The guidebook calls this route "stupendous" and I wouldn't argue. The original route starts just to the right of pitch 1 of Practice Climb, climbs that slab, turns the arete and joins Unbroken Chain where the crack goes vertical. The second pitch climbs the spicy slab above Sidewall's first belay anchors to the hanging corner to the left of the second pitch of Sidewall. This second pitch is simply amazing, with stellar position, excellent movement and bomber protection (after the first runout)
Variation: Unbroken Prophet- this gets rid of the silly original start and allows one to link Unbroken Chain into False Prophet in one gobsmacking 130 foot pitch that might just be one of the best single stretches of climbing in Eldo. If you don't believe me, go give it a try. It has everything; lots of sustained 11+ climbing, sketchy gear, great gear, brilliant movement, great position and it just keeps going and going.
Location
Located in the Sidewall area. Either start the original way (not very good) to the right of Practice Climb or start with Unbroken Chain and link it in one amazing pitch. You need a 70m rope to do this and get all the way back down.
Protection
A little bit of everything; nuts, cams, sliders and anything else you want to bring.
Awesome route with some definite spice at the 10+ or 11- range getting up to the roof. The crux is getting established over this roof, and involves powerful reachy moves. The pump factor stays high after the crux with lots of burly lieback moves. Good send Adam, especially with the Unbroken Chain start! The photo of Bob Horan shows him coming in from 1st pitch of Practice Climb 101, which would probably entail a fair bit of rope drag as you turn the roof, and yet it might protect the runout zone better going this way. The tree at the top that people rap from is small, and if this route (or 2nd pitch of Sidewall) ever becomes popular, it might be worth installing rap bolts to spare the tree.
I have to second Steve on the idea of an anchor at the top of Sidewall and False Prophet. The tree is good enough, but someday it will go so why not take stress off of it and put in an anchor six inches below?
By Scott Bennett From: Superior, CO Mar 6, 2009 rating: 5.11d R
Stellar route! Definitely link with Unbroken Chain to make one long, hard pitch. I though the move to gain the crack in the roof was pretty hard (11ish) and definitely scary. A fall here would land you on the slab below and could hurt quite a bit. I did the Eldo upclimb-downclimb dance maybe 8-10 times before commiting to the move. Luckily the pro from then on is great, since it stays hard for a while. If you're climbing solid 11, the Sidewall area is one of the coolest hangouts in the canyon! -Scott
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