The 5.7+ third pitch of Cascading Crystal Kaleidos...
Description
CCK is another Gunks ultra-classic. The exposed, exciting third pitch is one of the most memorable you'll ever do at the grade.
The CCK access trail is about a 15-min. walk from the Uberfall, and an 11-min. walk from where the East Trapps Connector Trail meets the carriage road. Look for a huge boulder (with bouldering routes and chalk) on the left. The CCK trail starts just past the boulder.
At the cliff, go right and up to get to the start of the route. Locate a huge right-facing corner; this is the route Updraft. CCK starts about 15' right of Updraft, at a small left-facing corner.
P1: Climb the short corner and angle up right to a left-facing corner. Climb the corner to a roof, then move left and climb a crack to the GT Ledge. Belay at a big oak tree with rap slings. 5.6, 120'.
P1 (variation): Climb the first pitch of Erect Direction, a crack system on the left wall of Updraft, and traverse right to the oak tree. 5.8, 120'. Some think this is a much better start, but I enjoyed the first pitch of CCK.
There are several variations on the second pitch. Williams recommends climbing above a small pine tree 20' to the right of the big oak, but my partner couldn't find a reasonable line, so he opted for the variation below, which is covered in chalk and seems to be the most popular line.
P2: Climb above the oak tree to a ledge and roof. Get pro (.5 Camalot) in a horizontal, step down, traverse right and make a tough mantel move past the overhang to a stance (5.8 PG-R). Climb up left-facing flakes, and angle left to a belay stance at slings and rings in the big Updraft corner. 5.8 PG-R, 60'.
Note: CCK Direct (5.9) continues straight up above the left-facing flakes. Be sure to angle left to the Updraft corner if you want to do CCK.
P3: Make sure the belayer has a camera; one of the best photo-ops in the Gunks! Step down and make an exposed traverse to the right on small edges. Move up to a pin and make a big step right to a vertical flake and hand crack. Layback and jam up to a roof (crux), clip another fixed pin, and traverse right under the roof to a big ledge. 5.7+, 50'.
Bring up your partner and scramble to the top.
Descent: Walk right about 175' to a notch. Walk down the notch to the bolted rappel route by The Last Will Be First. 3 rappels with one rope get you back down.
Protection
Standard Rack. A Ball Nut can be placed near the start of the third pitch before clipping the first pin.
Add PhotoPhotos of Cascading Crystal Kaleidoscope (CCK)
Jeff Arliss nearing the top.
Dennis on the classic third pitch.
Ladd Raine enjoying the final pitch.
Ladd Raine eyeing the final moves out of the trave...
CCK Direct finishes left instead of right at the final traverse. As nice as CCK is, CCK Direct is even better. This also cuts out a belay.
Be very careful on the PG13 move off the GT ledge - this was the scene of a serious accident. In my old age I refuse to lead this anymore and take the corner to the right instead - just as hard but protectable.
By Ron Olsen Administrator From: Boulder, CO Mar 1, 2006
John,
Could you provide a detailed description of how you climb the second pitch? My partner tried to follow the description in Williams' new Trapps guidebook, but got to a bulging section that looked hard and had poor pro, and then backed off.
To do the direct, pull the initial overhang off the GT ledge as normal and then go straight through a small overhang (small cams). Sort of reachy. This takes you to the hand crack. At the top of the crack when you see the pin leading right go straight up over a small bulge to an alcove beneath the roof. From here, work left about 10' to the edge of the roof and go up a short handcrack to the top. I don't think the top part is too bad - about 5.8 - but very spectacular.
I need to get a slide scanner so I can post a picture - written descriptions don't work well at the Gunks!
The description should mention that when the connector hits the cliff trail you go right and up to get to the start of the route.
By Ron Olsen Administrator From: Boulder, CO Mar 1, 2006
John, thanks for the excellent description of CCK Direct. Can you also describe the second-pitch variation of CCK that starts behind the little pine tree 20' right of the big oak? My partner went up a small left-facing corner to a little overhang, then right to a bulge. He couldn't figure out where to go from here; the moves seemed hard and the pro wasn't great, so he backed off.
The 3rd pitch is truly one of the best here. I agree the start of the 2nd pitch has the potential for a nasty fall. Never done the 5.10 variation on the 3rd pitch, how good is it?
On pitch 3 there is a fixed orange TCU, the sling is a little crusty but the piece looks solid and it isn't poorly placed for darg, so clip it and keep on moving on this increbile pitch.
My partner - Dana B. - and I put a new sling on the tree at the end off the first pitch on 4/25. The old ones were looking pretty ratty.
By Paul Hunnicutt From: Boulder, CO May 1, 2008 rating: 5.8 PG13
Linking 2-3 seems logical, way more classic, and going out left to the sling belay in the corner seemed pointless...except for photo ops from the belay. You can still go left after the mantle move with long runners to keep the difficulty low (skipping the sling belay) and then do the P3 traverse back right (to avoid CCK direct 5.9). Besides the photo op. from the belay it is a shame to break this nice pitch up.
Also agreed that falling at the 5.8 mantle move on P2 is not an option. Pretty sure you would hit the ledge below.
Did the Williams's second pitch. I went up from the pine tree and then moved a little left at an overhang. Went up trending left and then hand traversed into the normal belay alcove. Not sure if I did it right. Overall, my impression was that the third pitch was short and fun but the first two pitches did not excite me. Also, I was hung over.
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