Requiem for a Tadpole is located about fifty feet to the right of Armatron on the north side of Brownstone Wall in Juniper Canyon. The first pitch starts at the last crack to the right of Armatron before a gully appears.
Description
This route on Brownstone Wall features a variety of features and runs the gamut of rock quality from sugary, rotten sections to unbelievably awesome, bullet-hard varnish.
Pitch 1: Climb up face holds to access a small crack. Belay where the crack widens and is surrounded by large huecos. Belay takes #.75-#2 Camalots. 120 feet, 5.6
Pitch 2: Continue up the crack into red rock. When bushes block the crack, climb around to the left or right on face holds. Climb another 20ft above a brush filled ledge to another clean ledge with a great stance. Belay takes finger size cams. 120 feet, 5.7
Pitch 3: Continue up the finger crack which quickly widens to hands, passing to the right of a large knob. Belay at another ledge with a black arête stretching above. There is now a bolted anchor here. 150 feet, 5.7
Pitch 4: Traverse horizontally left on thin cracks to access a large chimney. Move up the chimney protecting in good horizontal cracks. Above, traverse right onto the face just before bushes choke the chimney. Continue up a steepening slab. Move up on the left side of the arête and to the right side of the chimney protecting with small nuts. Belay at an obvious ledge above the arête. 165 feet, 5.9+
Variation Pitch 4: Climb straight up from the belay and climb the exposed arete on stellar brown varnish. Seven bolts with some gear to a bolted belay at Humerus Ledge. Exhilarating and classic. 150 feet, A little sandbagged at 5.8
Pitch 5: Walk left on 3rd class ledges to a short black wall with a small crack splitting the black face. Climb this crack to a large ledge. Climb one of many options up another black face above for 35ft to another large ledge. 125 feet, 5.10a
Variation Pitch 5: From Humerus Ledge, climb the right side of the final block past 2 bolts. 125 feet, 5.6
Descent
Apparently it is possible to rappel from here using two ropes on a adjacent route (Armatron?) To walk off, carefully climb down from the sub-summit and scramble up to the top of Brownstone Wall at Juniper Peak. This scrambling route is exposed but marked with cairns.
From Juniper Peak there is a nice descent route to the north that will bring you back to the base in about twenty minutes. Look for cairns that lead through a tunnel and then swing around to the north and follow the scenic and mellow path down to the base of Brownstone.
Protection
Standard rack to 3" with a few brass nuts. If you do the chimney on pitch 4, bring wide gear up to 6".
I was on the first ascent with Anthony Anagnostou in May of 2006. On our original ascent we placed no bolts and did pitch 4 traverse into the chimney. I agree with John in saying that pitch is harder than 5.8. The bolted arete is much more fun and definately the way to go unless you want to see a bat in that dark chimney.
Anthony and I had been going up to the Brownstone alot that summer. We had noticed tadpoles in the pools formed from seeps in the rock on this approach. Slowly as the days got hotter these pools got shallower and shallower. On the day we went up to do RFTP the tadpoles domain had gone, hence the name of the route. Probably one of the better route names I have ever come up with.
regarding the route beta "Apparently it is possible to rappel from here using two ropes on a adjacent route (Armatron?)"
i would definitely suggest topping out this, and any other route on the far right side of the brownstown wall (with the possible exception of routes on the sandcastle face). the summit is great, with a register and shade and good views.
the walkoff from the big tree at the summit is straightforward and quick, with only a single move of 4th class. it takes ten or fifteen minutes, unless you go exploring, and that makes it a heck of a lot faster than rapping.
besides, rapping from the humerus ledge would require linking together various routes and anchors, some of which are catchy raps.
the routes on the right side of the brownstone wall go into the (often welcome) shade in the early afternoon (i believe 2-3 pm) in the late spring.
Yes, having done the walk-off right twice now, I hereby nominate this descent as one of the best in all of Red Rock. I agree that it is quick, scenic and safe. Much better than rapping.
"Catchy rap"--I agree! We almost lost part of our rope to one of the chockstones wedged in the black wide crack/squeeze chimney to the left of the bolted arete.
Leading that arete variation is an adrenaline rush for sure. A must do! I had a few tentative moments about midway up, but a little traversing left to put in extra gear before the steepest moves alleviated the fall potential til I could reach that next bolt.
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