Great pitch but short and belay sucks....as does getting down unless you continue up harder lines above to the summit (5.9s). Would be 3 stars for the actual climbing but the approach onto the ledge 20 feet from the ground, the belay, and decent all suck, hence the 2 stars.....This route takes beautiful lieback/perfect hand crack, about 20 left of Star Wars, up steep face with a small bulge 30 feet up. The crack is only 40 feet long but fun and sustained the whole way. Great beginner lead but protect the bottom belay appropriately and be careful on loose ledges. Continue to summit with several possibilities or traverse east on rotten strata 20 feet from belay to 2 bolt anchor and rappel 80 feet to ground.
Protection
Hand sized hex for belay...the start of route is on a loose and somewhat steep ramp...the upper anchor is in a rotten strata with some decent cracks for medium cams.
By Frances Fierst Administrator From: Denver, CO May 31, 2003
This is a great climb, of high quality. An Eldo rarity at this grade. To add to the climb, start on the ground.There is a nice big flake just slightly downhill from the start of this climb.Climb the flake, sling the tree, and scamper to the ledge with the two dead trees (see the picture on page 136 of Rossiter's new guide). You will be uphill from the two trees he shows crossed at the bottom of his sketch.Climb one more short crack section, and this will deposit you near the base of Your Basic Lieback. This makes for a nice long pitch of 5.6 climbing. Use some long slings at the bottom to cut down on rope drag.
Continue to the top by climbing Dihedral at 5.7. Use the rap station at the top of Forbidden Planet.
I agree, fun pitch! As with most liebacks, it can be strenuous to place gear. Clever leaders, however, will not entirely lieback this crack. Look for footholds for stemming, and as it is hand sized you can also hand jam it. There are many ways to climb this short pitch.
Great little line! From the top of YBL, strike out right and give Forbidden Planet a go, or continue on up through the .7 or .9 exit moves above and set a top-rope for it. There are 2 eyebolt anchors at the top. It makes for a great outing.
By the way--what's the chimney/crack angling up and left from the lower ledge on YBL? 'Looks reasonable. (.9?) Finishing the pitch, I realized that (variation?) places you right below the rap anchors.
The belay isn't that bad. The 4th class scramble up to the ledge is short and the ledge is descent in size. This has been my favorite 5.6 lead in the park so far. Although short in legnth, it is sustained and worth doing. Too bad it wasn't a little longer.
Short, yes, but terrific alone or in combo-route. Glad to see others have enjoyed this one. Can anyone be more descriptive about the P2 variations. I also climbed 2 variations between this and Star Wars P1 and P2. Can anyone comment?
Fun! It's easy to make an anchor at the top of the crack with a couple of hand-size cams. The best way to descend is to bring all of your gear from the ledge (i.e. backpack, guidebook, etc.) and then make an easy (4th class / 5.0 ) 10 foot traverse to the left and rappel off of two bolts. I say bring all of your gear since the rappel will take you to the base of the peanuts wall - that way you don't have to hike back up to get your stuff from the ledge. Just be sure to belay for the short traverse - even though it's easy a fall would be bad. The rappel is 100 feet long so be sure you have a 60 M. rope.
By Scott Edlin From: boulder, co May 7, 2006 rating: 5.6
The low start from the ground has a lot of lichen and is slippery and scary right off the ground when wet. It would probably be more secure when dry. There is a fixed pink tricam in the short crack above the two-trees-ledge. This crack is fun, but on top is a 3' diameter 8" thick block VERY precariously perched and holding back a flood of scree. Getting out of the crack without knocking anything down was fairly horrifying. Then there is still a 10' or so traverse right (with even more loose rock) to get to the YBL start. As much as I imagine the scramble to the traditional start must suck, it's probably safer than climbing from the ground.
YBL itself is a blast - steep with good jams and rests. There aren't really any cheater face holds which makes it look harder than it is.
If you are continuing up "Dihedral" (5.7 - recommended), continue up past the ledge on the left side of the loose red blocks (up a splitter low angle crack on the right side of a slab), then step right and up to the base of the "Dihedral" corner. A solid gear anchor can be built here at a good ledge with good visibilty of the next pitch.
Damn fine for a 5.6! It could be my favorite at the grade in the canyon, ahead of Wind Ridge, Calypso, and Washington Irving. I think it's well worth doing if you're in the area. This route and Cornered make a great link-up.
Absolutely the best lieback for the grade I've found. This route (in my opinion) is the second best 6 at Eldo, right behind the final pitch of Icarus.
If you are comfy then keep a number 2 and a number 3 BD C4 and keep on going and combine with Dihedral above.
Well worth the hike and Star Wars is right next to it.
By Chris O'Connor From: Boulder, Co Jul 6, 2007 rating: 5.6
While the short crux section was nice, be aware of the loose talus on every ledge. WEAR A HELMET!!! I was up on YBL and the three climbs above it on the 4th, and it was a pleasant afternoon. Until we started packing up our stuff at the base to leave when we heard rock fall, I started to run but got hit by a baseball-size rock. The rock fall was natural from what we could see. There is a lot of loose rock in this area. When we pulled our rope a computer-sized rock came flying off the face. So be careful when walking under the face, and when on it. I got lucky, 9 staples in the back of my head, other people climbing on this wall have had worse luck.
Great climb but this should be done instead as a two-3 pitch climb from the ground up. Start on the ground below the route and scramble up 4th class terraign then climb a crack to gain the ledge 5.5 at most. Then climb the YBL crack. Finish with Dihedral.
If you do walk around on the ledge be very careful of rockfall. Everything here is loose and other routes are below you. On Tracer someone with a dog (don't bring dogs up here!) kicked off a bunch of loose rock that nearly clocked us. Dogs don't call out their rockfall.