Ruper 

A pitch-by-pitch account. What the hell, I'm bored. Read or skip.

To get to the base: Hike up to the Lower Ramp, which is the long, low-angled ramp that rises just beyond the long, low rising roof. This area is a bit uphill from Cest la Vie: follow the streamside trail, then cut uphill on another trail shortly after passing the huge concrete slab below the Whales Tail. Or go round the corner to the west and uphill from Cest la Vie. Scramble (or belay) up the ramp to trees and blocks at its top, and then go right to a level spot below a clean, short corner with a good crack in the back.

Alternate approach: Hike the Streamside trail around to the West Face of Redgarden and follow the climbers access trail up some switchbacks. Stop just before a clean arete (Superarete), with the route Superslab and Vertigo towering overhead and slightly uphill. Directly above, and right of Superarete is a broken area with trees on top. Scramble into a scoop and head sharply up right to gain the top of the Lower Ramp, then head left to the start.

P1 - Climb the short corner, nice 5.8, and head up and right to an alcove below a large overhanging corner. Avoid the 5.8 if desired by climbing over an overlap to the right at about 5.6 or so. The large corner is the Rover variation; belay here if doing it. If doing the Ruper crack, continue up right to a platform and belay there or further right on a sloping ledge directly beneath the wide crack.

P2 - Rover: climb the fantastic corner and head right at its top to a 2-bolt belay. Ruper: climb the wide 5.8 crack and when it ends, head left (also 5.8) on flakes to the same belay.

P3 - Traverse right along a loose ledge, climb up right through short, clean corners, into another shallow corner. Go straight up to a tree and the Upper Ramp, passing a VERY loose flake (which appears solid) just before the belay. Great exposure and thought-provoking climbing. Traverse across the upper ramp to the west end of a large cave (4th/5th class).

Hike down past the cave to the first continuous corner system (left-facing). Climb that for two more excllent, vertical 5.7-5.8 pitches (or one 200 footer) to a large roof above a rotten band. Though there is a fixed pin belay right at the roof, I recommend belaying 10-15 ft. lower on much higher quality rock.

The last pitch traverses around the roof by going up left through the rotten band (with rotten pro) at 5.8, then up easier, though somewhat runout rock to a tree at the top.

For the best descent (a new one), see my comments appended to the Yellow Spur route. You can also go down and do the Naked Edge raps after the first rappel that I describe.

Has anybody heard the story of the knuckle-head that got his knee stuck in the 2nd pitch and hung for 7hrs? If so then please email me with your version. Thanks in advance!

You can also do a nicer first pitch by taking the clean right facing dihedral with thin crack about 15 feet left of the original start. This is the Art's Spar start and is 5.8..... Did this yesterday as well as the Rover variation 2nd pitch...AWESOME overhanging crack in a large left facing and angling dihedral...., SOLID 5.9 with no rests.

Quick note of caution - as of Memorial Day 2001, one of the two ancient pins just below the roof at the top of pitch five is no more. I think the right one is sheared off now. Definitely look for that area of good rock 10-15 below the roof that Charles mentioned. If you have a 60m rope and manage it well pulling around the roof, it's possible to combine P5 and P6 and make it to the top (possible, but not recommended - we had about 2 feet of rope left).

Ruper is also my favorite 5.8 in the park. If one has all day, i would suggest avoiding the slab approach up from the roof routes by going around the corner and doing two 5.8 pitches of The Slippery Spoon (5.8) to the top of the ramp, and starting the route with the art's spar 5.8 start. This makes for eight great pitches of varied 5.8 climbing: clean dihedral, squeeze chimney, finger crack, offwidth, overhangs, face climbing, and exposure! This is the only 8 pitch route i've found in the park, and every pitch is 5.8!

A couple notes on 'Upper Ruper' (P4-P6):

On P4, bring along that 4" cam you used on P2 - there is a placement for it & as long as you're humping it along you might as well place it again. I also thought this pitch was pretty damn pumpy.

As you traverse under the roof on P6, there are 3 pins (that I saw). The first seemed pretty good, the second wiggles, the third (a couple feet above the 2nd) is firm but thin. That rock really sucks, I just clipped the pins & cruised.

Alex,

Glad you enjoyed this route. It is indeed some great climbing. The Rover dihedral is lots of fun. Of course, you didn't really climb Ruper. I mean, you can't say you climbed Ruper without doing the Ruper Crack! The traverse is cool, airy, and intimidating, but the meat of the route is the Ruper Crack. Indeed one large piece is nice to have for that crack. It all depends on how bold you are. It is indeed nice to climb with a small rack. The size of the crack seems to be in indirect proportion to the size of your...uh...risk tolerance.

Right after the Ruper "traverse", when you start going up again there is a decent sized flake that you can get a perfect fistjam in. DON'T USE IT !!! I put my fist in it and the whole thing moved out, that was freaky!!!!!

Led P1-3 of this yesterday for the 1st time. If you like sustained .8 crack climbing with exposure, its hard to beat. Suggest bringing two #4 cams for P2 if you have them. Thought P3 upper section to be sandbagged at 5. Great route and challenging for the grade.

I finally got around to climbing the first three pitches of this route. What an awesome climb it is indeed.

After the climb I came back home and thumbed through Pat Ament's "High Over Boulder" to see what he had to say about the climb.

To my surprise on page 11, there is a picture of Kor (FA) just after completing the traverse. Upon closer inspection I noticed he has NO gear in place through the whole traverse! His first visible piece is on the 5.5 crack that marks the end of it.

Now, those who have done this traverse know how extremely exposed it can get out there...

Kor, what a stud...

WT

My beta for upper ruper:

Do a 150' pitch to an alcove about 20' below the roof. As I remember it, I made a move out and left then back up and right around a bulge to gain this ledge.

From here, go 164' to the tree at the top. Be judicious in your runners, especially at the start of the roof and any pieces after the rotten band (My rope was about dead vertical from last piece over the entire 5.6 section).

The roof, while loose, is not that scary protection-wise. I got a 00 friend in a great placement by the first pin. Just left of pins 2 and 3, there's a great yellow alien placement.

If I recall, I think pitch 4 is called 's' by Rossiter. I'd disagree with this; 20 feet up you can get a bomber #6 stopper in above you, and then it's four moves to a great stance where you can get a solid yellow Alien in a slot. I thought this section was the only possible 's' area, and even then it seemed very safe.

Upper Ruper is incredible! It's very steep, yet a very forgiving weakness in the wall. Do it.

Hey Warren. Read on and see what Ament says about Layton and his 40' whipper on crappy rope. He just brushed it off and finished Rogue's Arete (10a) at Overhang Rock. Yeah, we all might say that Kor was a VERY talented and dedicated climber for use to emulate (note the knee boots on page 11 of "High Over Boulder...").

Best 5.8 climb in the universe!! make sure you do all 5 pitches. If I had one route to do on the last afternoon before the world blows up, this is it!

A little gear beta for the wide crack on P2. At the base of the crack, the #4 fits beautifully. Looking up, I thought I might need it later so I back cleaned it after getting a slightly higher piece. I didn't place it again on the pitch. You could leave it at the bottom, but it might make for some bad rope drag. The OW opens up to a squueze chimney about half-way up. Right before opening up, there is a perfect 3.5 Camalot. With that in place you can lie-back the squeeze section (perhaps a litle spicey for the 5.8 leader) rather than grovel up it. Other than that, a standard rack works fine. I'm sure you could do it without the 3.5 or the 4, but it would take a little more creativity and run-out.

Don't miss the upper half of this route, it is superb! The beta for linking pitches 4 and 5 was much appreciated. Put together, it was a fantastic pitch of climbing. Definitely stop 20' short of the roof to belay. The rock at the roof sucks.

Is the East Face Descent the only alternative to descending the route when you have just 1 rope?

Tracy: No, you can rap down with one rope west of Vertigo, the "Vertigo Rap Route". It is best to have a 60m for this, from the top of Ruper follow an exposed ledge west up through a notch, then down to the first rap anchor. Look at the first comment under the Yellow Spur for more info or do a search on this site for "Vertigo Raps". This is the best way to get down from anywhere in this area, IMHO.

What I call "The Vertigo Raps" really starts with a rappel down the Upper Ramp route "Chockstone Chimney" (this route is in Rossiter's Guide but not yet on this web site). One 60m rope works perfectly for this rap. I have done it with a single 50m, but you have to be real careful to go off rappel before the rope ends and downclimb the final 15'. From here you scramble west from the very end of the Upper Ramp, down a short crack to a tree with slings (just west of the final pitch of Vertigo). Two single rope raps get you down from here.

I must comment about this route....I thought I was a solid 5.8 leader until this! I just struggled up P2 on follow...I found the feet to be quite polished and the lay back to require brute strength. Then I took a leader fall on P4. I was able to find protection all the way (including the runout section) and it is a good thing. I just popped off since it was so vertical and I was tired by the time I got there.

As everyone says, the route has a bit of everything and it is tiring. For those of you that have led the entire climb...kudos. I think it takes a lot of technique and experience. I would say, save this one until you are comfortably leading 5.9's or else just call me a feable weak female.

Having said all of the above...it was my BEST DAY of rock climbing ever. The last three pitches are pure joy.

At last, on this trip we found the vertigo rap line and it is the BEST way off. Three raps on a 60M and your on the ground near the Yellow Spur start.

Thanks to Charles Vernon's comment I set the belay for pitch one at the bottom of Ruper Crack. No rope drag and your belayer can watch you. I highly recommend it. Fun route!

There are many ways to descend from Upper and Lower Ruper. Here is a link my personal notes describing in detail the rappels down Chockstone Chimney, Song of the Dodo (Vertigo), Predator (Rosy Crucifixion), T2, Redguard, etc. _A HREF='http://www.dwebsoft.com/Will/Climbing/RappelRuper.html'_http://www.dwebsoft.com/Will/Climbing/RappelRuper.html_/A_

http://www.dwebsoft.com/Will/Climbing/RappelRuper.html

The picture of Tonya Riggs below serves as an excellent example of why you need to either use quite long runners or preferably double ropes on this route.Of course this applies to almost any Eldo route because of the angles of the natural features. I'm not surprised you got tired, Tonya, it looks like you were already experiencing significant rope drag half way through P4.

Personally I don't understand why so may people continue to use single ropes in Eldo when the routes and gear placements are so often not in a straight, vertical line. There is not a single pitch on Ruper that is not significantly easier to manage and safer to climb with doubles than with a single. (An exception might be P2 if you belay from the bottom of the crack). I'd rather climb most Eldo routes with two 10 mm ropes and have the extra weight than mess around with ridiculously long slings and/or the potential for zippering my placements. Doubles aren't just for pasty-white Brits with hangovers!

Honestly, felt more like 5.7--but, this was a lot of fun!!! The first pitch...? I guess we missed it. We just cruised up some ramp to this corner with extreme exposure and ended up at the Ruper Crack. The crack itself was fairly polished and my cams just kept walking back--but, definately earns the 'three-star' rating!

Agree with Edward's comments about double ropes, but make it 8.5mm instead of 10mm and you have the perfect set up for Eldo or any multi-pitch climb. And, by the way, Ruper is indeed the best 5.8 in Eldo, closely followed by Gambit in my book. Going up the Rover dihedral on P2 makes a better, albeit slightly more difficult route.

While belaying on Rosy C. today, watched a guy lead the first three pitches of Ruper into one very long pitch, using a 60 meter rope.

No worries about that very loose flake described in one of the comments above on the third pitch. My second rode it off the wall yesterday morning. I thumped it as I went by. It sounded real hollow. He gave it a good tug and both he and the flake came off the wall. The rock exploded on the lower ramp. I could see fragments ripping into the trees around it. This thing was a killer-around 150 lbs at least. Everybody was lucky on this one. It was pretty early; around 0800 so there weren't too many folks around yet.We were able to finish the route-whew! I hate it when that happens. When we came down two climbers were in the middle of the ramp...

I did this route for the first time on Sunday. The day started out really foggy but ended very sunny and hot. I got stuck behind a party on the first three pitches so I broke these up the same way they did in to the three that Rossiter suggests. I could really see doiong these three on one or two pitches. Definately two as I ran the first pitch to the base of the crack and slung a flake and belayed at the base. With this stance it would be easy to run the second all the way to the top of lower Ruper. As long as you use some long runners on the traverse. We did the Upper in two pitches thank to the beta on this site. Awesome climbing for two pitches. I stopped the belay abotu twenty feet under the roof. The pins under the roof are horrible, I could probably pull them out with my hands. There are a couple of loose blocks that groaned when I pulled on them. BEWARE: Some of this stuff is going to break off soon. It is probably best to not hang out at the base of the climb when someone is negotiating this roof. One you pull over th roof I got in a great .75 cam (green).

Next time I think I might link Rover to Alice in Bucketlands.

Must do for anyone climbing at Eldo.

I loved this route. No question it deserves three stars. Descending in the dark really sucked though.

An all-time classic and one of the best routes in Eldorado.

The easiest approach is via the trail to the West Face of Redgarden Wall. Take this just past the turnoff to the Kloof Alcove. There's a good flat spot to gear up. The tree below the start of Ruper is directly above you. Climb up to the shelf below Suparete, then scramble right and up following the path of least resistance. Cut back left across the slab to the start of the climb.

The best start is in the black-washed corner. It's hard right from the start; get good pro. Aliens and small TCUs work well. After the crux, step right and continue up the corner all the way to its top, then traverse straight right to the belay. Don't traverse right too low or you'll miss some good climbing. I like to belay right on the arete at a small pillar.

A #3.5 Camalot is fine for protecting the start of the second pitch; no need for the #4. About 6 feet above this is a good placement for a finger-sized cam; there was a fixed piece here on 10/29/03.

On the Ruper traverse, think "good hands and poor feet". Don't step up on the ledge at the start of the traverse or you'll be too high.

Use long runners on the fourth pitch (1st pitch of upper Ruper) to minimize rope drag.

I like to do upper Ruper in three pitches, and set the last belay right under the roof. The belay pin can be backed up with small to medium cams. This spot provides a good photo angle of the leader at the last-pitch crux.

After the crux on the last pitch, head straight up the corner to a roof instead of traversing left on the ramp for more fun climbing. The final headwall to the top is runout 5.5. You can also climb a little farther left and get pro in a small corner system.

The easiest descent is via the Chockstone Chimney and Vertigo rappels; see George Bell's and Will Clopton's comments for details. Bring a 60m rope for the Chockstone Chimney rap. Take the Vertigo ledge uphill until it intersects the West Face trail, then amble down to your packs.

What can you say about going up that hasn't been beaten to death?

But Derek turned me on to climbing down the lower Ruper to descend from climbs like Rosy Crucifixion at the Upper Meadow.

According to notes, my own Rosy up / Ruper down loop was 6 Sept 88.

Surprisingly, climbing down is easier on the lower Ruper than going up. The traverse is much more secure, and the crack submits to toe-heel pretty easily.

luv ya sicmic

Another good loop is to go up the Rover dihedral and down Ruper....

Downclimbing - yes, I've always thought that would be an interesting way to lead an entire climb - from the top to the bottom. The leader is now the second and the second is now the leader from a risk perspective. Probably a more interesting alternative to spice up easier climbs than speed climbing them. But, it would be tough on a busy day...

As of 3/9/04 each of the first three pitches has fixed gear (cams). On P1 its 2/3 up the crack, and been there for many years. The piece on P2 is newer and 15' up the crack near where a #4 placement might go. On P3, high in an upper corner, just before the Ruper traverse, is an orange TCU.

Also, on P6 the lower of the two pins is still there and still moves, doubt it would hold a fall. The upper pin is in better condition and can be backed up with a green Alien in a seam just to its left.

A good alternative for the second pitch is the Rover Dihedral(5.9). Fun, clean, not polished, good position, good gear placements, and a direct line.

We did upper Ruper in two pitches, we linked 4 and 5 into a 190ft pitch, really cool to be on lead that long. I used a ton of long runners, got to the roof and got to belay in the shade. My partner then got to climb the whole upper Ruper in one shot.

Got to lead the Ruper traverse on the way to the upper ramp today. Damn left leg started a sewing machine right after the traverse. Annoying as hell! In any case, there are about four fixed, manky cams just before the committing move, three in one place. You can see a chalked up, vertical handhold at about eye level. Reach out with your right hand and extend your right foot to the good foothold just beyond. You should be able to shift your weight onto the foot and be right at a shallow 1.5 inch crack about 7 inches long. I plugged a cam in this cruddy spot and made the mistake of going further right at that level. Don't. It's obvious that a crack now goes directly above you. Better gear placements await you up there, so move on up.

Did this with the Rover variation today. Solid .9+ if you do the Rover variation in 1 pitch. Did the whole route in 4 pitches with minimal rope drag. Highly recommend it, nice if you want a finger crack and not an offwidth.

Did upper and lower Ruper today, ultra fun climb!!!!!! The gear sucks through the upper roof, I found lots of pieces to slot, but the rock is so bad I doubt they would have held a fall. The last piton looked ok, my advice, just go for it. As the roof ends you can put in a 1 or 2 Camalot that's solid, you just have to hold on till then. FYI, there was plenty of rope left for the last pitch, so you don't have to set up your belay right under the upper roof. It's better to belay 20-30 feet below the upper roof. I only had 20-30 feet of runout at the top and the climbing is easy (5.5-5.6ish). We also did upper Ruper in two pitches with a 60m rope which I recommend. Don't miss this one!!!!

As good as it gets, this climb was fun and varied. Some face, some wide crack, some easy slab soloing and a good amount of air. My first climb in Eldo, this was a great start to the day.

I was surprised how much fixed gear was on the climb.

Fantastic route. This one has it all. One of my favorites in Eldo.

Climbed Lower and Upper Ruper yesterday. Fantastic route! Ran P4&5 together as everyone mentions and found that to be one of the best pitches of trad leading I have ever done. It makes for one long pitch with a little bit of everything (face, vertical crack, lieback). Great call!
Even better, I talked my partner (a strong sport leader) into attempting his first trad lead on P1. After cruising that, he felt so good that he volunteered for P3. After cruising the traverse, and after I linked 4/5, he offered to take P6. As expected, he cruised the roof and runout section to the top without a second thought. I was quite impressed. The exposure on P3 and P6 match just about anything you can get in the park and he sent both like a pro.

As a side note: we were unable to retrieve the standard #4 in the Ruper crack. I placed it about 10 feet up from the belay, and during the pitch it walked its way back into the crack, and closed itself up such that my second couldn't get it out. He worked on it for over 5 minutes, and even took a nut tool to it, but to no avail. With a growing line of parties at the bottom of P1, we decided that we must move on and call it a loss.
If anyone was able to extract the cam, and reads this, it would be much appreciated if you could return it.

Thanks in advance.

One of the pins on upper rupper in the rotten band is now gone. I think it was the middle pin. My second gently wiggled it out, and it now resides in my back seat. I hope that nobody has clipped this thing in the last ten years, as it wouldn't have held any weight and is actually S-shaped. Still better than some of the fixed pins I have seen in Eldo.

I would hesitate to suggest Upper Ruper to a leader at her limit. The traverse has little pro (apparently less now that a useless pin has been removed) and the rock, while not completely loose, doesn't really seem too solid and inspiring. If you're comfortable on runout 7 and 8 then you should definitely do the upper part of the route as the climbing and position are great.

A couple of comments on this route related to other input above; It seemed very contrived to set a belay at the bottom of the Ruper crack as it is semi-hanging unless you carry gear bigger than what is needed to really protect the climbing. The route itself has a lot of good and sustained climbing but there are some logistics that take away from the experience, such as the 3rd class approach (not bad but tedious), and the 3rd class traverse and down climb to the beginning of the standard 4th pitch. I lengthened the 4th pitch to almost 200 feet and ended in a semi hanging belay about 15 feet below the roof traverse and then easily finished the climb with probably 30 feet of rope left over with a 5th pitch. The beta on the rappels is excellent, just wander from the tree at the top of the climb, avoiding the exposed edge and then when you are above the gully at the top of the ramp you can scramble easily back down a east trending ramp and then find the bolts which leads down to the ledge behind Vertigo. Two more raps and you're down. Much better than the East Slabs descent.

Just did Ruper again. Was stunned at how nice it is.

P1&2: Needing to make a pass at the start (Ruper is busy), we zig-zagged right, left, right on easy ledges (skipped pro), then up Ruper Crack to the belay bolts with rope to spare. The Crack is great, and I think is the exact same difficulty as the Bastille Crack (which is rated 7). I used an OK #3 at the bottom (too lazy to carry a #4).
P3: Dang, that traverse is remarkable!
P4: This seemed like the crux today, wandering up continuously steep rock the first 50' looking for placements.
P5: More really nice continuously steep climbing with surprisingly large and juggy holds.
P6: We thought the "rotten band" was pretty good! Except for the Crack, which sews up with big cams, the team should be solid at the grade, and this traverse is no different. The belay at the start was in the shade while sitting down with good view.
We might try the upper section in 2 pitches next time, but the traditional 3 seemed fine.

We love going down the East Slabs!

The pigeons on P2 this year are numerous, brazen, and have phenomenal crapping powers. Climb quickly, quietly, and whatever you do, don't look them in the eye. They're itchin' for a fight...

Pins on the upper traverse... today there were three, and it looks like the second one (an angle) is pretty recent + solid. You can get a smallish cam near the third pin, but that seems to be the only decent placement, until you make it above the traverse. Ruper is the definition of classic.

Did this route again for about the 5th time. There is absolutely no reason the upper section should be done in 3 pitches. It goes like a gem in 2 pitches.

As a matter of fact, I am now convinced that you can do the lower in 2 pitches as well if you do your first belay at the base of the Ruper crack.

Great route, there are no 8s better than the upper section.

Aaaaaactually. . .You CAN do the lower in 1 pitch with a 60m rope if you don't over-do your pro. The upper definitely goes in 2 pitches or 1 long if you simul a bit.