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Location: NV : Red Rock : Sandstone Quarry : Front Corridor : Siktion (5.9)
By: Ron Graham When: Nov 15, 2009 | view comment >> |
Comments: This route can easily be top-roped with a 60M rope. It's on slippery, slabby white sandstone with long spaces between bolts.
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Location: NV : Red Rock : White Rock Spring : Angel Food Wall : Lean Lady (5.6)
By: Ron Graham When: Nov 8, 2009 | view comment >> |
Comments: This climb can easily be done in 3 pitches with a 70 meter rope. Rather than end the second pitch in the alcove where the Lean Lady squeeze is located, climb the crack outside of the alcove (a few tricky moves, but the holds are there) to the big ledge above it. A 70 meter rope will then get you to the easy scrambling area at the top of the pitch.
If you're over 180 lbs, forget trying to do the squeeze. My partner is a fit 190 lbs, and I'm a fit 215, and neither of us could make it through t... more >>
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Location: NV : Red Rock : Calico Basin : Moderate Mecca : Soupy Sales (5.6)
By: Ron Graham When: Mar 1, 2009 | view comment >> |
Comments: This is an awesome route on which to give someone a first-time leading experience because the climbing is easy and short and you can sew up the route with nuts, cams, and tri-cams. Also, the solid ledge and cracks at the top make it easy, safe and comfortable for a new leader to practice anchor building.
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Location: NV : Red Rock : Calico Basin : Moderate Mecca : Abbey Road (5.4)
By: Ron Graham When: Mar 1, 2009 | view comment >> |
Comments: Great place for a new leader because of its low angle, large footholds, and frequency of placement options for small nuts and cams. It's pretty out of the way for most people climbing in the Moderate Mecca area, so it's pretty easy to get on it.
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Location: NV : Red Rock : Willow Spring : Sumo Greatness Slab : Sumo Greatness (5.9+ R)
By: Ron Graham When: Mar 1, 2009 | view comment >> |
Comments: Slabba dabba must-do! Only by top-rope, though, unless you want to add some protection points between the current bolt placements by hanging biners on long draws from the existing bolts that create interim protection points. Even if you're awesome at slab climbing, you'll find that the slab here is covered in a coating of dusty sand that makes it very, very slippery. Without extra protection, a slip resulting in an injury is pretty likely. I thought the coating of sand on this route made it ... more >>
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Location: NV : Red Rock : Willow Spring : Children's Crag : 22 Minutes 'til Closing (5.6 PG13)
By: Ron Graham When: Mar 1, 2009 | view comment >> |
Comments: The beta photo suggests the route goes up the face left of the crack at which Tarzan's Arm starts. Although that face offers relatively easy climbing, it's mostly unprotectable on poor rock. Make sure you start up the big crack.
Like other routes in the area, there are some possible variations to the ending. Instead of pulling ourselves up through the shallow chimney, my partner and I traversed left on some potato chip flakes to get around the bulge forming the left side of the chimney (5.7)... more >>
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Location: NV : Red Rock : Willow Spring : Children's Crag : Peaches (5.5)
By: Ron Graham When: Mar 1, 2009 | view comment >> |
Comments: There is one section in the walk-off that appears to be quite exposed if you want to walk your way around it, but if you get down and crawl under the bulge that makes it appear so exposed, it's quite safe and easy to get passed without a belay. As of February '09, there is a rap station at the top of Peaches that requires two 60M ropes to rappel. There is also a set of hangers with chains above the anchor to Sumo Greatness that you can rap directly from or use for belaying yourself down to the... more >>
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Location: NV : Red Rock : Calico Basin : Red Springs Rock : Classic Corner (5.8)
By: Ron Graham When: Feb 26, 2009 | view comment >> |
Comments: This is a great route for a new 5.8 leader because the steep, smooth and slippery varnished face lets you take falls in many places without incurring any injuries other than to your pride. Also, there are multiple options for topping out; one option is to head left across the face around bulging rocks at the top, while another is to grab the rocks and pull over them. My favorite place to belay followers from is on top of those rocks because you can look down most of the length of the... more >>
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Location: NV : Red Rock : Juniper Canyon : Jackrabbit Buttress : MysterZ (5.7)
By: Ron Graham When: Feb 26, 2009 | view comment >> |
Comments: This would be a very good route for an early leader, as it has relatively easy but varied climbing, comfortable belays, and sucks up gear. The terrain offers hand and fist cracks, chimneys, face climbs, and even some slabby sections if you decide to get out of the cracks on the upper pitches. Also, there are a number of relatively low angle cracks beyond the top of pitch 3 that a relatively new leader could use to practice setting up hanging belays. Most of the rock is pretty good, although th... more >>
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Location: NV : Red Rock : Second Pullout : Great Red Book Rock : Ground up Vocabulary (5.8+ R)
By: Ron Graham When: Feb 23, 2009 | view comment >> |
Comments: The right-trending crack that leads up to the first bolt is very thin, in fragile rock, and tapered in most places. Microcams, small cams, and the smallest sizes of tricams work best in protecting that section of the climb wherever constrictions exist. You can also sling a chicken head or two where the opportunities for other pro are few.
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Location: NV : Red Rock : Second Pullout : Great Red Book Rock : Great Red Book (5.8)
By: Ron Graham When: Feb 23, 2009 | view comment >> |
Comments: Folks who haven't done a lot of liebacks on slippery sandstone on lead might want to bring a #5 Camalot for use in the crack at the base of the lieback on the second pitch. The angle for that lieback is a bit more awkward than the one for the first pitch. There is, however, a great hand/foothold on the face about 4 feet straight out from the lieback that can help you get past this crux in about 2 moves if you have the arm/leg length to effectively use it.
If you bring a full rack of ... more >>
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Location: NV : Red Rock : Pine Creek Canyon : Brass Wall : Birdland (5.7+)
By: Ron Graham When: Jan 30, 2009 | view comment >> |
Comments: Stay alert when you are on pitch 4 if there are climbers above you. A couple that did the 6th pitch accidentally trundled one of the loose stones up there past us. It would have been deadly if it had hit anyone. For this reason, I'd suggest not trying to do the 6th pitch if you have any other teams climbing below you.
The stances at the top of the first 4 pitches are big enough to comfortably fit a group of 3 climbing together. However, the small, triangular shelf at the top of pitch 5 is o... more >>
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Location: NV : Red Rock : Second Pullout : Magic Bus : Ken Queasy (5.8 PG13)
By: Ron Graham When: Jan 21, 2009 | view comment >> |
Comments: Most of the fun on this route is getting past the black varnished section, which is the crux of the climb. My friends and I toproped it and focused just on that section. An anchor has been set up for that purpose, and the anchor can be easily reached with a 6 foot traverse from the anchor for Technicolor Sunrise.
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Location: NV : Red Rock : Second Pullout : Magic Bus : Electric Koolaid (5.9+)
By: Ron Graham When: Jan 21, 2009 | view comment >> |
Comments: If you toprope this route, you might want to leave in some directional quickdraws on the top couple of bolts. Otherwise, climbers will have a difficult time staying on route. The direct line to the anchor is about a grade more difficult than the line following the bolts.
This is a very fun route that starts out easy on big holds and gets plenty challenging with crimpers and side pulls at the top!
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Location: NV : Red Rock : First Pullout : Tuna and Chips Wall : Waterstreak (5.8 R)
By: Ron Graham When: Dec 30, 2008 | view comment >> |
Comments: The 5.10a version of the waterstreak is an awesome toprope climb. Those who want to try leading it without taking a risk of decking from a fall between the second and third bolts might want to rig a long sling from the third bolt that creates an interim clip-in point.
Whether top-roped or led, this is an excellent climb for focusing on your feet. The handholds are very crimpy and often far apart, requiring very careful foot placements to advance comfortably up the route.
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Location: NV : Lone Mountain : La Madre (South) : Urban Crag
By: Ron Graham When: Dec 25, 2008 | view comment >> |
Comments: It seems like additional routes have been added to the Urban and Suburban Crags since Islands in the Sky was written. Does anyone have any info on them? We climbed what felt like 5.6+ and 5.7 routes for which we have not been able to find any documentation. Both climbs were VERY fun, albeit quite runout in sections outside of each route's crux.
Please share any info that you have.
Thanks ahead for your help!
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Location: NV : Red Rock : White Rock Spring : Angel Food Wall : Tunnel Vision (5.7)
By: Ron Graham When: Nov 24, 2008 | view comment >> |
Comments: Tall people need not be very concerned about the relative lack of pro in the 5th pitch; the ceiling contains numerous shelves and big pockets that make it very easy to keep your feet at 90 degrees to the slick rock face as you stem up it. For shorter people who can't stem the route as well, we found 3 good placements: 1.) a small parallel crack about 15 feet up that will take a BD microcam or a ball nut, 2.) a larger pocket on the ceiling another 15 feet up that will take a small cam,... more >>
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Location: NV : Red Rock : Oak Creek Canyon : Solar Slab - Lower Tier : Johnny Vegas (5.6)
By: Ron Graham When: Nov 17, 2008 | view comment >> |
Comments: My partner and I did the 5.9 variation on pitch 3 without clipping the bolt. The slab was really slippery and there's absolutely nothing on it to grab, but it contains some very shallow divots high up that offered us just enough traction for our mantled palms to keep from slipping off. If you set a piece high enough up the crack in the dihedral, a slip on the traverse will result in a pendulum across the smooth slab high enough to miss the more featured rock below it. The layback moves requir... more >>
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Location: NV : Red Rock : White Rock Spring : Angel Food Wall : Group Therapy (5.7)
By: Ron Graham When: Nov 11, 2008 | view comment >> |
Comments: You might find it worthwhile to take a couple of #5 Camalots along to help protect yourself in the roof crack and in the slabby chimney leading up to it. Generally, this route eats up gear if you bring the right stuff. I highly recommend using a 70M rope to do the 3rd and 4th pitches as a single long pitch (it's such an easy and fun lead you don't want it to end!), but you'll need to bring along some extra long slings to help reduce rope drag. I did the route with two other guys and we ... more >>
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Location: NV : Red Rock : Calico Basin : Dickies Cliff : Seams like a butt (5.7)
By: Ron Graham When: Nov 11, 2008 | view comment >> |
Comments: It's pretty easy to set up a top rope on this route by climbing the fin on the East side of the gully from which the route begins and carefully making your way around the gulley to the top of the route. I consider this to be a fun warm up climb because you can make it progressively easier or harder by varying your line of ascent by a couple of feet in either direction. A direct start using the small heucos and shallow, flaring crack at the base of the route without stemming against the fin on ... more >>
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Location: WA : Mount Rainier
By: Ron Graham When: Jul 30, 2008 | view comment >> |
Comments: Although 2-day hikes up the Ingraham Glacier/Disappointment Cleaver route are common, you will likely appreciate your experience much more if you take at least a one more day to hike the route, with at least one campover at Ingraham Flats. Those who do the two day hike end up having a much more athletic than aesthic experience, with little time to fully absorb, photograph and appreciate the many spectacular views as well as explore the many crevasses on the Cowlitz and Ingraham glaciers. An on... more >>
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