Out of the Blue 5.11a
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| Type: | Trad, 1 pitch, 90 feet |
| Consensus: | 5.11a [details] |
| FA: | Bob Gaines, Frank Bentwood, and Al Sanderson |
| New Route: | Yes |
| Submitted By: | Bob Gaines on May 31, 2010 |
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the bulletproof slab of Out of the Blue 5.11a
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Description This is a variation to Blues Brothers, with exceptionally good rock quality. The rock is extraordinarily smooth for Joshua Tree. Four out of five stars.
Start 20 feet left of Blues Brothers. Climb the slab past 4 bolts (10d/11a above the 2nd bolt), moving left at the fourth bolt to a thin seam that is followed up and right to where it joins Blues Brothers, then make a somewhat run-out face move (5.8 PG) up to a straight-in crack which leads to ledges. Move right and climb the headwall just right of the regular Blues Brothers finish, up to a fixed pin, from where you can continue straight up (10+) or move right to a ledge for an easier (5.9) finish.
2 bolt anchor (90 Ft.)
Protection To 3 inches.
| Comments on Out of the Blue |
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By caughtinside
From: Oakland CA
Jan 20, 2011
| Best route at the crag and some of the best slab climbing I've done in Josh. |
By Will S
From: Joshua Tree
Jan 20, 2011
| Great sustained slab edging on fine grained, polished rock through the bolts. Upper part is forgettable and the description Bob gives for the finish makes no sense at all, if you went 20' right you'd be WAY past the logical finish of this or Blues Brothers. Logical finish is a crack in shallow left facing dihedral almost directly above the last bolt, or finish as for Blue Bros to the bolted anchor past the pin (which is the only fixed pin we saw on the crag). Either way, best climbing on the crag. |
By Bob Gaines
Jan 21, 2011
| Hi Will. You're right, that description was confusing. The finish for Out of the Blue is pretty much straight up at the top, past the fixed pin. If you go straight up above the pin its 5.10, or you can move to the right a bit up to a ledge, then back left up to the top for an easier (5.9) finish.
The regular (line of the first ascent) or normal Blues Brothers finish actually goes left of this at the top, up a thin crack in a small left-facing corner, finishing about 15 or 20 feet left of the Out of the Blue finish (which is essentially the logical direct finish to Blues Brothers.)
I re-wrote the description to make it less confusing. |
By Will S
From: Joshua Tree
Jan 21, 2011
| Ahh, makes more sense now. We assumed Blue Bros finished using the pin, that's how we climbed it and it's more or less directly above the crack line, didn't know the original finish went left...now I get it. |
By Richard Shore
Nov 4, 2012
| Stiff shoes are a must on this beautiful dime-edging route. Bulletproof polished slab! |
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