Checkerboard Wall 

A good route with two excellent pitches. There is a bit of questionable stone, but not much. The gear tends to be good and the route is much less runout than the guidebook would indicate.

We did the route in three pitches. With a little simul-climbing you can easily reach the beginning of the 5.9 finger crack/face. From there you can do a long pitch to the shallow dihedral up high. One last pitch to the ledge. I thought the crux was the short lieback at the beginning of the long pitch, right after making the tricky face moves Josh described. Make sure you stay in the gully when hiking out. It's easy to get sucked onto some easy rocks on the left, but they don't go where you want.

I agree with Ross-this route is exciting, but did not seem terribly runout, at least compared to what I was expecting from the guidebooks. I led both 5.10 pitches, and didn't find either of them to be nearly as scary as Journey Home P1 (probably 'cause there's no potential to deck). However, after talking with Josh Janes, I believe there are 2 different ways to step out of the corner on the crux pitch. I stepped out at the first possible place, instead of continuing with the obvious chalked-up corner for 15 more feet. For me, getting to the pin invovled thought-provoking 5.10 moves, but there was some gear to be had (small nut--perhaps a yellow alien would have been better). I know of a couple of people who indeed have taken violent falls in the 25'-longer range from where Josh describes stepping out!

The last pitch has much more gear than you'd expect above the final overlap. The climbing on these crux pitches is great.

I stepped out a the lower spot as well. After setting the belay, I looked down at it and got the impression that the higher option looks a bit eaisier. I did manage a good small alien and a decent RP below the fixed peg.

I think the runout rating in a lot of guidebooks was given before the bolt went in on the last pitch. This route seemed real safe to me.

I think the bent-double pin explains why the bolt was added... bet there's some good stories there.

We mistakenly climbed the upper of the two approach ramps, which was rotten, loose, and runout. Don't go this way.

This route is quite good but climbing it did not seem quite as cool as I thought it would after having looked at it from the Cruise Gully and routes on the west side of the gully.

P1 & 2: Don't see much advantage in linking these pitches -- there is a good fixed anchor at the end of P1 at a decent stance. Note: For those as clueless as we were, after the fixed anchor, go up, eventually joining a higher ramp which is parallel to the one you started on and which is not visible from the rope up point; alternatively, continue up the original ramp and do a sketchy 5.9ish connector pitch to rejoin the normal route.

P4: Traversing low, as per CV, seemed less hairy but the first move after the traverse, which is at least marginally top rope protected, seemed clearly the hardest on the climb.

P5: There is no need to "run it out ... for 25 feet" at the start as there are at least two good pieces before the pin. Don't wear yourself out looking for the "obvious weakness" in the roof; the weakness is juggy and maybe 5.8 -- you'll know it when you get there so keep traversing until you hit a spot where it appears relatively quite easy to go through the roof. The slab above the roof seemed to me to have OK gear and felt noticeably easier than the 5.9 on P3 although there is no obvious line and maybe I just got lucky and found an easy one. Hard to avoid rope drag on this pitch.

Several years ago, I did something different on the last pitch from what is described here. Instead of going left to finish on the upper slab, I continued up and right to a short seam. This seemed harder and scarier than the rest of the route. I wonder, does someone know what this is?

We climbed this route two weeks ago and froze on the first 4 pitches.
"Walker, I can't feel my hands or feet."
"Me either."
The rock on pitch 4 was worse then I expected. Or maybe it just seemed bad because it was cold?
But the sun came around for the runout pitch and all was good. Great route. Didn't seem to need the bolt. It's in a stupid spot anyways.

I feel like I have to balance out the comments here.

The 5.9 stretches on P3 and P5 ARE runout. They're not death falls, but you need to be competent climbing delicate 5.9 face/slab and placing marginal gear. P3 "crack" (after turning the corner) is more like a thin seam. I wouldn't lead it if leading 5.9 is your limit.

Otherwise a sweet climb for sure.

I agree w/ Kirill's comments above. NOT a good 1st Black Canyon 5.9 if you're new to the grade. That being said, I felt the "climbing w/ consequences" nature of these pitches added to their quality. HUGE props to Ed Webster for his vision & commitment on this spartan line. Apparently I lack both, because I clipped the s@#$ out of that bolt on the 5th pitch!

To get a few more pitches in, Maiden Voyage can be easily rapped from an anchor beneath an enormous boulder about 80 feet climber's left of the last pitch. Three double rope raps leaving slings on horns to be recovered on the way back up.

I think I went the lower way on the crux pitch and did not see any fixed pin after stepping out of the dihedral. You can place a decent small cam and a few rp's however. The bolt on the last pitch is kind of stupid because it is only a few feet above the fixed pin and there is not much benefit from clipping it.

I didn't see any fixed pin either at the crux, it's probably gone. I found that placing decent pro after switching dihederals was virtually non-existent. I think an offset green-yellow Alien or any other simmilar offset piece might help offer some decent pro.

Did the route 09/05: no pin on the crux and very difficult to place pro: kind of run out. I think Ed Webster is right, but I'm not bold and I liked to find the bolt. After the liebacking it is possible to put some pro: not a very runout route. Very good.