Happy Trails 5.6
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| Type: | Sport, 1 pitch |
| Consensus: | 5.7 [details] |
| FA: | Stewart Green 1979. |
| Submitted By: | Ben Mottinger on Sep 10, 2001 |
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Bolted route start is 6 feet left of tree on walk-...
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Description On the far right side of the dome, locate this nice beginner sport/mixed route that is protected by 6 bolts, but also has some gear placements. Low-angle, easy climbing, great friction. What more can you ask for?
Protection About 8 draws and some stoppers and small cams.
BETA PHOTO
| Ricky starting Happy Trails on Eleven Mile Dome.
| Ricky mid way up Happy Trails
| Ricky Howard at the anchors of Happy Trails, finis...
| Ethan Hill's second lead ever
| Happy Trails climbs the light colored rock up the ...
| BETA PHOTO: Picture showing spacing of Moby Grape (5.7), Happy...
| BETA PHOTO: Happy Trails follows the red line past 6 bolts to ...
| Brenda going over the crux "nose" of Happy Trails.
| Chris on the upper section of Happy Trails.
| Chris running the Australian down Happy Trails.
| Julie leading the arete on Happy Trails.
| Norm from Albuquerque charging.
| Laura leading Happy Trails.
| Laura finishing the crux.
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By Dave Chenault Dec 2, 2001
| Disclaimer: unless you are a honed South Platte slabmaster this will feel a bit harder than 5.6. You can bring gear, but the only places it goes are the really easy sections where you won't be thinking about it anyway. A good climb. |
By Lance Bischoff Sep 14, 2003
| The route has 4 bolts, not six. Runout section atop to anchors may make new lead climbers quesy, there are some flakes near steep section, though, for small stoppers before the runout. It is a 5.6, IMHO, and low angle enough to keep most feeling okay. Nice route for sport intro. I wonder, Dave, if you were on Jet Setter instead? |
By Stewart M. Green Apr 7, 2004
| I wanted to clarify the first ascent info on this route. I led the thing in 1979 with a handful of small nuts but did not climb up the final slab to today's anchors, but climbed up right to trad anchors and a block under the roof. The current line and the bolts were installed by Mark Van Horn in 1994, making this a well-protected sport lead rather than a sort of runout trad pitch. |
By Larry Shaw Jun 17, 2004 rating: 5.6
| I seem to remember 6 or 7 draws. Fun climb though. |
By Michael J Yarros From: Colorado Springs, CO Jul 9, 2005 rating: 5.6
Gear Alert
| Nice route. Good beginner lead. Bolts are spaced far apart though, so be prepared. The cold shuts at the anchor are rusting, but the bolts themselves looked fine. |
By Alan Whittern Jun 5, 2006 rating: 5.7 PG13
| There seems to be a discrepancy between the Green guidebook photo/route description for Happy Trails and the description and photos shown here. The Stewart Green book describes a route approx 30-40 feet right of Moby Grape. The photos here of Ricky and his climb are another 60-80 feet right of the Green book route. If the Green book route is Happy Trails, what is the route described here? I just did the Green route today, and it is not what I'm seeing pictures of here. The "Beta" photo matches Green but the "Description" photo is different. The Green Happy Trails has 7 or 8 bolts now with two fairly new bolts with three chain links on each. The "Nose" felt a little stiffer than 5.6 on lead. |
By Stewart M. Green Jun 6, 2006
| Yes, those photos of the kid are of the route farther right of Happy Trails. That's the first pitch of EZ Street, a 3-pitch route that John Myers, Ed Russell and I put up in 1979 without bolts. Now there are 3 bolts on pitch 1, which is 5.4. Second pitch pulls the overhang above at 5.6 and also now has bolts. Third pitch climbs the upper headwall to the summit. Happy Trails should have 6 bolts. Again, the three of us climbed the lower part of the route to the upper slab and then traversed up right to the flake belay for Jet Setter. Thanks to Mark Van Horn who bolted the whole line in 1994 and added the anchors under the roof. |
By Rich F. From: Colorado Springs, CO Oct 25, 2008 rating: 5.6
| Good route. 6 bolts to a 2-bolt anchor. Crux is going over the "nose" -- actually thought this route (crux) was tougher than Moby Grape. Long pitch of 100+ feet to anchors, but the bolts are placed well for protection. Recommend a 70m rope if top roping or rappeling. (Note: some of the photos here are of EZ Street, so I've added 2 photos showing relation of Moby Grape, Happy Trails, and EZ Street.) |
By Bill Olszewski From: Colorado Springs, CO May 12, 2010 rating: 5.7
| Fun, fun. A little run-out, which makes it even more fun! |
By Rob Davies UK From: Cheshire, UK Oct 16, 2010 rating: 5.8
| 5.6 ?? The steeper section is easy enough, but the slab above is quite thin. |
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