Gaucho 

I'm only 5'8, and I definitely found clipping the anchors tough! Fortunately you can hang out on a small ledge and thrutch while trying to clip them like I did....

Pumpy route for sure!

stellar

Great! 2nd Andy's Comments on the clipping the anchors, and I'm just over 5'9".

This route really seems to play to my weaknesses. It's all there - big moves to nice pockets on a bulgy face. I really don't think this is much easier than Zorro; but then again, I didn't attempt to lead Zorro.

Great stuff. I thought it was a lot like Zorro but with slightly bigger holds. I agree regarding the anchors, they should've been placed about a foot lower.

I'm only 5'4" and didn't have a prayer at hitting the chains from those small pockets. I desperately held onto some small crimp and said a quick prayer before clipping the chains. Super fun and pumpy though!

FA Steve Scott 1991

I'll second Matt's comment. I lead Zorro after this (onsight) and I was definitely more pumped on Gaucho! I tried to climb around (onto Zorro) to clip the chains, but alas, there are no holds up there! At 5'6", it was sure a crank to clip those chains that were swinging in the breeze.

On 10/4/10, I replaced the anchor on Gaucho with Fixx rings and pulled the old chains. If you saw how bad those bolts and chains were, you would have never clipped them. Wow. I also dropped the anchor level about two feet so that us mere mortals can clip the anchor without it being the crux of the climb.

Hi Bob,
Thanks for putting in the time, money, and effort (...or hopefully BARF paid for the hardware).

Exactly how bad were the chains? I don't remember the setup at the top...it didn't happen to be one of those deals where the chains were simply bolted to the cliff? (i.e. no hanger, just a bolt with a couple of washers to hold the chain on)

Thanks Bob!

The old set-up was the chains directly on the bolts, held on with washers, no hangers. The chains were worn down at the rope end of things, not terribly bad, but about 1/4 of the way through. The worst were the bolts, Rawl 3 piece. The sleeves were sticking out of the hole about 1/4" and it didn't take any effort at all to break the threads loose with my vise grips. Usually it's an effort. The shafts had some corrosion as well and the washers holding the chains were bent outwards. A lot of use on those babies over the years, especially since it's a free hang to the ground off the anchor, putting a lot of direct force on the system. They gave both Vogel and I the heebie-geebies last week when we did Gaucho so it was time. Thanks to BARF!
It should be noted that in the early 90s, we didn't have all these nice anchor systems to choose from. So there was a lot of experimentation going on, and chains were thought to be pretty okay. Rawl 3 piece have about a 10 year life span, so having lasted 20 years up there without failing under load testifys to a quality placement job by the first ascentionist.

Last weekend was my first time climbing Gaucho. I noticed about 3/4 of the way to the anchor a (somewhat) large rock that could potentially come loose. It concerned me because it is big enough to hurt someone and weighted to move through the section. To avoid pulling on it you can use a well connected pocket on the left side, but then it is easy to step on the block 2 moves later. Looks like many people have judging by the rubber marks on it. Is this how the block has always looked? I realize rock climbing is hazardous and always has the potential for rock fall, but I am wondering if this block was noticed by anyone else? I will try to avoid weighting it if I do this route again!
Otherwise, the most beautiful route!

Insanely awesome route! Must do!

definitely agree it helps to have alittle extra arm reach, found it strenuous to clip a couple of the bolts not being able to reach the solid pockets up above, but overall great climbing