Tunnel Vision 

It's possible to get off-route at the start of pitch 2 if you select the righthand chimney. The comment in the Urioste guide on pitch 2 "bearing left where choices present themselves" should not be ignored. We bore right and ended up on "Stilgar's Wild Ride", but after a pitch you can wander back left and come back into Tunnel Vision before entering the tunnel.

There is gear in the tunnel. You can't sew it up but I got two or three pieces in the back wall. Just look around...

Enjoyed this climb a lot today. Started at 11am and was in the shade all day. Just for the sake of accuracy, the pair of bolts at the top of pitch 2 have had their hangers removed. It's not a big deal, there is a suitable vertical crack in that same location for use as a belay anchor. Some people link pitches 2 and 3.

We climbed this route on October 3, 2004. Did it in four long pitches with a 60 meter rope. If you have never been on this route, I would recommend doing it in 6 pitches, belaying at the start of the narrow chimney pitch and the start of the tunnel pitch. This means P2 will be very abreviated. This way you can watch the leader on the two runout pitches. The climbing isn't that hard but these are serious leads. The two bolts at the start of the narrow chimney pitch have missing hangers. Too bad. They're not necessary but they help the belayer keep a sharp eye on the leader who wants to push their limits. There is also a bolt up and left on the face. I'm not sure what this is for. A headlamp may be useful in the tunnel but I have lead this route twice without it. After the tunnel, we climbed straight up to a flat area separated from the main wall by a notch. Climb down some steep rock to a narrow chute. Bring your walk off shoes. Unique, exciting, and mentally challenging.

The two bolts at the start of the narrow chimney are unnecessary and whomever removed the hangers did a good thing. The bolts that still remain poking out of the rock still mar this wonderful lead. Any way of getting those bolts out?

I recently lost my camera on pitch 3. It fell into plain view, but i couldnt get down to rescue it.

If anyone finds it, please return the memory card to me, i'm not bothered about the camera, but the card contains around 190 photos of our honeymoon and are irreplaceable.

Please return to :-

Bruce Bryan24 Ashvale RdWalesbyNr NewarkNottinghamshireNG22 9LYEngland

brucecbryan@hotmail.com

ThanksBruce.

For those interested, Bruce's camera has been recovered.

Very mediocre IMHO. So many better routes in RR.

I linked the second and third pitches for a rope-stretching 200 foot pitch. If you're like me and you're not so much into chimneys and wide cracks then you can go out on the face to the left on pitch 3, climb a crack that takes some small gear (finger-size cams, tricams, etc), and then come back to the wide crack near the belay. It's a little runout but felt about 5.7ish to me.

Great route with unique experiences!! Pitch one is pretty fun but even if you do not place any gear in the first 15 feet (recommend NOT placing any gear hear to prevent rope drag); your rope can get stuck in a crack when you climb past the first big ledge so use gear to keep the rope from some heinous drag, it sucks. Pitch 2 is easy and fun. Pitch 3 I took the variation on the left face following a thin crack the opens and closes up; not too terribly difficult but heady for sure. Pitch 4 is pure fun and totally casual!! The tunnel pitch 5 is a cool experience and unique but fairly serious IMHO; not too hard but you sure as hell wouldn't want to slip on the slippery rock. The last pitch was the best pitch by far with super fun mini-roof moves that are a dream!! Have at it and have fun; just be a little careful.

For those interested, the bolts are back on the top of the 2nd pitch. I think this is their third appearance in as many years!

I heard a lot about this climb before hand but unfortunately it did not live up to its praise for me. I would barley give this climb 1.5 stars. There are much better climbs on this wall.

In March 2008, the pitch 2 anchor bolts were still present. This is a semi-hanging belay and good rope management (e.g. lap coiling) here is important, as the crack below this station eats ropes. I spent a good amount of time freeing up the stuck rope of the party above me. There were cut-off pieces of other ropes stuck in the same spot.

In the tunnel, there are a few good tricam placements in pockets in the back wall.

If anyone is missing Chewbacca I found him...Heady 3rd pitch! I'm not kidding about Chewbacca, I really found him!

for anyone of the 17 folks who climbed tunnelvision on oct 25th, if'n you found a grey stuffsack with a pair of shells in it, i'd LOVE to get them back. give me a shout and postage and a beer is yours!

A headlamp for the tunnel is quite silly, not dark enough in there for it to really make a difference.

Tall people need not be very concerned about the relative lack of pro in the 5th pitch; the ceiling contains numerous shelves and big pockets that make it very easy to keep your feet at 90 degrees to the slick rock face as you stem up it. For shorter people who can't stem the route as well, we found 3 good placements: 1.) a small parallel crack about 15 feet up that will take a BD microcam or a ball nut, 2.) a larger pocket on the ceiling another 15 feet up that will take a small cam, and 3.) a pocket on the right side of the bulge on the face just after which you reach the shelf that traverses out of the tunnel.

The face alternative for pitch 3 has cracks and pockets that can be sewn up with pro. It also has relatively good holds on it but you must traverse back into the chimney at the top (hardest moves for this variation.) I did a layback to get up and over the top, but my partners found there are parallel cracks that let you hug the pillar as you ascend near the top of the chimney.

I give this a PG-13 rating because of the spicy start. You need to use your feet well there but it can be hard to see all the delicate footplacements if you're wearing an over-the-shoulder sling of pro. However, the parallel crack at the top goes from sloper where there are good foot placements to bomber edge where the feet get thin. If you lose foot traction on the face at that point you can pick it up quickly my moving your feet around the corner into the groove. Since it's a little blind, this could be the hardest move on the route.

Did this with the face variations for the 1st and 4th? pitches. Brock topo is inaccurate at best, and the thing seems to have sprouted some extra belays. 1st pitch variation is about 60' with 4 bolts, not the 160' Brock gives it. Don't miss the tunnel pitch if doing the variations, at a point after passing the second bolted anchor on the upper variation, about 20' below an obvious wide crack (~6"), traverse right around a sandy blunt/rounded corner to belay on the ledge below the tunnel. Definitely recommend the variations. You can link the tunnel pitch and last pitch with a 70m (may need to simul a few feet).