Sally at the layback/flake section of Honky Jam. F...
Description
This climb starts 10 feet left of Left Handed Jew. Begin by getting on top of a boulder at the base of the climb. Continue up through a beautiful 5.7 flake/crack. Move right into a large fist jam crack to finish the last 20 feet.
Protection
Bring cams ranging from #.75 Camalot to #3 Camalot. Toprope can be set up if you hike around to the right and find a large boulder at the top.
Fun, short route. It is a great route for those who are starting to lead trad. The straight forward crack has hidden jugs inside of the crack that make it a great starter. Excellent rock quality.
Excellent first 5.7 lead (it was mine): its short (unfortunately) and the gear is superb! Its nice to place a 2.5 Friend once on top of the boulder, but then beautiful stopper placements are everywhere. A 3.5 Friend is nice for your last piece in the large fist crack before the top!
Nice route, eats up gear, bulletproof So Platte granite. Be careful setting up a toprope, there's a rope eating flake in the wide crack at the top. Set a directional off to the side to keep both strands out of the crack. Good stuff, more stars if it were longer.
By Count Chockula From: Littleton, CO Jul 16, 2007 rating: 5.7
Well protected and sustained at the grade. Instead of climbing the offwidth section of crack straight up, I downclimbed and stepped across into the hand jam/lieback crack on LHJ to finish the pitch. I just couldn't get my hands deep enough for solid jams and I was pumped. Found this one section harder than any move on LHJ. Guess I need to work on my offwidth skills.
By Dave G From: Colorado Springs, CO May 11, 2008 rating: 5.7
I had a great time on Honky Jam and Left Hand today. Honky Jam was my first 5.7 lead climb and first primarily crack climb. The crack made for excellent cam placements so I felt pretty secure on lead. I was stuck for a while at the crux near the top, but finally trusted my hand jams and made it up a good fist jam. On top we set up a top rope (using 2 20-foot slings around some boulders) above Left Hand and then climbed that twice. Left Hand is a great crack climb. It may have been because I was leading, but I thought the crux on Honky Jam was a little harder than Left Hand's crux. The beauty of the area and today's perfect weather made this a fantastic day of climbing.
By Steve Knapp From: Highlands Ranch, CO Nov 2, 2008
Led this route, one of my few true crack climbing leads. It was enjoyable with a tricky crux. The crux is about 2/3 way up where you really have to rely on the hand jams because the crack won't take feet there. This climb is great because you can jam the crack for practice as well as find other holds outside of the crack.