BETA PHOTO: E.L. 100. Climb the tree, place a small nut or ca...
Description
Tired of climbing that silly "rock" stuff? Want to revisit the tree-house capers of your childhood? This is your route, once described by Jim Erickson as "an exercise in flagpole-sitting."
Climb any convenient route to the upper ramp (Vertigo would work great if you're a hardman/woman, but then, you probably wouldn't be shooting for this route), and then climb the upper ramp past Italian Arete to a point just below and to the right of Mellow Yellow. Find a good-sized, semi-stripped pine tree right next to a pillar/arete. This is your route.
Climb the tree proper to its very "summit", slinging a branch or two along the way. The top of the tree can be a bit unnerving when it's windy. Reach across to place a good RP, and then lean/jump to the rock and "good" holds (5.7d). Another 5 feet up and you can start hauling on jugs and huge, incut huecos up the steep face, moving slightly right to stay generally in the crack system going up the middle of the face. Go past a couple of bulging, slightly overhanging spots (on great incuts and/or hand jams) to a convenient belay. Good gear all the way.
Descent: work your way to to "climber's right" of the route and slightly down to the rap anchors on Chockstone Chimney (which will take you to the Upper Ramp with a single 60m). The most direct route traverses straight right and down, exposed 5.2 or so with some loose rock. Might want to rope up for the traverse.
Protection
Light standard rack weighted towards hand and thin-hands sizes, plus RPs and a couple of slings for branches.
By Tony Bubb From: Boulder, CO Oct 24, 2001 rating: 5.8+
2-stars for weirdness. Certianly unique. The bark on the tree is chossy- use the big holds and skip the edging at the start. (*grin*). Definitely a sandbag at 5.7. 5.8 or 8+ if you go sharply right after the left-hand sidepull.
Given the Tree-climbing nature of this climb, I suggest Rocky Racoon (5.9, tree+) as a logical way to reach the upper ramp. Rocky Racoon is between the first Pitch of Yellow Spur or Vertigo.
This is a great route, really fun climbing. The high step move on top of the tree is amazing. EL 100 stands for English Literature 100, a freshman intro. class. The people who did the first ascent were English professors at CU. Carpe Diem!
Ah ... thanks, Steve, for making me feel better. I wasn't trying to sandbag anyone - the book says 5.7 (not even a "+"), the route's been around for a while, and I figured I just missed the 5.7 moves somewhere along the way. OTOH, I thought I saw my partner that day wink when he said before I set off that the climb was "5.7d". This climb is definitely harder than other Eldo 5.7's I've done, and at least the way I went, it felt like at least 5.8+.
Redgarden - Tower One
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