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Location: NV : Red Rock : Black Velvet Canyon : Black Velvet Wall : Ancient Futures (5.12a)
By: Max Tepfer When: Apr 1, 2013 | view comment >> |
Comments: FWIW, the opening corner on the 2nd crux pitch is hard, (I have yet to send it) but isn't nearly as bad as the description makes it sound. If you can do the first two moves, you can do all the moves. It's basically 20' of V3. The hard part is stopping and clipping.
Also, +1 for the the 10+ pitch being rated a bit on the sandy side. The crux moves off the belay are pretty desperate for the grade.
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Location: NV : Red Rock : Juniper Canyon : The Rainbow Wall : The Original Route (5.12)
By: Max Tepfer When: Mar 29, 2013 | view comment >> |
Comments: Looks like there's a new rap station skier's left of the waterslide getting out of the bowl back into the wash. (Where there's intermittently been a fixed rope around a log in years past) We'll see how long it lasts, but it's kind of nice having camo'd hangers instead of manky fixed lines. (or pulling your rope through the seeping water)
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Location: OR : Trout Creek
By: Max Tepfer When: Mar 17, 2013 | view comment >> |
Comments: The closure does not include the campground. The river road and campground are unaffected by the closure. If you do hike the river road, do not leave it and head up the trails to cliff. The closure only affects the climber's trails and crag. There should be signs after a couple hundred feet of trail.
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Location: OR : Smith Rock
By: Max Tepfer When: Feb 16, 2013 | view comment >> |
Comments: April can be awesome. It can also be rainy if you get unlucky, spring being a wet time of year around here. With two weeks, you'll almost certainly get at least four or more good days.
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Location: OR : Trout Creek : The Main Wall : Fall Line (5.12d)
By: Max Tepfer When: Feb 16, 2013 | view comment >> |
Comments: This line is killer. A stout line at a stout crag. Imagine moving into the pod on Alchemy for 60' interrupted by two rests and you start to get the idea. Feels harder than Full Clip, the only other route like it at TC. Full Clip probably has easier moves overall but a harder crux and less rest.
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Location: OR : Smith Rock : The Christian Brothers : The Mark Cartier Memorial (... (5.10)
By: Max Tepfer When: Feb 16, 2013 | view comment >> |
Comments: While it's a beautiful gesture to memorialize a friend with a new line, this route is a bit of a squeeze job. To the point that it seems like it undermines the intention of the gesture.
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Location: OR : Smith Rock : Morning Glory Wall : Doritos (5.12c)
By: Max Tepfer When: Jan 22, 2013 | view comment >> |
Comments: My experience disagrees with the teeny bit harder than Full Magic Light. In terms of sheer number of goes, Doritos took easily twice as much work for me to send. The hand and footholds on Doritos are consistently much smaller than FML with few rests.. Both are rad.
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Location: OR : Smith Rock : The Dihedrals : Crossfire (5.12a/b)
By: Max Tepfer When: Jan 20, 2013 | view comment >> |
Comments: The flake's gone... (it's now sitting a the base. Look for the random small, chalked chunk of stone) This climb is totally killer! Best 12b on the tuff?
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Location: CA : Yosemite National Park : Yosemite Valley : The Rostrum : The North Face (5.11c)
By: Max Tepfer When: Oct 23, 2012 | view comment >> |
Comments: Definitely recommend taking the left option on P2. Not too hard and very good climbing. (especially compared to your alternatives...)
My experience was that extending the anchor atop the final pitch wasn't enough to keep the rope from pushing my #5 irretrievably into the crack. Doing it again, I'd pull the thing out.
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Location: OR : Moolack
By: Max Tepfer When: Sep 25, 2012 | view comment >> |
Comments: Paul,
Would you be willing to move your comment to the forums and/or edit it down to information about Moolack? (that is to say: information someone visiting there for the first time will need to know, as opposed to esoteric discussion of why they're reading about it on the internet) In its current form, it's lengthy (likely to spark discussion), somewhat of a rant, and somewhat off-topic. (Pretty much 4 for 4 on Guideline #3) In short, this isn't the place for it.
Cheers,
(I'm sorry, I ... more >>
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Location: OR : Moolack
By: Max Tepfer When: Sep 10, 2012 | view comment >> |
Comments: My .02:
Moolack is an incredible climbing venue with a high concentration of hard, splitter crack climbing on excellent rock. It is near and dear to me as a crag that taught me a lot about climbing. I can't emphasize enough how awesome it is and, in the same breath, how important it is that we not trash the place. It's been called "a wilderness crag with a front-country approach" (15 minutes...) and the fact that it's on designated wilderness makes it vitally important that we as climbers do ... more >>
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Location: OR : Trout Creek : The Main Wall : Monster (5.11+)
By: Max Tepfer When: Sep 10, 2012 | view comment >> |
Comments: So, despite my comment above, I (and a few others) now feel slightly differently about the grade. Shortly after the consensus bumped it up to 12-, new beta came to light and now I'm skeptical of whether or not the rating is consistent with other routes of the grade at the crag. In any case, know that if you figure out the easy beta, it's going to be a very quick tick for Trout 12-.
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Location: OR : Smith Rock : Lower Gorge : West Side : Parched Cat Cliff : Cretin's Retreat (5.10c)
By: Max Tepfer When: Sep 6, 2012 | view comment >> |
Comments: Ditto on this being better than Wildfire. There's an extension called Orifice (10b) now doable with a 70m rope, a couple of draws and medium/small cams. Worth doing!
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Location: International : North America : Canada : British Columbia : Columbia Mountains : ... : All Along the Watchtower (5.11 C2- R)
By: Max Tepfer When: Aug 29, 2012 | view comment >> |
Comments: Just climbed this a few days ago. Here are my thoughts:
-Sam is spot on with the rockfall. There was consistent, large rockfall every 10-20 minutes as we crossed to the base of the line.
-Ditto with off-set gear. We brought 1 set of off-set aliens and they were key.
-We climbed it in late August and found it mostly warm and dry. Cold temps weren't really an issue.
-Route finding is tricky in the first couple pitches and there are compelling crack systems that tempt you too far left.
-Maybe it... more >>
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Location: OR : Smith Rock : Lower Gorge : West Side : Wildfire Wall : Out Of Darkness (5.11a/b PG13)
By: Max Tepfer When: Aug 21, 2012 | view comment >> |
Comments: Just took a wing on this and here are my thoughts:
Firstly: Awesome route!
"Before clipping the bolt at the roof with a 2' runner you must make difficult moves with microstoppers below you." This simply isn't true. Granted, there are some tiny gear placements early on in the pitch, (where the climbing's relatively straight-forward) but at the crux, (before the bolt) I whipped onto the bomberest #9 (blue BD) stopper of life.
"I agree this seems hard for 11a." Yep. Super-devious indeed. ... more >>
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Location: OR : Trout Creek : Photo
By: Max Tepfer When: Jun 28, 2012 | view comment >> |
Comments: (Jefferson...)
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Location: OR : Smith Rock : Cocaine Gully : Bloodshot (5.11c)
By: Max Tepfer When: Jun 13, 2012 | view comment >> |
Comments: +1 that this route is super good! Get on it!
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Location: OR : Smith Rock : Cocaine Gully : Freebase (5.12a)
By: Max Tepfer When: Jun 13, 2012 | view comment >> |
Comments: This is definitely a killer line with fun moves on perfect rock, but I did find it to be somewhat committing movement as the bolt line is a wee bit spaced and consistently off to the left side of the holds. I took a 15 footer off the crux, so don't expect to be pulling the hard moves with a bolt at your chest...
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Location: OR : Trout Creek : The Main Wall : Space Mission (5.11)
By: Max Tepfer When: Jun 13, 2012 | view comment >> |
Comments: Compare 11+ on this one with 11+ on Redd Alert and 12- on Purple Pinky Eater...) The cruxes on both those two feel way, way more stopper (granted they're shorter) than anything on Space Mission.
It's important to remember that many of the ratings at this place (especially at 5.11 and up) haven't seen a heck of a lot of consolidation as many of the routes at the grade that are less trafficked have often only seen 2-6 red-point ascents. (Steelhead, Full Clip, Redd Alert, Hip to Toe, Out Ridin' F... more >>
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Location: WA : Leavenworth : Icicle Creek : Prusik Peak : Solid Gold (5.11a)
By: Max Tepfer When: May 24, 2012 | view comment >> |
Comments: The pitch breakdowns given in the book are pretty vague and do a poor job of indicating when to stop and belay. If I were to do it again I'd do the following: (ignore if you're into adventure onsighting)
P1, 10d-Right leaning crack system to under the roof. Obvious and hard to miss.
P2, 11a-(but feels a lot like the 10d) step out and right under the roof and follow the corner to a long #3 camalot-sized horizontal. Belay on gear while standing in the horizontal.
P3, 10a-Link the next p... more >>
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Location: UT : Zion National Park : Red Arch Mountain : Shune's Buttress (5.11+)
By: Max Tepfer When: Apr 11, 2012 | view comment >> |
Comments: Amazing Route. +1 for the 215' mega-pitch to avoid hanging belays. It means you'll have a really short pitch for the 11-, but it's definitely worth it. It's totally doable w/2x #4s, a double rack from there, and plenty of walking with the big guys. You'll probably be running it out in the finishing chimney, but I was able to find a couple small gear placements in the back of it and the moves are comparatively easy relative to what you just climbed.
The OW is really hard if you try to ... more >>
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Location: OR : Smith Rock : Monkey Face : Northwest Passage (Aid) (5.7 C2)
By: Max Tepfer When: Mar 5, 2012 | view comment >> |
Comments: This is a killer route! Awesome movement on phenomenal rock all in an amazing position. It doesn't get much better.
P1 free(ish) beta: Stick clip the highest bolt you can on the initial 5 bolt ladder (or climb Sheer Trickery at 12c) and batman up the rope to the beginning of the free climbing. Bring gear from purple Metolius to purple 0.5. (a 0.75 can also be handy) The pin scars take stoppers well and it has a number of bolts, so bring lots of draws. This thing is 35 meters of awesomeness... more >>
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Location: OR : Mt. Hood : The North Face (WI3+ Mod. Snow R)
By: Max Tepfer When: Feb 28, 2012 | view comment >> |
Comments: There's a massive cairn at I forget what elevation that has a trail through the lateral moraine to the toe when it's not covered in snow. With snow it's a 30ish degree slope with a big cairn above it. (typically the cairn doesn't get covered as the wind scours it pretty good. (I think it's about mid 6k') 9k is definitely too high.
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Location: MT : Hyalite Canyon : Twin Falls Area : Cleopatra's Needle (WI5)
By: Max Tepfer When: Jan 11, 2012 | view comment >> |
Comments: Pitches 2-3 are easily and logically linked.
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