Ryan B. working though the face climbing on pitch ...
Description
This is the giant, left-facing corner that splits the center of the Ophir Wall. It can also be located by following the grassy slope below the wall to its highest point. The first pitch is barely 5th class and many parties do not rope up for it. Much cleaner and straightforward than P.O. Crack.
1) 100ft. 5.2? Start in corner, head up and right on easy ledges. End pitch 10 or 20 ft. below a blank looking left facing corner. No fixed anchors, a few different cracks are available.
2) 150ft. 5.9 Face climb out left from the blank corner into a small alcove, exit alcove up and right and continue up the corner. About 30 ft. above the alcove 2 options exist. One is to traverse right to easier ground with rope drag potential. The other is to stick with corner. This is a long pitch which ends on a spacious ledge about 40 ft. left of the giant, left-facing corner.
3) 110 ft. 5.7 Climb corner to ledge with belay out left.
4) 100 ft. 5.7 Continue up corner to ledge with belay out left.
5) 60 ft. 5.9 Continue up corner with a short offwidth/chimney section to the end of the corner.
Traverse left 30ft. to anchor and rap back through your last couple belay stances (you will be rapping over Black Primo, 5.9R). When you have reached the giant ledge which is the end of pitch 2, I would recommend continuing out right (climber's) and down another 40ft. to a bolted anchor that is not visible from above. This will take you to 2 double rope rappels via new chain anchors. If done this way, you will end up a couple hundred feet right of the start of the route.
Protection
Double set of cams, set of stoppers, some long runners, one optional big piece.
Great climb. This was the first route I did in the Telluride area. And it was typical of everything I found climbing in this area to be: diverse, challenging, packed with history and situated in a beautiful setting. And it was a rare day in that we ran into some other climbers (Paul Ross, a grizzled old hardman, climbing the route with his son). The final 5.9 offwidth is pretty stout. There is also a 5.9(R?) face climbing variation on the face to the left called Black Primo.
By Matt McMurray From: Castle Rock, CO Jun 24, 2008 rating: 5.9
My partner and I did this route in three LONG pitches from the base to the final anchor cable with a 70m rope. I built an anchor on the second pitch after climbing over the roof. There are a lot of bolted belays (and rap stations) so it's best to have a plan before starting.
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