Leave the parking lot and hike over to Spalding (adjacent peak). I believe the hike was around 40 minutes and the trail is faint. After passing some steep chimneys/gullies start looking for a 2 bolt rap anchor at the edge of the wall (Black Wall). You need to leave draws on these bolts and retrieve them when you are done. Two 60m double rope raps are required. The first rap puts on a small ledge and the second puts you just to the left of the route.
To start the route, locate a flake system that leads to a thin crack/seam. Also, from the top of this flake system, the beautiful looking 4" crack Road Warriors appears to the right.
P1 (crux)- start up the flakey features, moving upward and slightly right, passing a fixed pin and leading into a crack. This crack narrows into a seam. I promise that somewhere before the crux, a bomber #2 Rock can be placed. Continue to a small ledge system which jogs up and to the left towards some fixed anchors. This pitch is given 11a, but may be a hair easier.
P2 (9) - step a to the right from the belay and work yourself onto what can best be described as a really large flake (crux of P2). At the top of this flake, move a few feet right to access a killer splitter system (8). Most of this is around the 3.5 Friend size. This pitch finishes in sort of a sheltered pod/alcove just above some blocky stuff and puts you at the base of a wide dihedral. Use a 4 Camalot and big stopper for a bomber belay.
P3 (8) - continue up the wide dihedral and move right at its roof. Move up and around right and into another good crack system (probably 3 - 3.5 Friends). This ends at a small ledge and roughly a steep right-facing dihedral with a roof not too far above. Carefully set an anchor as some of the rock is hollow sounding.
P4 (10/10+) - move upward to the roof in this steep section. The climbing is very unique on this pitch. It was a mixture of crack and face holds. Pass a fixed pin before the roof. At the roof, move left and around a corner to gain a small ledge with an old bolt to belay.
P5 (5.easy) - there are probably a few ways to gain the top (only about 30 or 40 vertical feet) from the end of P4. I moved left and did a bit of traversing. Move upward where it looks easy. This seemed to be the path of least resistance during a good rain. This put me near a large flat boulder about 25 ft. behind the top of the cliff where I set my belay.
Additional Comments: As we began the 2nd pitch, it started to rain and continued for the rest of the route. With the exception of the last pitch the route remained dry (or dry enough) to climb. It is steep and protected by the roof near the top. Be careful on the last pitch if it is wet - lots of traversing and not much gear. This route was awesome and no one was on it but our 2 groups of 2. At the top we saw a herd of mountain goats as a bonus.
Protection
Your rack should include anything from a #1 WC Rock/DMM Wallnut up to a #4 Camalot. [Definitely] bring 2-3 pieces of each in the 3 to 3.5 Friend sizes. There is some fixed protection on the route and at a couple of the belays, but you'll want to supplement these.
Hey, the best way to save time on this route is to link the 3rd and 4th pitches. It doesn't create anymore drag than the last move on the 4th pitch. Great route overall and great views. Reminded me of climbing in the valley.
Great climb in a truly unique setting. Half of the climb is Yosemite, while the top half is so Black Canyon (including some peg). There are several sets of anchors at the top of the wall. The best anchor to use is the 2nd one you come to at the top of the wall. Two 60m raps will get you down, but just barely... if your rope is the slightest bit shorter you'll have to improvise.From the midway rap station an interesting looking bolted climb goes up and right. Anyone know anything about it?
The pitch rating and locations of cruxes in the topo we used were somewhat different from above. Our topo had the pitches as 11-, 9+, 10-, 10+.Interestingly, the 2nd pitch is the most physical and sustained, especially for thin handed folks. On the third pitch we exited below the top of the dihedral to a very exposed move to a flake... perhaps the 5.8 way takes the dihedral to the top? Quick climb, but with the commiting approach it's probably grade III.
I think the P4 "roof pitch" is probably 10-, but will be very height-dependent. Moving left aroud the corner is a stretcher for good feet, but if you get them, it feels like 9-.
Good call on elimininating the third belay. Questionable rock in third belay.
By Rob Kepley From: Westminster,CO Jul 17, 2006 rating: 5.10d
Fantastic climb in a truly beautiful area. Nice views of the Chicago Lakes at every belay. When using the standard rap station (shiny new chains), make sure you trend to your right when going down the wall. You will pretty much be following a corner system to the next anchor. Don't rap straight down the "plumbline" from the first rap station. It will deposit you on very exposed ledges with a nasty downclimb! Trend right.
As for the climbing, it was great. Almost every pitch is a gem.
I have mixed feelings about this route. I was expecting this climb to be a gem, and there were some great sections. However, there were also a few places where you had to climb through some crappy rock. My partner ended up pulling several good-sized blocks off the wall. Fortunately we were the only party around. I guess what I'm saying is that I'd recommend this route for convenience sake (short approach) and the scenery, but I feel there are much better quality routes around at the same grade.
By the way, combining pitches 3 and 4 created a buttload of rope drag.
The fourth pitch isn't any harder than 9+. The pitch is a little awkward and exposed but i found it much easier than 10/10+. I did a lot of stemming nearing the roof.
I think 1st and second pitch can also be combined (w/ 70M rope) or 15 feet of simul-climbing w/ 60 m rope.
Awesome climb! goes 10d-- and at that-- no more than a move or two.
Two fixed wires welded into 1st pitch crux. They're really at the perfect height to clip-and-go. For a rack, singles in fingery sizes is adequate and doubles from #0.75 Camalot to #3 Camalot (#3.5 Friend was nice). One #4 Camalot. Single set wires.
Joe is right! The rock in the park is usually better and the forces behind entropy are hard at work on this place. 1984, Eric Winkleman and I were in a race for the summit, as a storm roared in, and not really on a cleaning mission.
This is just me bragging, but Eric and I actually made the first ascent of the Black Wall via this route. Later, Bill Forrest told me of an attempt on Parallel Universe that was stopped by blankness. Kirk Miller asked Layton Kor about it too.
By J. Thompson From: denver, co Aug 3, 2008 rating: 5.10d
Someone had added (new) belay bolts at the top off the 4th pitch. The old button head is still there...which is weird...why wouldn't you remove it? (which is easy) and reuse the hole? (which is also easy).
I don't know anymore about it. I'm not sure they were needed though.
You no longer need 2 ropes for the rap. Not sure how long it has been like this but we brought to ropes and rapped by extra set of chains on every rap. Sure if you want to rap faster you can but then you got to drag it out of there.
Great route. We linked 2nd and 3rd without a problem. You could also link 1 and 2 as well but it is more fun watching your 2nd through the crux. The 2nd pitch I thought was the hardest 8 crack I had ever done.
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