Mountain Beast is a fine route for those who have done the far more classic routes on the Eagle Wall. A few pitches are outstanding, but others are very lackluster.
Begin at the far upper right margin of the Eagle Wall, approximately 150' right of Levitation (5.11), and 30' left of the saddle that drops down to the East. Belay from a nice flat area - you should be able to spot the anchors at the end of the first pitch in a heart-shaped alcove.
P1: Follow a left-leaning crack system to a ledge, then up a short corner with a hand crack to the bolted belay. 5.9.
P2: Step out of the alcove to the right, head up past a few bolts, then trend straight left past three more bolts and the crux - a very thin 15' or so section of climbing. Belay in another alcove. A good pitch. 5.11.
P3: Face climb up and up and up. Belay on a ledge in the large left-facing, right-leaning corner/ramp system. 5.6-8?
P4: Climb up a corner then leave the corner and traverse left and up slightly to one of two sets of two-bolt anchors. These bolts are older home-made hangers. 5.9.
P5: Face climb up past many old bolts and two modern ones higher up, and a few wire placements, to a two-bolt anchor and semi-hanging belay stance. Many of the holds are fragile on this pitch and a delicate touch helps. 5.10.
P6: Climb up the beautiful face past two bolts and then up a dead-vertical black wall, slotting bomber wires in amazing incut pods. The best pitch on the climb - 5.9+. Belay at a two bolt anchor.
P7: Wander up and slightly right on lower angle terrain (somewhat more tricky to protect), eventually moving right to belay on a flat ledge at a large tree. 5.6-8?
P8: Continue up the extremely contrived white slab past seven or so bolts (pretend not to see the much more beautiful dihedral to your right) to a two-bolt belay just below the summit.
Many of the pitches can be linked. We did it in 5.
Walk off or rap Levitation with two ropes. With some slings around the tree, it may be possible to rap Mountain Beast with two ropes.
We finished replacing all the old 1/4" bolts this March. Karin Wuhrmann and I replaced the protection bolt pitch 4, the anchor pitch 4, and the doubled first pro bolt pitch 5 last year. This year Hamid Aghdaee and I replaced bolts 2-7 on the 9-bolt pitch 5 (Joanne missed one in her Red Book Supplement, and this error is repeated in the new Brock/McMillen guide). Bolts 8 & 9 are 3/8" from the modern completion of the route. The doubled first pro bolt was replaced with a single good bolt of course (if you include the doubled bolt, there were 10 pro bolts on this pitch - there are now 9). Two trips were needed since hand drilling takes a while!
The newly replaced bolts are a mix of 1/2" and 3/8" stainless 5-pieces. The pro bolt pitch 4, the anchor pitch 4, and 5th pitch pro bolts 1, 4, and 7 are 1/2". The remaining pro bolts pitch 5 (2,3,5,6) are 3/8". Several of the hangers we used (the redish Metolius ones) were donated by the BLM a few years ago.
By Mike Morley Administrator From: Oakland, CA Apr 11, 2006
Thanks Greg, Karin, Hamid, and all at the ASCA for your efforts on this project and the service you contribute to "the climbing community" as a whole.
Click here for a complete list of routes at Red Rocks that have been outfitted with new hardware thanks to the volunteers at the ASCA. Maybe even consider making a donation!
second the thanks to greg et al. climbed this today, and i imagine i might have been pretty gripped with old bolts. everything is big and fat now.
notes- id bring a blue alien, double green alien to #1 camalot, and a #2. all the 'cruxes' are well protected with bolts. you dont need a smidgen of gear on the '11a' pitch.
on p5, pay more attention that i did. near the top of the pitch, two bolts show the way right to an anchor at a slopey stance. i didnt see them and kept going up straight up on trad gear, then had to traverse right on the ledge and get back to the route with a little finagling.
the rock was not too terrible on the 5.10 pitch, but i was definitely tapping on holds. the 5.9 pitch above is fun and you wish it went on longer. the rock WAS terrible on the last pitch. and i disagree that the dihedral to the right looks at all tempting.
to descend, you can scramble up to the ridge and go down the chicken lips descent, as described for that route (see upper painted bowl area).
P3 go up the obvious corner, 5.6 with a 5.8-9 move off the belay P7 awkward stemming 5.7 P8 loose chunk near the top, its not going to last long and will most likely make it thru the belay and onto the route below. I hope nature or someone will remove it soon. A great route!
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