John's Jugs 

Who is John Gault?

Tried this one today... Couldn't touch it, even on toprope. Owie! Brutally sharp overhanging tips at the crux.

First ascent John Gault (early 80's)- previously known as "Tenure Crack" and the site of much effort by other locals

Was it JG or Dick Cilly (Cilley?) who snagged the first ?

This route is stout... This thing took me so long to do just because of the pain... I could only get a few tries each day. So short and so painful! Hats off to the guys that did this thing on nuts!
I used, in this order...
.5 Camalot
Yellow Metolius
Purple C3
Yellow Metolius
#3 Camalot

John Gault lived in Flagstaff in the late seventies and early eighties with his two dogs. He had a very high ape index,large biceps,and was prematurely bald.

If the climb is rated as a 5.12 in the early eighties, figure it is a 5.13 today. During this period climbers in Flagstaff and probably throughout Arizona, thought all the hard climbing was in Yosemite and gave climbs lower ratings than they deserved.

I think Gault is a climbing guide in Colorado now.

I absolutely cannot picture John Gault as a climbing guide. Are you sure about that ?

Yeah, John as a guide, highly unlikely.
His was (is) a reclusive personality.

Last I knew, John was in Tucson but that was 10-15 years ago.
After he'd been in Albuquerque working with Bob and me.

John was a good partner (he and I bouldered a lot back and climbed a little in the mid 80s) and a good guy...but not what you'd call a "people person". PD...can you picture him drumming up business ? I'm laughing.

I climbed with John a few times when I lived in Flagstaff. I think I saw John Gault was a guide in a Google search or in Mountain Gazette.

I'm editing my comment. I just did a google search and found a few John Gault references, but none about a guide in Colorado. It was in Mountain Gazette or I am mistaken.

I noticed a comment from JBaker in Tucson. Mr. Baker might remember my son Nathaniel when he was a student at U of A about five years ago. He climbed at Lemmon and attended a few of your slide shows, if I have the right John Baker/Summit Hut

Ken, I think you are on a mistaken identity rampage, it's DAVE Baker that owns the Summit Hut (and bagged all the good lines 40 years ago).

Guilty! I just don't seem to be getting it right.

Yeah, JG drumming up business... gnaw. (or BM for that matter.)
Decent programmers, probably better boulderers.

Seems like I'd heard that John's folks had passed on and left the house to John. He was living there over on 6th.

John and I were in math grad skool together in early 80s.

If this is one of the best routes, I'm glad I haven't done any others. A miserable 6 ft of sharp jams. What fun. A wise old fat guy (with sausage fingers) once said there is too much good rock and life is too short to climb routes like this.

Kyle,

Sorry that you did not like this route as much as I did. You are right, it is sharp. If you ever decide to get back on it again ask Chris Tatum about how he taped for it. I think that it really helped him save his skin.

Before you swear off West Elden may I suggest a couple of other routes? Colin's new route "Bold is Love" is really good. "The Prow" and "Twilight Zone" would be 3 star routes anywhere.

Hope to meet you out climbing sometime.

Will

Kyle, why would you show up at an area and for your first climb jump on something clearly labelled as:
"So short and so painful!" (and by a local with a lot of stuff under his belt)
and then complain about it being short and painful ?

This is a locals testpiece, it's not one you'd put a visitor onto for a first climb unless they're on some sort of hardest route circuit trip.

Follow Will's suggestions and the area might grow on you. Bouldering is also pretty good, especially for being so close to town.

Add to that list Watermelon, Flameout, TT's Terror, Retirement Crack, Bold as Love (looks cool, don't think I've done it) a number of other testing stemming corners abound.

I am not trying to be a complete jerk, and some of that was meant for a friend, but I do hold to the opinion. As someone who has climbed a lot in Flag, including many poor routes (I have done all the routes on the upper tier of the Pit, for example), this one stood out as really not fun. The initial description cites it as one of the best of the area, I felt that was off target, by a long way. Sorry if I offended you in my word choice, I'm not the funniest person I know.