Lower Capitalist Crag has a selection of moderate sport climbs, a couple of "trad" routes, and a few harder testpieces for the Clear Creek Canyon climber wanting a change of scenery and avoidance of traffic noise. The crag faces east, has a quick and flat approach, and also provides warm ups for the routes up the hill on Capitalist -- yielding about a dozen routes total for a nice afternoon workout.
Most of the routes start off of exposed ledge systems, therefore it is wise to be conscious of belay anchors (fixed slung chockstones, belay bolts, or trad anchors). All routes can be done safely with one 60 meter rope. Be careful of loose rock on the ledges if above other climbers.
Park on the west side of tunnel 2 in the MissionWall/Wall90s parking. Walk west to tunnel 3 and follow a trail upstream. At the base of the hill going up to Capitalist (where shotgun shells, glass, and beer cans usually reside), go downhill (usually marked by cairn)along a faint traversing trail to the ledges of the lower crag. Lunchmoney is the first climb you come to as you hop onto the ledge. The Contra ledge is the ramp above the top anchors of Mounty and Vitamin-N.
To approach Stroh's ledge, instead of going down hill to the main lower crag, follow a ramp (marked by "MAC JO" graffiti) up and left to find a big boulder at the base of the Stroh's route.
Approach as for Capitalist, but instead of going uphill to the crag, go down the broken hill to the southeast. Lunchmoney is located roughly hundred yards upstream from Capitalist Crag. The chains are obvious from this point. There is a belay bolt on the ledge at the start of the climb. Climb up the steep face, pull through weakness in the roof to easy ledge system. The last three clips on the upper wall is the crux on a beautiful smooth flak...[more]
I also climbed this "new" route last week. Darren led up the first half with trad gear a couple years ago, before Cheap Labor was complete. The finish has been TR'ed several times using the directional bolt I placed between CL and Lunchmoney. There are several loose/detached blocks and the climbing is just OK, but was never good enough for us to commit to bolting it. It is also really really close to the two existing climbs that are much better.
The anchors are unfortunately cold-shuts, where the other anchors at the crag are quality hangers. I would give the route 1/2 star since the only redeeming climbing is in the last 12 feet. Probably ~5.9ish. Hopefully it will clean up a bit.
Got around to checkin' out the new, squeezed-in route between Lunchmoney and Cheap Labor. It was somewhat interesting. Leo and Doug TR'd what is now this route several years ago; coined it "Spare Change" or something.
Works alright as a lead I guess. The last two clips are a bit committing for the grade, with ledge fall potential. A brief move of 5.9 (kind of height-dependent), but the rest was pretty moderate.
Lower Capitalist Crag
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