Pitch 1: Start up the perfect varnished face passing 4 bolts and belaying from bolts at the base of the obvious chimney, 5.8.
Pitch 2: Climb up the chimney clipping 1 protection bolt and follow the crack to a bolted belay at a small ledge, 5.9+.
Pitch 3: Continue up the obvious crack above. Belay at bolts, below an obvious OW. 5.10a
Pitch 4: Climb the short offwidth making face moves at its top. Continue up the obvious crack system to a ledge on the right. Continue up the wide crack (on the left), until you can traverse left to a seam in a varnished face (about 10ft). You're aiming for a bush with a small stance behind it. Belay at this stance on gear. 5.10d.
Pitch 5: Continue up the crack until you can step right to a 2-bolt belay at a stance. 5.8.
This route is VERY good, and should become a classic!
Descent: From the anchor at the top of the fifth pitch, rappel back to the midway ledge of pitch 4. Traverse about 20ft right to another rap anchor. Next rap down into the chimney. You've now begun rapping the route "Unfinished Symphony", to an anchor on the right-hand wall. Continue rapping down to an anchor using 1 bolt and a thread. From this anchor rap to the ground ending right of where you started. Rap using 2 ropes.
Location
Follow the main trail into Ice box canyon until it drops into the drainage. Go about 100ft up the drainage until you can cut up right(south) on small trails thru the brush. When you come to a rock wall(pedestal) traverse up and around left until you can scramble across a ledge at the top of the pedestal. Start off the right side of this ledge. You cannot see the first bolt until you are about 10 ft up.
It may be possible to rap the route with 1x70M rope. The problem lies between raps 3 and 4. There is an anchor (on another route) out on the right face that MIGHT solve this problem...no promise's!
Also the ASCA replaced numerous bolts on this climb. All bolted anchors are good as are the protection bolts.
Just to clarify - Josh is talking about rapping down the shared Unfinished Symphony raps (not rapping the route on La Cierta Edad), and the anchor out to the right is the one on top of pitch 2 of Music to My Fears. Reaching this anchor would require a somewhat aggressive penji/tension traverse out of the main corner, and it's not clear if you'd then rap back into the corner or to the first pitch anchor of Music to My Fears.
The bolt replacement: 11 bolts on first 3 pitches replaced in March 2004 by Bryan Law, Chris VanLeuven, and Greg Barnes. The two top anchor bolts, plus 3 bolts along the shared raps down Unfinished Symphony, replaced in April 2007 by Josh Thompson & Greg Barnes. Several old bolts remain on those raps, some of which are really cool to look at (like the 3rd bolt at the second rap station - a 1/4" Star-Dryvin with a bent nail that was never driven correctly!).
I found having a # 5 Camalot for the wide cracks we're very useful. Pitch 4 the consensus was 5.10 b Maybe that's because we had a #5 cam. Just the same the best pitches we're #2, a fun chimney and #3, awesome positions while crack climbing and stemming. Great Exposure and a super safe route. I'll give it 3 stars. Thanks for replacing those bolts! The rappels went without a problem.
If you wanted gear in the wide section on the crux pitch a #5 camalot would be the only way to go. However I thought that section to be about 5.8 there is very good small gear before you pull the crux however. Interesting that you thought 5.10b, meo. I'm not one to overrate things and found the crux moves to be solid 5.10d.
Hmm I must be missing something for I thought the wide crack in pitch 4 was the crux moves. If you thought it was 5.8 then where do you believe the crux moves to be?
These dudes call it 5.10- and say: "The 3rd pitch was a strenuous, gently overhanging crack, varying in size from tight fingers to armbars. Felt like the true crux of the route. .... (in re: 4th pitch:) The stated technical crux was a short reachy fingercrack with one off-balance move; barely fiveten. As on Black Orpheus, this section is overrated in difficulty (the new Brock guide calls it .10d ! ), and pales in comparison with La Cierta Edad's other pitches."
Hmmm. Very interesting. The wide section only felt 5.8 to me because stacked it, instead of arm bars. I'm sure arm baring would feel harder. I think the crux moves are at the top of the short wide section. They are short, almost like a boulder problem, however they are not "barely 5.10". The only thing I wonder is if those guys were fairly tall? I had trouble reaching the good holds that end the difficulties. Which made me do several moves on small holds/thin feet. Of course there may be a different sequence or holds that I missed as well. I've spoken with others who thought the crux to be harder than 5.10d....guess folks will just have to climb it and see for themselves!
In regards to why Swain called the route "strawberry shubert"...that is an extentsion. A final pitch up bad rock, that looks quite contrived. Swain apparently mixed it all up.
I'll have to respectfully disagree george! When proper stacking technique is used wide crack climbing can be easier than previously thought. Of course, as with any crack's, body size plays a role. For me that section of climbing is perfect hand/fist stacks. Which is totally bomber for me...YMMV!
Thing is, Josh, most folks don't get around to learning the Wide until they're well into a climbing career - like leading 5.10 or so. So it's only with the skillset of a 5.11 climber, that you can turn stacks into what feels secure and 5.8 to you. A 5.8 climber won't be able to turn that same trick - they will have to pull what feels like 5.11 to climb the same section. So by definition, even if it feels like 5.8 (to an experienced climber), it can't be rated that way. I think that's what George meant.
See, if I were climbing that section ... I'd tell my belayer to make him/herself comfortable and settle in for a long wait ;)
I wanted to get on this route in late May, but it was too dang hot, and surprisingly sunny - the sun's in a very different aspect by June.
A leader who will publicly claim she leads, say, 5.8 but has been onsighting 5.9 in Josh and led a few pitches of 5.10, -might- come across this route on fivenineclimber.com and, based on their comments (see above links) decide that 5.10- might be within her range to try, or at least hang/flail her way up. Or to climb with a stronger partner. So she's pretty concerned with whether it's 10- as they claim, or 10d, or secure 5.8, and what the nature of the difficulties are. She's pretty familiar with exactly why "secure 5.8 stacking" is an oxymoron!
So that's how a "5.8 leader" might end up on the sharp end of that pitch, and it's people like me (ahem, her) you have to take into consideration, when you say it's secure 5.8 stacking.
The only thing I'd point out is that I didn't put that in the route description(and wouldn't!). It was purely part of the conversation concerning the grade/crux and it's location.
I'm still alittle confused by anyone calling that pitch 5.10-. We've( Julie) climbed together a bit, and I'd think you have a pretty good idea of my abilities and opinion's. Do you think I'm someone who would call a 5.10- pitch 5.10d?
Yeah, I'm confused all over by the various comments I read. Yours is pretty straightforward to interpret, so long as the reader knows what OW really means - it's secure for someone with good OW skills, grade notwithstanding (and knowing you personally, you're spot-on in terms of grades).
The comment on fivenineclimber (who I don't know) is the harder one - I suspect that he's taller, and his "5.10-" and "barely five ten" applies if you're his height. That's more subjective to read, and to interpret how to apply to my own body and climbing level.
At any rate - maybe I'll get a chance to see what I think it is someday!
Coming your way in mid-Aug .... stay tooned! Hope your wrists are doing well.
By Karsten From: Reno, NV Jul 2, 2007 rating: 5.10b/c
A great route that is also pretty much all in the shade. Definitely a must do climb. I would have to agree the 2nd and 3rd pitches are the best on the route too. Good rock, good protection, and fun moves make it classic.
The "crux" 4th pitch is like two moves of mid .10 and the rest is 5.8. I believe the earlier poster was talking about the offwidth (OW) section on this pitch being 5.8 (which I agree with). There are dished feet in the OW that allow you to squeeze up without having to use handstacks or the like. Above, the crux moves come as you pull out of the OW. As far as the crux moves, I would say that if you do the moves correctly (psssst . . . . heel hook,mantle) it felt more .10b/c to me. The pro before the crux is good and protects nicely with a #5 camalot but can also be protected with a medium sized nut at little higher up (I used both).
Overall I think you'll find the 2nd and 3rd pitches more sustained with almost as hard moves on the 3rd.
I might also add that you can continue up above the last bolted anchor up the chimney for another 50ft or so on 5.7ish climbing and rap from a cordage built station.
From this cordage anchor rap to the last bolted anchor first and then down and right to the anchor mentioned above.
This is just my two cents: the 10d pitch felt like 5.9 max; I just stepped over Meo's head and laybacked it. There was literally maybe 5 5.9 moves in a row right off the belay, well protected by a new C4 camalot (old 4.5) on slick, pretty chocolate varnish with adequate feet. Any 5.9 gym climber shouldn't have ANY trouble laybacking these moves. From there on I maybe placed two or three more pieces until reaching the belay ledge shared by Unfinished. The crux for me was the third pitch-Mikey lead it and it felt like solid 10b as I seconded. The 5.8 pitch at the top was super fun and Bob Conz told me that his x-rated face pitch at the top could have been protected by a crack to the left-he was just feeling his oats and having fun climbing the face that day. A sweet route regardless, my girl leads 5.8 on gear and I'd have no problem sending her up on any pitch but the "10a"-this is a good beginner 5.10 multipitch. More fun than Y2K by a mile!
It gets weirder!!! Now the 5.10d is 5.9....but the 5.10a is 5.10b!
Looks to me like this route is a classic example of WHO THE FUCK KNOWS What the rating is!!!
LOL....main thing anyone should take away from this is that the route is exceptional!! Go climb it and see how hard(or easy!) YOU think it is!
By rex parker From: mammoth lakes c.a Aug 26, 2007
ok to further the confusion.to climb this route you need to have your offwidth technique down cause personally the cruxes are offwidth,and i suck at them so the cruxes were difficult. the rest of the route was awsome.
i thought that the crux was solid 5.10 if you climbed it straight in. i watched my partner do it, and it looked much harder. there are definitely options- left, right, or center. take your pick. i got a no-hands kneebar and was able to finesse my way out of the corner at what felt like 5.10-ish, but, solid OW technique makes that exit easier, i think. i cannot see how that corner could possibly be 5.9, since the crack seams out.....
the pitch below was low .10s, maybe .9ish- the OW wasnt that bad, but definitely took some technique and patience to get through it without crying for mommy.
really good route- but, since no one has mentioned it, the loose rock on the 2nd pitch makes for a pretty heads up lead....keep that in mind!
Michelle and I did this route today and enjoyed it. I was not thrilled however with the poor rock quality on pitches 2 and 4. Fortunately the short crux section of pitch 4 had bomber rock and pro.
Pitches 1, 3, and 5 were my favorites. Great rock, great pro and fun climbing.
I'm 6'1" tall and can confirm that height helps a lot on this climb. Long legs make for easy stems reducing the difficulty especially on pitch 3. On pitch 4, I easily reached the good face holds coming out of the offwidth.
This is a good route. Just be sure you are familiar with climbing on fragile sandstone (pitches 2 & 4) being careful what you step and pull on.
By Karsten From: Reno, NV Dec 24, 2007 rating: 5.10b/c
I didn't find the rock to be that questionable.
I thought info seekers might like this website which has another route descritption and some great pics.
Well, for those who aren't strong gym or sport climbers, I'd rate this sucker at least 5.10d. No way is that crux anywhere near 5.9! Maybe it feels easy if you sport climb 5.11, but my only question was whether the crux was 5.11- or 10+, and 5.10- didn't even vaguely enter my mind. And I tried the heel hook mantle thing (couldn't press it through), liebacking, etc - ended up doing super dicey moves that I never would have tried on lead.
It's funny how the ratings are diverging - the skill sets are just so different with different groups of climbers. 5.11 gym equals 5.10 sport equals 5.7 slab equals 5.4 offwidth equals 4th class chimney...and outdoor 5.10+ trad equals 5.9 gym if you're weak and you never climb steep sport or gym routes!
My wife & I climed it this February. An amazing route - probably our favorite RR outing to date. Rap gully to the right had ice in it which kept coming off all day long -- felt almost alpine :) Given that we were able to get the thing cleanly, I'd sort of go with a 10- rating. Maybe you'll laugh, but I found Sour Mash significantly harder (not so good at face climbing). Posted a page for it on summitpost:
I won't quibble about the grade though I do think the 3rd pitch was slightly harder. As for rapping, the Handren guide suggests rapping Unfinished Symph or the route itself. We got our ropes hopelessly caught rapping the route (had to relead the "crux" with both ends of the same rope). Unfinished was much cleaner for pulling the ropes. Use the 1st anchor on Music to My Fears for your final rap.
By MJW From: Driggs, ID Apr 27, 2009 rating: 5.10a
Did this one the other day....pretty good.
Pitch 2 - 5.9+ Fun/tricky chimney. Be careful pulling out of it up higher. Loads of rotten rock and your belayer is right below all of it!
Pitch 3 - 5.10a. Cool stemming and jamming. Good pro. Classic
Pitch 4 - 5.10a. Plug your big cam in the wide crack above the belay. I had a #5 WC flex friend. Pull a(one) lieback move with pro at your waist and hike your feet up to a giant foothold. The rest of the pitch is a yawner and very easy. IMO pitch 3 should have ended above this move adding a nice sting at the end! One move wonder...No way it's 10d!
Pitch 5 - 5.8 crack. OK. Rap Unfinished Symp. Then go do Breakaway!!!!
By Andy Laakmann Site Landlord From: Jackson Hole, WY Oct 17, 2009 rating: 5.10b PG13
Fabulous and well protected route. My favorite route of our current trip. I didn't love the raps though.....
Approach - A fairly good trail takes off to the left about 100' up the wash once the main trail hits the wash. When you hit the pillar, wander left and up to the starting ledge.
P1 (5.8) - Mostly great rock up past four bolts and some gear. Bomber anchor bolts. 130'
P2 (5.9+) - Chimney up past one bolt and some gear... and then chimney out and up over the roof. Awesome climbing! The next 80-100' of climbing up the crack is on less-than-inspiring rock. Be careful. There is plenty of gear, but your placements are limited to the spots where the crack walls are solid. Bomber anchor bolts. 130' or so. I think this pitch is PG13 because of the rock... if not for the leader for the belayer.
P3 (5.10a/b) - AWESOME pitch. Up the steep crack and into awesome stemming when it gets wide. The difficulties stay with you until the end, though you do get a rest about 15' below the anchor. This pitch will take as much gear as you throw at it. If you ask me, this pitch is the crux of the route. Bomber bolts. Hanging stance. 90'
p4 (5.10?) - The #5 camalot goes in perfectly. I don't consider myself a sandbagger, but the crux felt 10-- to me. I pretty much just faced left, with a right hip scum, and worked up the crack... left foot on the offset left wall. I suppose I was laying it back, but with the hip scum it wasn't pumpy at all. At the top of the wide crack more gear is available, and then I just squared up to the crack and grabbed a nice edge up and right. My wife got the move as well, she thought around 10b/c or so. I'm 5'9, and she is 5'5. The rest of the pitch was easy climbing on so-so rock. We built a belay by the little shrub/tree. 150'
P5 (5.8) - Short, fun, varnished 5.8 corner. Lots of edges and heucos makes the climbing much easier then it looks. 80'. Two good bolts with a bunch of tat.
And now the rap....
The first rap sucked big time. My rope fell into the crack and got stuck in the crack right above the crux move on P4. So I rapped down and freed it. I debated just going down to the anchor bolts for the climb and rapping the route (all the anchors are rigged with rings), but was concerned about getting the rope stuck per the comment above. So I ascended the rope about 50' back to the big ledge for the Unfinished Symphony raps. After my wife came down, I had her belay me out left for the pull. The ropes came..... BARELY.
The next three raps down Unfinished Symphony went OK, but each anchor consisted of just one good bolt, another OK bolt, and tat.
I don't think the last pitch is worth the risk of the last rap. Next time, I'll just finish on the sloping ledge and the Unfinished Symphony anchor.
Gear: nuts, one or two sets of TCUs, double camalots from #0.5 to #4 camalot, and one #5 camalot. I was happy to have two #4s and the #5. With this rack you can pretty much sew up the route.
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