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The Whale

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Aborigine 
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Aphrodite 
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Bound in Blood 
Captain, The 
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Esse Curve 
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First Mate 
Good Stuff, The 
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Undulating Dingo 
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Whale Rider 

The Whale

Submitted By: Anna Moore on Jul 15, 2006
Administrators: Ben Mottinger, Leo Paik, John McNamee, Frances Fierst, Monomaniac
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Description 

The Whale is the long, humped fin on the west side of Red Rock Canyon between upper lake and the north side of the Quarry.


Getting There 

Two trails access the wall. The first takes off from the west canyon trail and climbs to a notch with steps and a dirt bank and then up left and back right through scrub oak to the northern part of the face. The rail reaches the face just south of Aphrodite. The second ascends a bushy ramp system left (south) of Solar Slab to the right of Never Ever Slab, walk left along the top of the slab to reach the cliff-base trail. A path along the cliff base connects the two trails. Avoid bushwhacking and scrambling off the trails, so new social trails or not created. Also, watch for poison ivy. (all information from Red Rock Canyon Open Space book by Stewart M. Green)


The Classics

Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for The Whale:
Blow Tube Envy   5.7     Sport, 1 pitch, 105 feet   
The Good Stuff   5.7     Sport   
Esse Curve   5.7     Sport, 1 pitch   
Aborigine   5.7     Sport, 1 pitch, 50 feet   
Whale Rider   5.7     Sport, 1 pitch, 80 feet   
Honeymoon Down Under   5.7+ PG13     Sport, 1 pitch, 60 feet   
Virgin Bolters   5.9-     Sport, 1 pitch, 70 feet   
The Captain   5.9-     Sport, 1 pitch, 65 feet   
First Mate   5.9+     Sport, 1 pitch, 50 feet   
Mister MIA   5.9+     Sport, 1 pitch, 100 feet   
Aphrodite   5.10a     Sport, 1 pitch, 90 feet   
Among the Stars   5.10a     Sport, 1 pitch, 100 feet   
Browse More Classics in The Whale

Comments on The Whale Add Comment
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By Nathan Hoobler
May 21, 2009

While exploring the Whale last night, we climbed a route between The Thin Line and Esse Curve. Four bolts and felt 5.9+ ish. It doesn't seem to be in the RRCOS climbing book (at least not my first edition).

Is this a new route or am I directionally challenged? FWIW, the route was fun. A challenge for me, though probably easy for most.

By Stewart M. Green
May 26, 2009

Yep. It's sort of a new route. We put that one up back in January. Unnamed and unrated. Look around for the other new ones. We've been keeping them off the radar for now because there will still be a few more to go up...trying to get a little more adventure at ole Red Rock Canyon.

By Ryan Sanders
From: C Springs
May 26, 2009

And we appreciate it, Stewart.

Our favorite so far is what Tom is calling Outer Reach (to keep the nautical theme).

By Andrew Keet
Jun 17, 2009

Great Post! Very informative and a great read. I saw this site during my browsing and think it may be relevant http://www.whales.org.za .Keep up the great posts!

By Nathan Hoobler
Jul 7, 2009

I think we might have climbed Outer Reach tonight. It was a touch loose down low, but had some cool moves up a double overlap toward the top. Seven bolts, I believe. Always fun to discover a new route where there wasn't one before.