Type: Trad, 280 ft (85 m), 2 pitches, Grade II
FA: Mark Gillis, Greg Ricks, 1986
Page Views: 837 total · 5/month
Shared By: George Perkins on Oct 25, 2009
Admins: Jason Halladay, Mike Hoskins, Anna Brown

You & This Route


3 Opinions
Your To-Do List: Add To-Do ·
Your Star Rating:
Rating Rating Rating Rating Rating      Clear Rating
Your Difficulty Rating:
-none- Change
Your Ticks:Add New Tick
-none-
Use onX Backcountry to explore the terrain in 3D, view recent satellite imagery, and more. Now available in onX Backcountry Mobile apps! For more information see this post.

Description Suggest change

Sapphire is a variation to pitch 2 of Emerald City, to its right. It's perhaps slightly easier, less classic, and more runout than Emerald City, but is on good rock and is worth doing if 5.9 La Cueva slabs are your thing.

The first pitch is shared with Emerald City, and pulls through the right side of a square roof, then gains easier slabs as you aim to pass just right of a small tree. A piton-protected tricky thin crux (rated 5.8+) comprises the last moves on the slab before moving right to the 2-bolt anchor.

Begin the 2nd pitch by easy downclimbing from the belay to the right about 10', then make a tricky step right, where you'll join the biggest left-facing dihedral in this section of cliff. Follow a crack in this corner, which begins as hands and turns into a seam on the slabby face above. Where the crack peters out, clip a bolt [a recent replacement for a fixed pin], slab up to a [2nd] bolt, and angle left for a 20' slab runout to the Revenge of the Elderly 3-bolt anchor.

Location Suggest change

Sapphire is the right variation of Emerald City for pitch 2. The first pitch is shared with Emerald City, which begins up and right of the Revenge of the Elderly sort of in a high alcove-like area between two black water streaks.

Rappel the route- 2 rappels- using either 2 ropes or a 70m rope.

Protection Suggest change

Nuts and cams to 2", include micros.

Photos

loading