BETA PHOTO: Belay at top of pitch 3, a short easy pitch (5.2?)...
Description
Approach: About 30 min. Approach on the main sheepshead highway trail. Hike for a while, then 5 minutes or so after going through the second animal gate, see a less defined trail break uphill from the main trail (small cairns on sandy slab). Follow this (trail gets good quickly) up cairns. There is one cairned trail that breaks off right to another rock formation- ignore it. Eventually you will reach a big boulder near the cliff base. Walk left by the boulder (underneath it) and head up a few yards to the base of sheepshead. A slabby pillar that leads to a corner/bulge with a bolt is where the trail hits the rock. This is the start of Absinthe. A tree hides most of the short slab and shades the first half of the pitch.
50' climber's right along the base of the rock is a bolted slab. This is the start of Peacemaker.
P1. Start up left-facing dihedral left of slab, or paw up slab, to stance and clip bolt. Go up the corner and step right to another lip. See a bulge above with a bolt at the lip. Get there, clip it, fire it, and get to a ledge. Place pro high to protect second (cams in back of open flake and long runners) and walk right to 2-bolt ring anchor.
P2. Ignore bolts out right on polished slab, and ignore big ugly right-facing corner. You're headed straight up to crack/face climbing (a few bolts on face runouts) to 2 bolt anchor on ledge right of bush. The anchor bolts here are painted Metolius rap bolts (the oversized bolts you can rap off of) as are all the belay anchors for the rest of the climb. This is the most sustained pitch and probably the route's crux. The first cruxy move may be a little harder for shorter people. Classic pitch.
P3. Move the belay left to the second dihedral past a few bolts to a two bolt anchor. Very short pitch on distinctly easier climbing. If you have any draws left you could almost assuredly link this with P2 with a 60m.
P4. Go up the dihedral, clip a bolt, then move higher. Soon you will reach a stance to move left and clip a bolt on a bulge (find this bolt before you start climbing so you don't go past it). This clip will be harder for short people. Consider placing a cam high in the dihedral crack to protect the clip and then backclean it for ropedrag. Move above the bolt on stiff friction to a long stretch of 5.easy chickenhead climbing on the right side of the pillar (past one bolt). Belay at 2 bolt anchor on right side of pillar.
P5. Move up to a break in the rock, clip (or don't clip) a useless bolt, and pull over the broken bulge to another stretch of slab on the right side of the pillar (bolts). Keep an eye out right where you step into the gully near a tree and belay from a 2 bolt anchor on a small perch on the right side of the gully.
P6. Follow bolts on thin face/friction, past a bulge, to another anchor (can be tricky to see until near it). Another line of bolts appears farther right. Ignore 'em.
P7. Friction up the flawless green buttress to the top (more bolts). 2" and 3" cams make a great anchor, but all kinds of stuff will work with a little fiddling.
Descent: Walk off opposite side to cairned descent down gully in back. Elaborate cairn on summit marks the summit register and is right of the descent gully as walking from the Absinthe top-out. Follow trail down NW side of sheepshead, bearing left along rock whenever trail splits. About 15 minutes.
Notes: This Cochise classic had a reputation as a death route because of the sparse bolting on the long stretches of face. It was recently retrobolted (by Scott Ayers, the FA, so don't you dare chop anything..) so it no longer deserves an 'R' rating. The climbing is still a bit spicy is you are used to indian creek or Urioste red rocks pro, but it's standard fare for Cochise. The rating is on for Cochise 9+, but it can feel stiff if you're used to softer areas. The route is much more serious feeling than Peacemaker (6p 10a) just to its right.
Also- Scott adjusted the finishing pitches for a much better finish. Apparently the last few pitches used to be a little lackluster. Now they're great fun. This route description describes the new finish (obviously)..
Finally, be forewarned that Scott is a straight-bolter. Just because the bolt line is railroad-straight, it doesnt mean that you won't be traversing back and forth and all over the place to find the path of least resistance. You can't fall asleep and follow his routes like a sport climb, and in return you'll get little or no rope drag through the face pitches.
Props to Scott for putting up this Cochise classic, and for adding impeccable bolts to allow mere mortals safe passage.
Protection
Rack: 14 draws, a half dozen of which should be extendable. 1 set of nuts, and a single set of blue alien to #3 camalot (double on white alien size). If you place a lot of pro, you might consider a few extra cams for the second pitch. An additional green and yellow alien, as well as an additional #.75 and #1 camalot would leave you plenty of options.
I did Scott's new finish but I had no idea he did the FA on this stellar route. The description didn't seem like the route I did except for the last two arete pitches. I ran the 2nd and 3rd pitches together with a 60m rope. I totally missed seeing the anchors on the 2nd pitch. Bring a long sling for wrapping round the 4'-5' diameter horn before the slab at the end of the 3rd pitch. I thought it was a very difficult face above this. To find the new arete finish, look to your right for an oak tree in the gulley; the rap hangers are just right of it.
I thought Steve Grossman or Mike Strassman had something to do with the FA. Did Scott solo this route? Some one must have held his rope. That person is equally important in these endeavors and should be included in the FA info.
By Danno From: Lyons, CO Nov 27, 2006 rating: 5.9+
Good route. Climbs the longest possible aspect of Sheepshead, that makes it cool. A one of each rack is sufficient for this route. I wish I had known about the alternate finishes the chimney was a little ho-hum.
By Christian From: Tucson, Az Jan 7, 2007 rating: 5.10a
We did this in early January and it was about 32F in the parking lot. I started up the first pitch around 8AM and it was in the shade the entire time. My hands were pretty much frozen and completely numb about halfway up, but thankfully there's a good stance where you can stop and put some gloves on and warm your hands up for a few minutes.
Or just wait and start about an hour later, when it's warmer and at least the top part of the first pitch will be in the sun (we started early after talking to a party of three in the parking lot who had the same route in mind).
If you like slab climbing, this is a must do route. If you are looking for a crack climb, go elsewhere. One cool aspect of Absinthe is that the rock texture changes from the start, middle, and finish. And the green slab on the final two pitches is beautiful. Unfortunately for me, there was one move on the entire route that I had to aid, the start of the second pitch. This section is a conundrum. And thanks to Christian for putting up the final pitch, a committing finish.
Just did this. It took all day long and it would have been nice to have a head lamp for the descent. I would still give the route an 'R' for the original finish. The low angle slab at the top of the 7th pitch in the in Kerry guide (the last big pitch before the chimney) is hard to protect because there are just a few chicken heads and then they stop. You have to run it out and a fall, while unlikely, wouldn't be much fun. Make sure you have some long runners for this section.
The Sheepshead
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