Greg Barnes once told me that he named this climb "Blown Away" because of the high winds the FA team encountered on the arete of the final pitch, and also because that was their reaction to the fact that such a fine route could be found unclimbed in Tuolumne in 2002. I think the name is also fitting because of its proximity to Bombs Over Tokyo, but either way, Blown Away is absolutely classic.
P1: Climb the first pitch of West Crack. 5.9.
P2: Climb through the roof of West Crack's second pitch, then continue up the OW for a ways before departing the crack and moving left at a bolt to a bolted belay. 5.8.
P3: Climb a splendid rising traverse pitch across the beautiful face. This pitch passes ten bolts or so and generally aims for a ledge on the left margin of the wall. Be careful to follow the right line -- there is another route (Weenie Roast) that intersects this one and you don't want to stray onto it. Belay on this ledge with gear and a lone bolt. 5.9.
P4: Climb the incredible, exposed arete with gear and bolts up through the hanging dihedral. Belay at bolts over the roof.
By susan peplow From: what day is this? Sep 16, 2007 rating: 5.9
This route is such great fun it is actually just adding to often crowded DAFF dome.
When climbing the second pitch of West Crack, don't get caught up in the endless crack that is upon you or you could climb right past the anchor. Just as the 4" crack provides you with a secondary 2" crack in the back look left for a bolt protecting a 6' traverse over to the 2 bolt belay of Blown Away.
Pitch 4 provides excellent, fun and easy climbing using fantastic knobs. The description states there is a bolt in the dihedral, it is actually a fixed pin which is hanging out somewhat. Not knowing what evil may lurk up there I placed a large nut below the pin for additional protection. Above the pin you can place a 1.5" in the slot above. (no worries if you only have larger cams...they will fit there too just a bit higher). The dihedral is short and provides very positive moves. Extremely fun. To avoid rope drag & poor communication to belayer, use bolts just above (and left) vs. running it out to the summit.
Thank you Greg, Karin & Rachel. Nice addition to TM!!
On the dihedral pitch (#4?) there are bolts that continue on the arete. Not knowing much about the route, or that it leaves the arete and tackles the dihedral, I kept following the bolts. I quickly realized that there was no way I could be on 5.8 terrain and reversed the moves. Anyone know what this route/variation is?
Pitch Three can be made much safer to follow by using an alternate belay. Don't finish the pitch-three traverse. From near the last bolt, move up, past more bolts to a double-Fixe'-ring anchor. This is a mystery anchor never mentioned in the beta for Blown Away. Belaying your second from this higher location gives the follower a top-rope for the final traverse, across an uprotectable section, to the single bolt ledge. There are other traverse/follower issues on pitch three, but the only dangerous part was the final bit.
I tainted the totally-free ascent by lowering off, sort of a diagonal tyrolean-clean. Faster and less toe-torture, but a taint. However, clipping into the belayer's side of the rope with a draw also protects the leader accross the traverse, so they can downclimb unsullied. Once everyone is clipped into the single-bolt anchor, untie and pull. I was a little surprised by how not-good the bolt's back up gear was, so we didn't bother. Nice ledge though.
At first it seemed the alternate belay was part of Weenie Roast, but it doesn't fit. Nice new bolts, unusually good pro up to the rings(for a 5.11c, R), and the anchor location differs from WR in my 3rd edition copy of Reid & Falkenstein. Perhaps a bigger difference than can be caused by an inaccuracy of topo scale.
DAFF Dome
RSS Feed
