This is a beautiful line directly up the middle of the Community Pillar formation. The route starts in enclosed chimney and goes behind a huge (cabin-sized) chockstone. A variation on the outside is available for those finding the chimney too tight. Basically go straight up the prominent crack system, bearing right if in doubt.
Near the top (approx pitch 7) you have a choice of climbing up in a cave to a squeeze chimney exit, or climbing on the outside on pretty unprotected face holds. Don't traverse right through a small cave-window unless you want to end up on Cartwright Corner.
From the top, scramble to the right (west) to a pine tree in an area of broken rock. Rappel cautiously, then scramble down to the small saddle separating this formation from the Magic Triangle to the west. At this point you can either rappel the gully to the north, or scramble south and go down the Crabby Appleton approach gully with a few short rappels.
Followed this beautiful route yesterday, August 12th. I would have given this climb a 1 star last night (just because I was a little beat up from all the squeezing and contortionist moves I had to do) but after "sleeping on it," and after my morning coffee I'm awarding it 2 stars. I can't pinpoint why, but this route felt a little magical to me upon awakening this morning, on the "day after" doing this route. Maybe it was watching in awe, as Jonny, with his full rack on , backpack and helmet dangling below him, amazingly squeeze through a tiny hole , when I had thought, "There's no way, what the hell is he thinking?!" Maybe it was the pleasure of looking out of the cozy little belay caves, down onto the beautiful Pine Creek Canyon floor, or the welcoming bursts of cool air coming up through the chimney cracks. It could have also been the concerning yet exciting loud sounds of thunder from a storm system moving North of us, or the birds suddenly whizzing past the back of my head, as I belayed in peace and quiet. Could it have been the rumbling sounds of rockfall, raining down from the first rappel which awoken my senses? Maybe I was just pleased to be able to do a long Red Rock multipitch, in August. Whatever the mystery may be, this climb will be engraved in my mind forever!
By John Hegyes From: Las Vegas, NV Aug 14, 2005 rating: 5.9
With three or four tight tunnels, this route should have been named Tunnel Vision - too bad that name was already taken. Chimney Vision would have been a good choice too. The morning after climbing this route, endless chimneys still scroll by when I close my eyes... We climbed this route in the heat of the summer, so we each carried backpacks full of water and I knew that we'd have to take them off in the tight squeezes, but I was less prepared for the fact that these packs would also hinder the wide crack and chimney climbing as well. As a consequence, I was able to get my body into only a few of the chimney sections so, for me the route became mostly a face climb adjacent to the wide stuff. I carried a double rack of C4 Camalots up to #4 and a single #5, a set of stoppers, some hexes and offsets, and still went quite some distance between viable placements of protection. Combine that with steep climbing on fragile plates and zero fixed pro, and it all made for some tense moments. Wearing shorts and a t-shirt led to getting scraped over most of my body inching through the narrow points. We left our approach gear at the base of the climb, so descending to that location as efficiently as possible was key. After taking the first rappel on the backside of the route down a chute full of rock fall time bombs, we headed for the gully between the Pillar and Magic Triangle. We found the four rap stations in this gully to be in good condition and the rappels were very manageable with a single 60m rope. If I ever consider climbing this route again, I'll only need to remember sweating and grunting my way through the initial constrictions to give me serious doubts but I'm glad I did this climb.
What a great route this was- did it today finally with some great friends and had a blast. The first pitch wasn't as bad as many had made it out to be, but I suspect that is because it is highly size dependant- the bigger you are, the more you're going to suffer. Luckily, Larry checked out a variation first pitch that starts on the left side of the adjacent gully (i.e. the gully to the right) and meets up at the top of the corner on the second pitch.
Also, if you're solid at the grade, I highly recommend the hand crack variation on Pitch 4- amazing! Steep, exposed, and sustained!
The 1st pitch was the absolute crux for me - took forever to tunnel thru. - had to rid myself of rack, helmet, and eventually my wallet in my pocket before it went. Fact that I'm 220 lbs does not help. Rest is quite moderate but continuously exciting (esp. one of the mid-section pitches, 5.8 wideness w/o pro and with flaky face holds).
Larry wrote one hell of a GREAT book - don't think I would've done this line had I not found inspiration in the "Odyssey". Much thanks!
Great Route. It's straightforward to get to the top of the chockstone on pitch one without tunneling, but then you're missing out on the fun. The "cave" pitch higher up the best pitch on the route and pretty unique, don't deprive yourself by staying on the face.
Wow! I've never climbed anything like this before. I was completely stumped by the crux stem move on the p7 variation. Took a long time to figure it out. Wow!
By Aerili From: Reno, NV Sep 9, 2007 rating: 5.9 R
I'm duplicating my written beta on this climb from my rc.com notes. I climbed this route Memorial Day weekend 2007.
This route involves unrelenting and varied types of OW almost the entire way...One of the most physical routes I have ever climbed and somewhat exhausting! While climbing it, I thought I was hating life, but this route grows on you after you are done and you start rehashing how great it was. Also should be rated R on two of the pitches (4 and 5, if I remember correctly) and a few other pitches have some PG13/R sections as well. If you are a bigger dude, I would not recommend going through the squeeze hole on p1 as you may get stuck! (Requires complete horizontal body wriggling w/ helmet off.) P4 is the sketchiest lead due to the fact that most of the pitch is R, sustained 5.8, and the placements you DO get for the last 80-90 feet (i.e. the majority of the pitch) are small pro in useless flakes or brittle-ish cracks that would blow in a fall (I was only placing for my mental state). If you want true gear on this pitch, nothing other than Big Bros would protect the majority of it--no joke!! Route requires a full rack from very small to very large gear: I placed everything from small nuts and Aliens to #5 and #6 (two times each!). Lots of squeeze chimneys also abound on this route, and it is highly reminiscient of Tunnel Vision (as someone else here said--except way more tunnels)! No fixed gear or anchors exist that I remember. IMPORTANT LAST NOTE: the descent consists of 3 single rope raps; however, the first of our party to complete the last rap said our 60 m came up short 15 ft from the ground with a sketchy downclimb, so he had to leap into a tree off the wall. Luckily we had two ropes since we went up in two parties so he yelled up to tie them together. I am not sure how else one can complete this last rap more safely with a single rope unless it's a 70 m?? Maybe others can clarify how to downclimb safely with a single 60 m.
Climbed this route again, for the second time, on July 3. We started the first p at 7:45. Most of the route, and all the belays, were in the shade. I used a #4, #5 cam, and a #3 big bro, several times. I wished I had brought a # 4 big bro. BEWARE, Large, loose blocks at the start of the 5.6 chimney, p4, in the DeAngelo guidebook. I would have trundled them myself but, I heard several other climbers in the area. Turns out, they were on Honeycomb Chimney.
That 5.9 pitch is a must do. I almost whipped off of it when a foot broke off and I was left swinging on a hand jam. Good times.
By Doug Foust From: Henderson, Nevada Nov 1, 2009 rating: 5.9
The chockstone on the first pitch wasn't as bad as it looked, just relax and go with it. The 5.9 handcrack was awesome! I really enjoyed the route, but the loose stuff at the top of the first two rappels wasn't fun.
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