Chris has gear at his feet. This was the first go...
Description
From the bolted belay on Dappled Mare go directly up the crack above and follow it clear to the top.
Over the years I'd backed off of this one several times as it's a long way from the belay to the first placement, (Avoid using the first obvious hole. You'll need it for a hold!) and the rock had the ball bearing qualities that makes face climbing at Josh so exciting at times. It has seen enough traffic that it as cleaned up nicely. A bolder, (but not insane) alternative to Dappled Mare.
Protection
Standard Josh trad rack, (Set each of, Camalots, TCU's and Stoppers)
I seem to remember placing a small piece (alien?) just after the crux move off the belay and before the obvious hole, and there didn't seem to be too bad a runout. By Josh standards, the 5.8 rating in the book seemed perfectly reasonable (I had actually expected the route to be harder). Lots of comfortable stances and excellent stopper placements along the way where you need them. The shape of the crack tends to be a bit tricky for placing good cams there that won't walk (it flares and then constricts toward the front). For this reason, I think I only used stoppers after that first alien.
60m rope recommended, not many feet left (55m was said to barely make it). This is a good alternative to the Dappled Mare finish when the wall is crowded.
Where is the R ? standard josh stuff. Great route.
By Brian in SLC From: Salt Lake City, UT Nov 28, 2006
Agreed that its not "R" rated. From the bolt, at about a 45 degree angle up and left into the flared crack, we managed a 00 TCU placement and above that, from behind the first chunk of rock that sticks out of the flared crack, there's a good cam placement (.5 camalot for us). So, very much less than a body length to the first good pro. Besides the first move off the bolt, the route is easier than 5.8+. Great route!
Definitely not an R rating, especially for J-Tree. You can get a good stance and place an alien in that first "hole", there are plenty of options for your hands. Great finish, very exciting.
After climbing The Swift (5.7), I headed to Dappled Mare (5.8). Since the last pitch of Dappled Mare connects with the last pitch of The Swift (which we just finished climbing) I chose to climb Roan Way (5.8) as it looked very interesting from the bolt belay on Dappled Mare. If I had known it was "R" there is no way I would have climbed it. However, I thought that the runnout on the first move (which was a solid 5.8-5.9 move for a 5'7'' guy) was not bad (about 15 feet) which is standard for many routes at J-Tree. It is possible to place a piece in the "hole" after the first move from the belay, but I decided to keep climbing to the next stance. I highly recommend this route if you don't mind a bit of runout.
Lost Horse Wall
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