The stellar Monkey Traverse is perhaps the most chalked piece of rock at Flagstaff.This pumpy and technical traverse is highly recommended and worth the effort required to beg, borrow or steal the requisite beta. The traverse is most often done right to left, but the return trip earns extra credit.
The traditional version climbs at mid-height and logically breaks into 3 sections each separated by a no hands rest. The first section is juggy and overhanging. The second section climbs through a bizarre sequence on brilliant holds to a no hands knee bar rest. The last section requires tricky balance and tops out the far left hand side. Making the top out is a little dangerous and has claimed at least one broken wrist.
This problem is among the most climbed upon chunks of stone in Colorado, if not the world. Apparently, someone annointed The Monkey Traverse THE problem to meet at, mingle around and be seen cruising after work, because it is quite a scene on most pleasant afternoons. If you prefer to avoid the crowds when bouldering (imagine 2 or 3 people on the problem all afternoon), come up one morning and work out the nuiances in the shade. You will have it all to yourself and, provided you don't have a distaste for traverses, I suspect you will agree with the 3 star quality rating.
It is unclear who did it first, but I suspect Bob Culp played on it in the early late 1950s or early 1960s. Pat Ament certainly did the same when he started tooling around on Flagstaff around 1962. Originally referred to as The Long Traverse, it is unclear to me where the "Monkey" moniker came from. Maybe someone else can shed light on this???
A low version to The Monkey Traverse cruises a series of fairly obvious small edges 4 or 5 feet off the ground. There are a couple cruxes, but nothing too desperate. The real crux for the low version is the fact that there are no rest holds or stances until you pull up and over on the far left. Although I have not done this variation, the word on the street is that it is an endurance V10, probably having no moves harder than V7.
P.A. in H.O.B. '84 already refers to "Long Traverse (alias the Monkey Traverse)". It would be interesting to know where the "Monkey" came from. IMHO - Low Monkey is V8/V9 - harder for tall folks and for those that are turnout challenged. I do believe that the Low Monkey Traverse is a Skip Guerin FA.
AC: I hope you're kidding that the feces bandit struck again. Can anyone confirm this?
I called Burton Stoner, a ranger at OSMP, to see if he'd go look.
Yeah, if it's a mess I'll help clean it up again if OSMP doesn't do it first or not want me to; I'd rather see the culprit/s caught and arrested at this point.
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