First Born is the chimney on the left with Double ...
Description
This climb has lots of variety. It starts the same as First Born to the left of KGB. The 2 distinct roofs are a can't miss. This route is not in the guide books because it was put up about 2 years ago. Scott and I believe the route goes at 11b; if you think any differently feel free to put in your 2 cents -- Scott likes to hear feedback about his routes.
Location
Left of KGB, start at First Born, another recent first ascent (not in guidebooks) by Scott.
I did this route about a year ago, and the area just below the first roof could definitely use a few more ascents. The route as a whole is nice, and the second roof was pretty clean with fun moves. It felt fairly solid for 5.11b/c at Queen Creek to me.
By susan peplow From: Phx J-Tree Oct 19, 2008 rating: 5.11a/b
Mike you are way more generous than me. I sessed this route out on a recent trip so today I decided to give it a whirl.
To put it simply, the route is choss. The upper roof has some redeeming qualities but very few. Getting to the upper roof is dangerous for the belayer, as it's nearly impossible to avoid sluffing the decomposing rock off and dropping it to the base.
In the event you are able to link the moves together and still hang on to solid holds (few and far between) you'll find that the bolt located directly below the first roof gives such horrendous rope drag when trying to move through the upper roof that your wildest dream is to just jump and end it all.
It is of my opinion that this route at best should be considered a project. It is criminal that it was put up and left to the public in it's current state. It requires a SERIOUS cleaning and/or chopping. Personally I don't care which.
Sorry Scott, but it's awful. I've already seen better work of yours so don't take my post as hate mail. I encourage you to please return & clean it up for the sake of your own name. Once done I'd be willing to pack a 4' long runner for the bolt below the roof and give it another go. Until then, I'll stick to your very nice .8 chimney to the left. Which in contrast to "double exposure" is a nice addition to the area.
Susan, No offense taken, although calling it "criminal" is a bit much but what the hell this is the WWW. The rock quality under the first roof is poor, though I don't think dangerous as it's mostly pebble sized stuff that comes off. It's hard to believe but I did a lot of cleaning on the route. The bolts on the route are pretty frequent and solid so protection isn't an issue. It does need more ascents. The second roof is much more solid. As to the rope drag you are right, a longer runner before and after the first roof will alleviate much of that. I would have liked to put the bolt under the roof further right but the rock quality there didn't pass the hammer test. S
By susan peplow From: Phx J-Tree Nov 1, 2008 rating: 5.11a/b
Bio,
Thanks for the history. I looked at that first roof to see if there was a realistic way to avoid the drag. Maybe you'd be able to avoid it if you had put the bolt right at the lip of the roof vs. below it but even then with the way that bulge ledges out would there would still be a lot of friction. Best case scenario is a super-super long runner and even that is no guarantee.
Notice I didn't say the route was unsafe for the leader? Only the belayer, those flakes are bigger than you remember. The bolts however are solid and nicely spaced.
I'm still not sold, too grungy and the top bulge may be missing a key hold (large scared area on the right where perhaps you would side pull?) You might be the only one that could tell that.
Oh yeah, on a side note. When I last did it, the upper section was swarming with wasps which made my "shopping" for good holds even more exciting.
~Susan
By Andrew Wright From: Surprise, Arizona Sep 22, 2009
I hopped on this route a couple days ago and got spanked! The first roof was fun but couldn't get myself up the second. I found a sequence that would most likely go, thin crimps and a side pull, but I think its way harder than 11b. Does anybody know if indeed a hold did brake off?