Country Roads  5.11b R

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Type:  Trad, 2 pitches, 210 feet Consensus:  5.11b [details] FA:  FFA John Stannard and Pat Milligan 1971 Season:  east facing Submitted By:  bheller on Aug 9, 2010 You & This Route  |  Other Opinions (5) Your todo list: Your stars: Your rating: -none- [change] Your ticklist: [add new tick]

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Area closures MORE INFO >>> 2013 Peregrine Closure: Bloody Bush (5.7) to Overhanging Layback (5.7). This includes Arch, Ribs, Strictly, Shockley's and the Mac Wall. Best wishes to the nestlings. This information is a public crowdsourcing effort between the Access Fund, and Mountain Project. You should confirm closures, restrictions, and/or related dates. Keeping climbing areas open and conserving the climbing environment

Almost Heaven? 

That John Denver is full of shit, man!

Country Roads is an OK route that really amounts to 30 feet of forgettable climbing culminating in a decent 5-move boulder problem (v3): pulling over pitch one's obvious roof, about 40 feet up. Too bad it's not just a boulder problem:) After surmounting the roof, it's easy climbing up a right-facing corner for about a body length and then a short traverse left to a slung-tree anchor.

For those who continue with pitch 2 (not many appear to), continue more or less straight up from the belay tree until about 20 feet from the GT ledge, where you then trend diagonally right. Build an anchor. 5.4, 150 feet.

Word has it this route used to go at a more reasonable 5.10 until that fateful year of 1995, when a block or flake fell out of the roof, rendering the crux more crux-y.

Location 

About 30 feet right of V-3, at a vertical crack/seam that ends at a ledge 25 feet up.

Protection 

There is good protection up the initial easy vertical crack, but once you reach the ledge, protection seemed to be lacking until you get to the face off the ledge to the roof (I didn't look too hard; 5.7 R?). Once you reach the right-facing flakes/corner in the roof, a couple of fixed micro nuts are available (you shouldn't trust these), and then the crux proper is protected with a cheater sling/cord that hangs with an oval 'biner (you really shouldn't trust this!). The cord is fixed and tied off to a pin in the corner above. All you have to do is clip, trust that manky fixed cord/pin, and execute the boulder problem. Above the roof, protection is obvious, until the belay tree, and the climbing is much easier. Pitch 2 requires a standard Gunks rack.