Tony trying the 12a direct variation. You can see ...
Description
This is an Alec Sharp route put-up in the 1980s just left of Temporary like Achilles, where the roof wall abuts the lower ramp. It was a super-impressive ground-up lead by Sharp, who spent multiple hours on the purple face punctuated by hollow overlaps, tossing off loose holds and puzzling through the various 5.11 cruxes.
The modern version (the Derek Hersey variation) goes straight up above the rotten break on small layaways and is the most common way to do the route.
Start just left of Temporary, underclinging the lower roof to grab some jugs over the lip (a decent TCU goes in here). Stretch high and right, then commit to the small, offset, left-facing corner.
Bucket haul through the break and head straight up the face. A nest of RP's behind flakes protects a crimpy move to gain the undercling flakes. Follow these to the anchors, four pins and a fixed wire about seven feet up and left of the double-bolts for Temporary.
You can easily toprope this by doing Temporary and cruising left along the break to the anchors.
Protection
Lots of RPs, a long sling for a horn, double TCU's from Metolius purple (#0) through 2" size (Metolius green), small wires.
By Tony Bubb From: Boulder, CO Sep 11, 2005 rating: 5.11d
A great route with a great [variance] in the nature of the moves. Make sure your shoes are on tight and you are ready to use all manner of footwork. Moving from the mantle above the first roof and into the first solid side-pulls will not be all that hard for the tall, though still the crux. However, it would have increasing difficulty with decreasing height, perhaps well beyond the assigned grade of 11d (Rossiter). The tipping point on the grade would [likely] occur at just under 6' tall. At 5'10" with long arms, I was barey able to connect the good holds, "good" being a relative term. Beyond that the gear is probably good [enough] to keep one off the ground for a while, and the route a matter of pumps and rests. Beyond the big flakes, the route seemed like it would have been a really tough lead (vs) as the seldom present gear seemed second rate to me and the holds were insecure and pumpy. I'm happy to have TR'd it.
Tony and I TR'd this the other day by traversing easily left from the Temporary Like Achilles (TLA) anchors to the Dangerous Acquaintances (DA) anchors. We initially did the upper part of DA via the original line by starting on TLA (with the risk of a big swing at the TLA crux). Tony then did the original DA start.
I'd like to clarify Matt and Tony's descriptions. Matt is describing the 12a direct variation that goes straight up in the middle. Tony and I TR'd the original line that goes further left along the strata to a right facing flake, up and then right, where it is joined by the direct variation.
The start Matt describes sounds to me like the variation just left of TLA and not the real DA start according to Rossiter. Rossiter describes the start Tony did that is further left: An undercling and bizarre moves (at least for Tony) and a difficult standup get you over a substantial ceiling. A long stretch for a fingertip undercling allows you to step up and reach the left facing corner. The Rossiter top calls this start 11d vs. The further right start that Matt describes has some gear and is shown as 10+ in the Rossiter topo but is apparently harder than that.
Redgarden - Roof Routes
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