The Sheepshead 

There is camping right at the trailhead

Beautiful dome, though someone drilled bolts everywhere on the upper section. Too many bolts for a wilderness climbing area.

Scott was prescient and knew that someday we'd be doing Absinthe in the morning and shooting a round of golf just down the road in the afternoon..:-)

Better / Faster approach: Nice and fast mostly flat trail that avoids the sticker bushes and any bushwacking.

When driving down the last stretch of road past the water tanks, stay left and park by the barb wire gate with the reflective sign. There is a super well traveled trail starting at this gate all the way to the Sheepshead. Go through the gate (close it behind you!) and follow this trail across the grassy field. You'll pass a cattle water tub within the first couple hundred yards. You'll eventually cross the wash and end up on another grassy field. Finally you'll come to a second barb wire gate. Go through and close it behind you. You'll be right at the start of the steep section that is well marked with cairns.

You really can't get lost on this trail, it is that well traveled. Takes about 30-45 minutes to reach Absinthe of Mallet this way. It is very very noticable from anywhere on the Sheepshead.

Some of the newer routes on the Sheepshead posted here are not entirely acurate. Some the pitches contain some accurate information but the combination of the pitches for the routes that are listed are not the combination of pitches the first accessionsts ascended these routes or intended these routes to go.

For those of you who have Google Earth, I have posted two files that may be helpful for you.

The first has driving directions to the Sheepshead.

The second has the approach and most of the major multipitch lines. Both of these can be viewed in 3D from any aspect and printed.

You can download the files from www.geir.com/googleearth/stronghold/west/

Google Earth can be downloaded for free at www.googleearth.com

In the past November 1st Nick Erhardt and I completed 6 climbs in a day: The Peacemaker, Absinthe of Mallet, Ides of Middlemarch, The Climb Too Tough to Die, Right of Stampede and Ewephoria, making 36 pitches... We did use a fixed line to rap down and it was great fun... I dare to say that at 8 climbs could be done with enough motivation and foot pain tolerance, but as it is for now, I think this is the current record of number of pitches in a day for this crag.

Wow! How much simul-climbing did you do?

... no simul-climbing at all, and actually, that is one of the main things we can do to make it faster. But I feel that I need to be a bit more familiar with the routes to do this.

Nice work Luis!! You sure Scott A hasn't climbed 6 or more routes. Seems like he may have, maybe not? Dean Brault and I did 3 routes in ~4 hours without simul-climbing (and running off the descent) about 5 or 6 years ago, so I can see how 8 would be possible with a fixed rappel. I remember Dean looking at me and shaking his head after I got up to the belay on the first pitch. My heart rate was up from climbing fast. He said I needed to climb faster. Dean was so smooth but I was pretty exhausted from the effort; more from the super fast following than the leading.

The Sheepshead is like a vertical track. Lots of bolts and all fixed belays. At one time I was not a big fan of the development but now I just view it for what it is: a speed climbing venue. Where else can you climb so much on a big cliff in a stellar location with a super light rack and a really low risk level?

Scott has done 5 routes running down the descent, which is a very impressive record... We opted for the fixed line 'soft' style basically to save our knees and time to do more pitches. We were moving somewhat fast and steady, but not really rushing up to our limit. If the interest is only speed, there is a lot of room for improvement... In any case, yeah, agree, Sheepshead is an awesome playground for this kind of stuff... the big 8 is totally feasible...

Were the routes all done during daylight? 6 routes seems really impressive.

I second Geir's comment... the lower angle of this rock make it easy to find any number of ways to climb it... just dump a bunch of steel, pretty much at random, and some friction route will come out. I think the classic routes (say, mostly the ones that actually have names) are great and somewhat preserve the adventure character of the Stronghold, they are mixed and pretty natural lines. Now, by the precedent set by The Peacemaker, the new lines may be great fun (haven't climb them), but the over-bolting squeeze job in recent years has gone way too far. The fact that some people get confused in some of these lines, ending up clipping bolts or anchors from different routes in a single pitch, is a good indication of the problem.

I just wanted to post a note and say a big THANK YOU to the folks who have been maintaining the trails and the routes in this area- it was so easy to find and climb the routes, feel safe while clipping the new and well installed hardware, and then find and descend on a well maintained, well built trail system.

Thanks guys, seriously- climbing areas around the country could use more folks like you.

(panting, wagging tail)

Very kind words, John. If you ever happen to run across Scott Ayers, pass that big 'thank you' onto him directly. The trails are a combined effort for sure. I rarely, if ever, see Scott and his better half out climbing without their trusty hedge clippers. Happy climbing! d

Well, I did just two routes in a day and it was awesome! Too late for me, but is there an "insiders" route rap? Thought I was doing pretty well until I stuck a rope which pushed things back a bit. It certainly was possible with twin 50's, but it wasn't slick. Suggestions other than walking down? Where was the route y'all did with the fixed line(s)?

cool images of the Sheepshead via Bing Maps:

binged.it/YEgSKF