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Closed areas, from March 3-July 31:
Twin Owls Bat Flake Batman Pinnacle Batman Rock Lightning Rock Checkerboard Rock Thunder Buttress The Parish
Leading the first pitch of Bat Crack.
Description
A fascinating climb on the right side of Batman Rock. The long approach suggests that one ought to do other routes as well. Hike around Checkerboard Rock, then scramble up to the Base of Batman Rock. Go east, through a chimney, and look for where the long roof band is broken by a prominent notch, forming a short, overhanging right-facing corner about 150 ft. up.
The route begins down and right of the notch, below a dead end crack that does not reach the ground (not to be confused with another crack to the right which harbors a tree). The first pitch is stimulating for the grade.
P1-climb up into the crack, climb it, and make a delicate ascending traverse left when it ends (5.8 with intermittent pro), to a belay directly under the notch. ~140 ft.
P2-turn the roof, exciting 5.9 with excellent protection, and continue more easily to the top of the Dome. ~140 ft.
By Kurt Johnson From: Estes Park, CO Dec 18, 2001 rating: 5.9 R
On the first pitch, after you leave the crack and start angling left, your protection options quickly dwindle. Although the guidebook calls the climbing here 5.6, the last move before stuffing your hand into the bomber horizontal roof crack is pure friction and felt a bit sketchy 35 feet above my last good piece (and 30 feet above my last piece). The roof above is pure fun, with perfect protection right where you want it. After this, however, the climbing is easy and uninteresting, typical of most Batman Rock topouts.
I followed a friend up the first pitch. He angled up to the right after the crack dies out. There was decent pro for a while, but he ended up having to due a 20-25 foot traverse to the left, right below the roof (5.6s). His last few pieces were RPs. I very gripping (sic) off route variation.
The approach is easier than described here if you follow the main trail to a wooden sign that points to Checkerboard and Batman Pinnacle to the left. Someone has carved Batman with an arrow pointing to the right. Take the trail to the right for a steep but more direct line to Batman Rock.
The first pitch is definitely a bit spicy and an exercise in route finding. I followed the line in Rossiter's topo fairly closely. The belay under the roof is uncomfortable as there is no decent ledge. The roof on the second pitch is great fun, well protected and quite different from the first pitch. Not that the first pitch isn't fun, it just requires a lot more thinking.
The first pitch is indeed spicy and a more serious lead than the second (crux) pitch. The crux roof protects very well and is stellar but is over too quickly.
With judicious use of long runners and a 60m line, one can, from the ground, climb thru the roof to belay at a relatively comfortable stance about 35 feet above the roof (small gear).
Good route. The runout section begins just left of a mini-roof that is above and to the right of the major crack at the beginning of the climb. The climbing is definitely easier and superb through this section, though, so don't skip this climb! There were only 2 places for pro after the roof (use double length runners @ the mini-roof to avoid drag!!). A blue & yellow Alien are recommended for the left-ascending traverse/runout placements. Also, mid-sized hexes (WC 4, 5 and 6) worked *very well* in the lower section. The pro is tricky throughout P1, but I didn't find it any harder than 7+. Also, I would recommend linking P1 and P2 w/ a 60m (bring several long runners for the roof) to speed things up so you can climb other routes here!
By Tony Bubb From: Boulder, CO Aug 20, 2006 rating: 5.9
The belay looked awkward and uncomfortable- there was no good stance, sooo....
With a 70M rope, this is a single pitch to the belay tree, provided you place slings to minimize drag (take a lot of 2' and a few 3' slings). The crux is "wow" but short. 2-star route with a ++ for the cool roof move, but really fell short of my expectations for the write-ups in the books; I expected a classic.
I climbed this with a buddy, a couple days after the closures, fun climb. My partner lead to the mini roof where pitch one goes left, and had to be lowered. I red pointed to mini roof, and went up and over (right) to a large block at a gap in the main roof. To start the "Riddler" second pitch. "The Riddler"(.8) pitch is as follows, Climb to the above mentioned main roof right, and belay under the large block. Pull small roof on chicken heads and follow cracks up and left, to a soft spot in the second roof. Pull on horns and stem up through to easy slab with bomber belay above. Fun variation.
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