To protect nesting and roosting sites of falcons, Redgarden Wall from the Naked Edge (pitch 3 – top) through Sidetrack is closed from February 1st – July 31st or until further notice. Occasionally, these closures are lifted earlier.
This includes the following routes: • The Naked Edge (last 3 pitches only) • The Diving Board • Centaur • Redguard (last three pitches) • Semi-Wild • Anthill Direct (last three pitches) • The Sidetrack
The entire route including the rarely done. The roof is a historic classic.
The first pitch is about two stars and is a good quick roof route. Begin this route up and left of Fire and Ice (the route just left of Guenese). Look for a bolt just left of a shallow, rounded, right-facing dihedral. This bolt is twenty feet off the ground and requires 5.8 climbing to get to it, hence the s rating. After the bolt, decipher a very funky, Eldoesque crux (crux for shorter people, easier for taller people) and climb up to a decent pin. Climb above the pin to an ok bolt and traverse straight right to a two bolt belay .10.
The second pitch (which I onsight soloed;) continues over the roof on .12+ climbing.
Did the left hand variation of this first pitch today known as wasabe. The roof on this is .12c (another onsight free solo for me;) however if you stop before the roof and traverse up and left to evangaline you have a nice .11b sporty route. This pitch is cool and sustained two star climbing. The second clip is a little peppery (spicy) as well as the first clip. This variation breaks left from the first bolt on psycho.
Esc. - I forgot to mention what you do with your left foot once it comes off the wall. After you hook your right heel into the v-slot, bring your left foot under and a little out from your right foot, onto a small edge using the outside part of the foot. This is actually crucial in stabilizing your body for the remainder of the moves. The Psycho roof is really like aerial bouldering. It takes vise-grip strength in your right hand and some pretty strong abs!
Escalar - Here is a bit of beta on the roof. It is definitely hard 5.12. With the bolts so nearby, it can feel like a scary boulder problem (V5 or V6?). If you have ever seen the video "On the Rocks" from way back in the eighties, you will see Jerry Moffat on the roof (although they don actually show him finishing it). His method is not the way to do it, in my opinion. Once established under the roof, you will be underclinging a flake with both hands. Adjust your feet up high and reach way up and right (above the most obvious set of holds) to a small pinch. Next, lift your right foot up (both feet come off the wall) to the obvious set of holds below your right hand, and hook your heel in a small v-slot. The crux is next and invloves getting your left hand next to your right foot and hooking your thumb around the slot where your right foot is. Your right foot will come off the hold and then extend like mad for the lip which is a huge jug. Toe hook on the lip, (if you get it good it is super solid), and then reach to the lip with your right hand. This hold is so big that you can just about fly off and still manage to pull over the roof. Now for the scary part. Traverse back left along the lip of the roof and into the dihedral, then up to the anchors. Ive only gone to the anchors once. I prefer to just jump off the lip and not deal with frightening moves above the roof. Besides, there is really no reasonable way to second (free) such a big overhang. It is no harder to lead everything from the ground, but it is nice to have your belayer up under the roof with you for moral support. With all the great boulderers out there, it is surprising that this classic roof isn't done more often.
The roof pitch of Psycho is an excellent boulder problem, way up in the air. Worked through the moves today, and pretty much agree with the above beta, just some little differences with the feet. Definitely right hand intensive. It sure feels nice to hit that final jug at the lip after all of the body tension moves to get there!!! This is really a fantastic line and it is interesting that more people don't do it, although with how loose the flakes up there are, more traffic will result in a much harder route very soon.
This weekend I studied a home movie of Mark Tarrant and Darius Azin working the roof shortly after Steve Wunsch's FFA in 1975. Their beta agrees almost to the letter with AC's description except that it would appear that you can stack well up in the undercling with the feet still pasted on the vertical wall before launching the right hand. Mark's red point may have been the second complete ascent (??) inasmuch as he finished the Psycho slab above as well. The sequence looks positively terrific.
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