Bloody Elbows  5.9

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Type:  Trad Consensus:  5.9 [details] FA:  Jimmy Dunn, Doug Snively, 1972 Submitted By:  Joel Hickok on May 20, 2002 You & This Route  |  Other Opinions (16) Your todo list: Your stars: Your rating: -none- [change] Your ticklist: [add new tick]

"Bloody Elbow" route with anchors shown

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Description 

This route is a great lead for the beginner leader who is not yet ready for many of the 5.10 desert climbs. When you look up at the River Road Dihedrals, the route is the most obvious splitter with rappel slings in the right side of a chimney about 85-90 ft up.

Begin with easy face moves on rock of poorer quality. I felt like it was more scenic to belay from the anchors... after tying off long you can even peek over the lip and watch the progress of the second.

Rappel: was able to make the soft sand off a single 60 meter rope, which indicates that the route description is incorrect in the Desert Rock II guide.

After doing this, try Bloody Knees for a longer more sustained and wider climb. If you do Bloody Knees, remember that it requires a larger rack and two ropes to rappel. (Hint: bring wide gear!)

Protection 

Smaller stoppers to protect off the ground. Set of friends, with a couple extra camalots in the .75 to 2 range. Used a 4 friend up high, and a 5 friend is optional.