George Bell at the "crux tunnel" of the East Face ...
Description
This is an interesting route on the Left side of Der Zerkle. This part of Der Zerkle has been closed in the past for the bats that live in the cave that is climbed on the second pitch.
P1: The first pitch climbs to the ledge system that runs across the East face. This can be done a number of ways. Look for an interesting line and climb it.
P2: The second pitch gives this route some character. Climb into the cave and head for the light at the end of the tunnel. (5.6, 1 bolt) After exiting, follow fun rock to the notch.
P3: Either down climb the chimmey, or head for the summit.
This is a fun route! If one heads straight up after the crux hole, you will end up in a notch south of the summit. It is hard to reach the summit from this notch, but you can downclimb the chimney on the west side of the notch, and wander north on a huge ledge and climb west to the Mallory Cave Trail.
If you want to reach the summit, do not go up the gully after you emerge from the hole, but diagonal up and right until you reach a second gully. You can either climb this gully to a notch, and then ascend a ramp to the summit, or head straight up the east face of the summit tower between the gullies (recommended for a fun finish). With a 60m rope, it is possible to climb from the big ledge below the big overhang all the way to the summit (be careful your rope doesn't get stuck in a crack in the hole).
From the two bolts on the summit, you can rap 70' west to the same huge ledge mentioned in the first paragraph (or downclimb W Face route).
Roach's and Rossiter's guides both claim the rap off the top is 100' long. But there was quite a bit of 60m rope left on this rap, so I would guess the rap may be around 80'. There is now a second (good) bolt and rings, so this is a safe exit, but it is a difficult rap to start.
By Leo Paik Administrator From: Westminster, Colorado Mar 28, 2002
The rock in this intriguing hole/chimney is a bit loose/ fractured. That bolt is a wee bit dated. Place good gear.
I really enjoyed this one- the second pitch is the selling point, but if you avoid the gullies and head up the face on the third pitch it's quite nice as well.
Edited to add: I climbed this in late fall; this route is closed much of the year, as noted on the main page for Der Zerkle but not here. Don't ignore the closures.
The tunnel on pitch 2 is a lot of fun. We ran out a 60 meter for two pitches and were just 20 ft short of the summit. We did an easy downclimb from the notch just north of the summit the hardest part was getting into the notch. Good climb too short though.
The second pitch, which climbs through the hole is fun and interesting. One suggestion would be to set the belay anchor for the second pitch as close to the bottom of the chimney as possible. My belayer was across the gully from the chimney and this added a terrible amount of rope drag. I set up the second belay much sooner than I would have liked. We finished on the right (North) spire and then down climbed to the notch. From there we scrambled Northwest to the ground (5.0).
Der Zerkle
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