Marga Powell at the crux. She has a good red Alie...
Description
A wonderful route, start about 10-15 feet right of Dementia, work up nebulous terrain to gain a right facing area with easy cracks. Work up into a thin crack that follows through a bulge. Stem and shimmy your way up and gain a nice, albeit short finger crack to the top. No bolts, set a nice anchor and watch the sun set over the canyon. One of my favorite routes in the Canyon and better than its neighbor Grins.
Protection
Standard rack, no real big gear necessary, up to a #2 Camalot and a few mid-size hexes. Smaller nuts/cams protect the business. A green Alien will protect the crux very well. No bolts at top. Bring something to sling a large boulder and a larger cam or two for the belay.
This is a fun route. Its a little easier than a 5.9, the only 5.9 sections is the small overhang 3/4 the way up. Even thought this sight says that its a trad route, you could easily top rope it with an anchor between a big rock and a tree.
I agree with the 3 stars for sure. The 5.9 section is very short indeed, also you dont need to build an anchor if you just run your rope back a little to a tree up and left and belay from here. You can scramble down and right to get to the anchors for 'grins' and rappell or downclimb. A very enjoyable route with a mix of everything. Enjoy..
A fun climb with good gear placements. As Travis said, the crux is about 3/4 of the way up. It's been awhile since I climbed this, but I think that I protected the crux with a stopper placement. I used an assortment of smaller cams and stoppers, maybe a hex or two near the top...Shane
You might like having RPs for this climb, because the part below the crux is a bit tricky as well. A really good climb, and a lot better than it looks from the ground.
Fun route, a good one to warm up on before hitting some of the other moderates. It didn't seem of very sustained nature. The crux was short, some interesting little bulges on the granite. Plenty of gear placements, seems like a good first 9 lead. Overall, Happy Hour is a great place to work on placing gear to your heart's delight while being able to challenge yourself.
I enjoyed this route. I found the stemming moves to be the highlight. I had some problems with the crux, but found you can actually protect the key move with a red alien. With that piece in place, I seemed to magically grow a pair and moved through with no problem. The crux offers a nice sequence of moves.Nightcap, along with Grins and Twofers makes for a great day.
By David Hodges From: Parker, Colorado Jun 10, 2006 rating: 5.9
Great Route! I protected the crux with a green Alien, I actually took a very clean fall through the crux and the Alien was bomber.
Happy Hour Crag
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