Body Tremors 

The three-star rating is starting to look pretty cheap...

"Pretty safe, overall, for a person solid at this grade"?

Doesn't this make the "R/X" and "s/vs" ratings superfluous? Steve or Matt S., the next time you put up one of the Eldo hair-fests, just add "this route is absolutely, positively safe provided that you don't fall."

OK, like I said, it's *** if climbed as a finish from a good climb from the lower ramp. I feel that the uniqueness and length of the pitch make for something to say that is a must do for Eldo climbers. I've climbed about 450 routes in Eldo to date and Body Tremors is one that I've now done several times because I like it so much.

As for the runout, it is rated S , but I think that you can fiddle in enough gear to make it safe if you take several set of big cams. Still we don't have an "s-" grade, so I made mitigating statements...

(Now 'downgraded' to PG-13 since that option became available.)

Sometime in the early 80s I found myself on this pitch with a crazy partner whose scorn for personal injury and death ranked somewhere close our current feelings for Bin Laden. As I recall, the climb is something akin to The Sea of Holes, and my partner, whose turn it was to lead, managed to fish in only two good stoppers before the route turned blocky at the top, at about 90 ft. Try scoping the gear before leaving the Upper Ramp. As TB indicates, you can wander around to find the gear - but be sure, you won't find it by picking out a nice obvious vector to the top.

I just have to weigh in here. I've done this line so many times, roped and unroped, I think it's pretty irresponsible to recommend it as pretty safe. Provided you do find the placements, most of the cracks have friable rock. In my opinion, a person should be a solid .10- leader to lead Body Tremors, unless they're particularly good at the head game.

Tony, I believe we've met, but you probably don't remember (Hudon slideshow). In any case it is beside the point since, as far as I can tell, no one is talking shit about the route. Specifically it seems that they're talking shit about how you decided to rate the seriousness of the climb.

Your description seems to imply that the gear is good so long as one is 'solid at the grade'. That is odd and illogical since, last time I checked, gear placements and their quality didn't depend on the climbing ability of the leader. The point Lang, et al. are trying to make with you, and it is a good one, is that the seriousness of a route depends on the consequences of a fall, or the likelihood that the leader will get hurt due to gear pulling or hitting an object. Any guidebook makes this clear. You completely obscure that by implying that the seriousness of the route is somehow diminished for better climbers, which is, to put it simply, total crap.

Don't bother checking how many routes, comments, photos or areas I've put up here as many were munched in one of the upgrades. And for the record, before you go picking on people for commenting disproportionately to their route contributions because "anyone can be a critic" remember that anyone with access to the internet can put up routes on this site. Quality is not, as you seem to suggest, a function of quantity.

Oops, that last one was me....

A postscript, of sorts.

Tony Bubb and I climbed Body Tremors on Saturday. I found this to be a unique pitch of fun climbing that forces a constant sampling of available holds, most of which are jugs. This would make a nice finish to any of a multitude of fine routes; our link-up of Lower Grand Giraffe to Body Tremors offered a varied line of the type of brutish climbing that I personally enjoy most. A two-point-seven-five star combination (but I'm a stubborn ass).

Significantly more interesting than my own experience on Body Tremors was watching Tony just completely festoon the thing with gear. We went up there with a truckload of cams (should have hauled the offwidth on GG) and he was nearly out of gear near the top of the pitch. Twenty-seven (yes, 27) pieces of reasonable, solid pro, and he did not appear to be excessively wandering in search of placements. No one in their right mind would place quite this much protection, but the gear is there - take big stuff and a lot of endurance and you can make this thing as safe as you wish. Some of it will be pumpy to place - I was getting a more-than-5.8 pump just cleaning gear (or maybe it was the twenty pounds of iron on my back) - but the placements did seem reasonable to me - no trickery or excessively crafty fishing, just cams in holes, one good thread, and a few decent nuts. And the rock quality was surprisingly good.

If you like steep jug hauling at a moderate grade, go do this route. If you like your steep jughauls to be well-protected, take all the medium to large cams you care to hump up there, and stitch the thing up. I would call it 5.9 or 9+ if you're going to hang out long enough to sew it.

Lastly, I recant my implied criticism of anyone's choice of quality ratings for this or any route. It's subjective, it's Eldo, and every inch of the place is a five star gift to us all as far as I'm concerned.

I led this climb yesterday and I must admit found it pretty scary. It seems to me the pitch is longer than 130', we had a 60m rope and I'm not sure how much was left, but the pitch seemed to go on and on (I went almost all the way to the base of Smoke and Mirrors). I managed to get at least 10 pieces in, but this still involved some runouts of 20' or more. Some of the features appear pretty fragile, there was one very thin arch I tied off (stupid), and I was concerned some of the thin-walled heucos would snap. Routefinding is also an issue on this climb. It is truely a sea of holes, but it's not clear where the easiest passage lies, particularly on the upper half. I actually went left at the top, when I noticed Rossiter has the end of the pitch going right. At the top of the route I was often concerened that I was off route and the jugs would end above me. The entire pitch is steep enough that without jugs it would become much harder.

The tricky thing about this climb is if you are confident and run it out when it gets steep, you'll be fine, but if you hesitate and start sewing it up (yes it is possible to sew up the steep part, where it is slightly overhanging), you start pumping out. Protection is available but it is tricky to locate the best spots, and sometimes this requires wandering off the easiest line. I would actually not recommend this climb to a 5.8 leader for these reasons. I feel the climb is much better compared to Alice in Bucketland than the upper part of Ruper.

The climb reminded me of an indoor route, but one 150' long with no holds marked and no bolts! It is a very nice route, but not to be taken lightly by 5.8 leaders. Better to have a 5.10 leader on this one! By the way, Smoke and Mirrors is a excellent finish after doing this pitch.

Led this yesterday and loved it. Got a lot of gear in but never really relaxed because I don't know if huecos hold cams as well as cracks. My best piece was a #4 Camalot at about a 45-degree angle, compressed well into a reasonably sound pocket. Seemed plenty good as long as the fall didn't torque the cam out sideways. The occasional cracks I saw were all under suspect flakes. (I too tied off that thin arch.) The pitch is high angle for about 100 feet, which kept me well focused if slightly gripped, even though the holds are positive and the sandstone nice and gritty, if a bit friable. Combine with Smoke and Mirrors for a definite three-star topper to whatever got you to the Upper Ramp. A 60m rope should get you all the way to the start, though I stopped a little short because I didn't know where to go. (When you reach a series of blocky ledges, contine 40 or 50 feet up and 15 feet or so to the left (west) until you can see the three bolts on the remaining headwall for Smoke and Mirrors above the highest ledge.)

Hard to give more than 1 star to what basically amounts as a free solo on licheny, semi-crumbly huecos.

in the 80's, this climb was on my hit list along with 'serpent', 'marie antionette', and 'jules verne' as the runout challenges to which i could aspire. they would require strength and control, and the exercised belief in being able to downclimb anything you climbed up to be safe. it's nice to see that these kind of routes still inspire.

this is a good route for its grade (consider 'breakfast in bed' in a more remote setting). it is steep, but has reasonable rests. it is unprotected (5.7) to the first piton, and groundfall opportunities exist higher up.these days, tri-cams make this a much safer prospect for the aspiring 'r' leader. on this pitch, as with many climbs it is more prudent to back off than to fall off.

Fun and unique route. No reason why a 5.8 leader shouldn't get on this one. Protects well enough, but if you're worried bring extra cams in the 1-4" range.

GRAND GIRAFFE - BODY TREMORS - SMOKE & MIRRORS = 3 STARS. Body tremors itself - 2 stars.5.8s in my opinion: Good pro with long runouts between placements.

The people suggesting that this is a "reasonable" route for the 5.8 leader are full of boston baked beans.

George Bell's comments are right on the money.

Boston Baked Beans? Can I have Mike & Ike's instead? Or sour-patch kids? I don't like BBB's, so I'd hate to eat enough to be full of them!

I agree that it is not a place to test one's limits, but it is protectable. I just posted an old picture of Matt Robertson slouching under the weight of the rack I placed and he cleaned last time this argument was had and tested. This is what he looked like when he finished cleaning the route. The only problem in placing so much gear was hauling the Herculean mass up there.

I had good gear in for every body length of climbing or so until the top. Up top I had placed everything I took that was bigger than my knuckles, just to prove the point. I put so much in that I ran out of gear... that was my only 'run out.'

No less, the PG-13 designation here is appropriate to convey the opinion that the gear placements might be less then obvious, pumpy to place, or require a considerable amount of judgement. A 5.8 leader with lots of gear experience on this route might feel safe if they wish to, by carrying the gear to pro it up. A 5.10 leader with little gear experience might get scared witless regardless of what is carried.

I will not deny that some people with plenty of both ability and experience are saying here that they ran it out- but maybe they didn't look hard or maybe they didn't take any larger cams. I won't argue about what they did or did not experience- I will simply say:
"Do not try to tell me that this can not be protected."

If you did not it has little to do with what CAN BE DONE, and only reflects that you failed to do so or did not try to.

I followed this today and I have to agree with Tony, there is plenty of gear to be had. I think I cleaned 14 or 15 pieces and I saw more placements as I climbed. I wish it had been my lead! The only PG-13 section was at the bottom below the piton. There are tons of holds and lots of rests on this route.