This route is considered by many to be the BEST route at Red Rocks. Lynn Hill calls it her favorite route of all time, hard to believe it's better than the free Nose, but to each her own.
It is located up on the Eagle wall, high above Oak Creek Canyon. The approach follows the creek bed to the back of this canyon then turns right and up a steep but walkable slab/ramp to the base of the Eagle Wall. Allow 1-3 hrs for the hike in. The route can be identified by locating the Eagle made of varnished rock, flying west about 1/4 up the wall. Levitation climbs through the tail of this big birdie. Another landmark is the crux headwall on pitch 5, with what appears to be a splitter crack in it. Aim for this.
Pitch 1:locate a nicely varnished and smooth corner system with about 4 bolts near the right side of the Eagle Wall. Climb this awesome pitch to a bolt anchor 100' 5.10
Pitch 2: step right from the belay and gain an open corner. Head up steep but juggy flakes, clipping bolts where gear would work. Aim for the big roof above. Make incredibly fun and exciting moves out this roof with bolts well above your head the whole way, to another bolted anchor. I was tempted to skip some clips exiting the roof as they are 2 ft apart, but clipping them for your 2nd is a nice gesture. 90' 5.11
Pitch 3: Follow a left-trending crack system till it ends, then face climb back right towards a left facing corner. climb up this corner to yet another bolted anchor. there is more gear on this pitch than it looks from below. 100' 5.8
Ptch 4: Climb a line of bolts straight up from the belay passing an awkward bulge, into a crack system. follow this to the base of the headwall with a crack in it. 110' 5.10
Pitch 5: The business. Head up the steep CRACK, with lots of BOLTS next to it. A great exposed pitch. The crux is about 20 ft off the belay, where fist jams and hand jams and finger locks gain a shallow dihedral. fight the pump and it's on to another bolted stance. 90' 5.11 13 bolts.
Pitch 6: Continue with the same crack system but at a less extreme angle to....you guessed it a bolted anchor. 5.10 80'
Pitch 7:Follow a left facing corner to some pumpy liebacking around a bulge. 90'5.10
From here most people rap with two ropes. there are two more pitches, I have not done them or seen them, they are 5.9 and 5.8. You can walk off from th top of the wall, but rapping is casual. I don't know the details of the walk off.
Protection
At least 13 draws, bring more and you can link pitches 5&6. A single rack to #3 Camalot will suffice.
OK I did not go over the top, nor did I even do the two pitches after the crux.........I suck. But in my opinion, when it comes to a commitment grade, if EVERY pitch has a huge bolted anchor, just how commited are you? If the Scenic Cruise in the Black is grade V, this can't be more than a III, right?the appraoch should get a V...
I would argue that the presence of rap anchors does not change the grade of the entire climb at all; however, it does make it easier to shorten the route by rapping off early. Heck if you just want to do the first pitch this could be grade I (well, maybe not considering the approach). The grade should be for doing the entire climb plus normal descent, in my opinion. It is true that most people these days don't do the last few pitches, and I agree done this way it is not a grade V. I don't think any less of you for rapping after the crux, I haven't done the route and doubt I could even get up pitch 2. There are no rules here!
Anyway I wouldn't suggest sleeping in and starting the approach at 10 AM for this route, even if you are just planning to go through the pumpfest pitch. The approach is a monster!
Some additional beta on the approach: Follow the river bed up the canyon until it splits. Take the right fork and follow this drainage until you encounter 2 giant pine trees, one on either side of the drainage. The trees are very obvious when you see them. Follow 3rd class ramps back and up to the right towards the wall. Scramble down an approximate 60 ft. gully (3rd - 4th class) before continuing up again to the base of the wall. This approach took us 2 hours exactly.
We only did the first 6 pitches, but all were of high quality. The first pitch felt a tad awkward and very different from the pitches above, very fun though. The second pitch roof is easy if you climb in a gym at all. I felt some of the climbing prior to the roof to be more difficult. The fifth pitch is not over once you pull through the jams, very fun and technical.
What's up with all this favorite climb crap? How much climbing have you done? Isn't every climb and experience different?! Why all the hype about this or any other climb? People just like to talk, talk, talk!!!
Have done this climb twice now and still prefer Epinephrine. The thin section above the jambs was the crux for me and "power liebacking" pitch with 18 bolts (p6?) was my favorite. This formation has the easiest walkoff of any long climbs at Red Rocks and is almost as scenic as Mt Wilson. Doing the last couple pitches is a small price to pay for such an easy, scenic descent. You just wander back along the ridge toward the drainage (pretty much level) and around the backside of a large red mound (well defined trail) then head right down the smooth, brushfree slabs to the pines and over to your packs. From there there is a much easier descent (and ascent on the way in) which basically goes down to an 8' diameter boulder and then winds around slabs slightly updrainage to the stream. I would highly recommend descending this route before trying to ascend it but once you've done it you'll not go the other way.
Great Route!! Favorite pitches are pitch two and the very pumpy and very long lie back pitch. I only had 10 quickdraws so the 18bolt pitch became a little more exciting.
PS. I have done the climb twice, the first time was a couple days after a big rain storm and the gully was roaring with water, the approach took 3 hours and my partner found himself almost swimming in one of the pools.
I did this route over Thanksgiving break. We rappelled the route with 1 70 m no problem, it was only close for 1 pitch edit: (don't remember which actual pitch this was, post below says pitch 4). For a rack we took quite a bit to link together pitches, Pitch 1&2 and 8&9. I believe we used the #2, but the #3 wasn't necessary unless you want to aid the crux. I also don't remember using any micro cams or wires. Pitch 7 now has something like 18 bolts, but many are easily skippable or back cleanable. Overbolted but feels good on the awful rock of that pitch.
Hard to call this route "THE" classic route at Red Rocks. It is very good, but some of the pitches are less than stellar quality. Definitely worth doing.
By Luke Stefurak From: San Diego, CA Nov 5, 2007 rating: 5.11+
More beta for rapping with a 70m Rope
We climbed the route on 11/3 and rapped with a 70m rope. It is really close on the rap from the top of pitch 4(the belay below the crux pitch) to the pitch 3 anchors. The ends of the ropes hang just inches below the next set of rap rings without any weight on the rope. We extended our belay devices and with a bit of stretch had no problem with the rap. We had a brand new rope so the amount of rope stretch should not be an issue. Do BE CAREFUL though since it is very very close.
All other pitches reached easily with a 70m rope with many feet to spare.
We easily linked 1&2 and 8&9. The biggest issue was rope drag for both of these links. Make sure to use a long slings at the P1 anchor and before and after the P8 anchor.
a great route. I enjoyed the approach a lot 'cause it's fun jumping trough the river bad. You can easily skip the last part of the creek by walkong up rightwards slabs to a boulder and then scramble up an arete and walk down (40m) to the start. You absolutely NEED small wires for the third 5.8 pitch unless you are suicidal. Holds can break here!! We rappeled after the 6. pitch, every pitch was fun... We rapped with a seventy meter rope, and it was ok.
Eagle Wall
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