Rainbow Wall: Orginal Route and Rainbow Country varation questions

I am planning on doing the OR with the Rainbow Country variation and I am wondering what shoes to bring. I need to know if it is more crack orientated (trad shoes) or face-climbing orientated (hard-sport-climbing shoes). I suspect it is face-climbing orientated from the single-rack recommendation, but it never hurts to ask.

Also, the Rainbow Country variation does not show any bolts on the topo. Is the .12d crux protected entirely by gear? Last, is it possible to rejoin onto the Original Route at the end of Rainbow Country, or does the Rainbow Country force you to end the route on P10?

John Wilder wrote: Mostly just alot of mellow 5.10 climbing with a few hard moves.

Really? Looking at the topo, with the variations I was planing on doing, the topo shows it is 15 pitches of mostly 5.11 and above climbing. I was expecting it to be harder than Astroman by quite a step. Can you recommend a similar 5-star route that gets shade? I was thinking of Cloud Tower. Any other ideas?

Cruxes are harder than astroman but you won't burn as many calories.

do the original first pitch- adds a nice pitch of 12 to start.

Rainbow Wall is awesome! Highly recommend doing it. Texas hold em, drifting, cloud tower (last pitch gets sun in afternoon). You could also do nightcrawler and then do Times up which gets shade around 130. Ncrawler and Times up have some of the best corners in the park.

I've done the Original Route on Rainbow Wall (not Rainbow Country), and would partly agree with John on the difficulty. I would say the bulk of the pitches are 11- or so. The footwork, even on the cruxes, was not too technical; I actually was wearing a literally brand new pair of Katanas that were not broken in at all. I've not done Astroman, but given what Ive heard, and people I know who've been on both, Astroman has way more hard climbing. Cloud Tower is quite a bit more sustained, too, I've heard, but again, I've not done it.

For reference, I did Astroman a few months before I did the OR. Astroman was a total epic involving french-freeing multiple pitches. I onsighted the OR. I suck at pure cracks but still I would say Astroman is way more sustained at almost all points. 5.10 wide cracks take more energy than the 5.10 face climbing on the OR (at least for my climbing style). Rainbow Country looked like the obvious line and I'd like to go back for it. OR is kinda a cop-out....

Rainbow Wall is easier than Astroman for sure. Most of the pitches on the Rainbow Wall are over-graded, short, and have short cruxes. But it is worth doing and is of very, very high quality.

You don't jam much at all, I would bring face shoes.

Ben Sachs wrote: OR is kinda a cop-out....

Huh...that's a weird thing to say. Considering the OR follows the natural weakness(es) up the center of the wall. Rainbow country has a big face traverse pitch to rejoin the route at the Red Dihedral...which is not an obvious line. Semantics really, but to say that the route is a cop out? No.

This route (OR) is stellar. Easily climbable by a 5.11 trad climber with a lite rack. Even if you have to do some french free, its worth it.
The 3 times I've climbed it I always took a 60M and rapped it with that, which is NBD, I'd always prefer not to carry and pull up/down an extra 10M of rope if I can.

From what I hear about Rainbow Country there is a "stopper" move on it. I've not heard of anyone onsighting it (and know some super strong folks who have tried) does anyone know of an onsight?

Have fun!

josh

Kirk and Ben - who have been on the routes of which they speak - both nailed it:

Comparing any of these Red Rocks routes to Astoman is foolish. Having done Astroman twice and RW too many times, it's my opinion that several of the crux moves on RW (depending on the variations you do) are unquestionably harder than the crux on Astroman (the Boulder Problem). However, No route that I've done in Red Rocks will prepare you for the fitness required for Astroman.

Regarding shoes: wear face climbing shoes. I wear Miuras for RW and RC.

The crux of Rainbow Country is well-protected with bolts and one fixed wire. Please do not remove the wire or fixed draws. You cannot "easily" aid the crux, but you can aid it with some difficulty. If you can climb 12a above a bolt, it is much easier to aid. The crux is hard for the grade, and sandwiched between continuous 5.12- moves.

There are some death flakes on the first pitch of RC - be careful. Also the 5.12- traverse relies on a fragile hold - please be careful.

I think Josh and Ben are both right about the line: the RW is the natural weakness, but RC is definitely the cooler line (and the traverse is actually small compared to the wandering crap on RW).

My two cents (did Astroman years ago, OR Rainbow wall earlier this month):

(1) Astroman is a much harder day all around.
(2) Rainbow wall definitely has much harder individual moves/sequences.
(3) Very little crack climbing on OR.
(4) The cruxes on OR tend to have some desperate smearing, though there is some small-edge work as well. I'd wear my best smearing shoes if I did it again (I will). I wore my super-tight Anasazi Blancos (my go-to redpoint shoes) and was hurting a bit by the top.
(5) I did not do the Rainbow Country variation, but it pretty clearly joins the OR at the bottom of the Red Dihedral.

Brian

Does Rainbow Country and Rainbow Wall have 100% bolted anchors? It would be nice to leave the cordlette in the car.

All anchors are bolted.

josh