The Peacemaker 

Definitely a nice route. A lot more frictiony than TTTD and without any real runouts. As far as rack goes, I used a couple of small aliens to calm me down but nothing any bigger. Probably not worth bothering with a rack though.

Great Route; did this on 1-21-08, Every pitch is excellent, some moderately tricky, balancy face moves on PI and PIV and some mild runout's keep things interesting for sure, and the feeling of exposure being up there is incredible. We did this in 7 pitches but in hindsight you can easily link P6 and P7 into one long pitch with a 60 or 70M rope. Very well bolted for the most part, a few runouts on easy chickenhead hiking which can optionallyh be protected by slinging small chickenheads or throwing in some small pieces [only piece I placed was a .5 camalot on PI]. Overall a stellar route; definitely recommend it... now to give 'Too tough to Die" and "Ewephoria' a try.. :)

If this grade is near your limit, I'd recommend a single set of cams up to #1 BD and a set of nuts. There's maybe 4-6 placements across the first few pitches, YMMV. The climbing is great, maybe my fave on the buttress. First time I did it, I was struck by how much of the climbing is at grade, seemed like at least half of the moves on the route were 5.10 or 10-.

Pitch 4: When the leader reaches a short gully with some sticks and dirt in it they are at the last bolt and should continue straight up to the anchors. There is a route to the right of Peacemaker that comes very near and could tempt the leader to follow that line of bolts.
Pitch 6-7: Very easy to link up these two pitches with a 60 meter. There are many routes up here and I think I may have finished on a different route. But they are all 5.10.
Very fun route and the bolts protected it well.

No rack needed whatsoever. I agree that pitch 4 is the probably the toughest, but every pitch has climbing at the grade.

haha rick, come on, man! i thought this climb was excellent! the climbing is stellar and the runouts on easy ground (assuming you don't bring any gear) really keep you on your toes!

A new topo for this climb is now available. You can download it by clicking this link:

www.geir.com/sheepshead%20sw.pdf

Enjoy!

This is a great climb and fairly sustained. It seems especially so when you're getting furiously hailed on!

Per the rack comments: It's great that some people are having fun with the whole "no rack necessary" thing, but, even being what I'd consider a pretty solid 5.10 leader, I was more than happy to have a rack up to 1". Hauling up a few pieces adds almost no weight and gives the leader reasonable protection at a few points where it would NOT be advisable to fall. Advising otherwise may be a disservice to people not as comfortable at the grade or as familiar with the area.

Also, the topo Geir provides is excellent. Although, my partner and I disagreed with the "scary clip" comment indicated on the topo. It appears to say "scary clip" next to the first bolt on the third pitch, whereas my partner and I both agreed the only scary clip on the route was clipping the last bolt on the first. This may be an oversight in the topo, or perhaps we're just whiny bitches.

I agree with Zeke regarding the P3/P1 "scary clip" conundrum.

Bill L - yet another whiny bitch. :-)

hahaha! well, don't worry about whining, you guys. as far as the scary clips go, they are just my opinion. i'll check out that first pitch clip again next time i'm up there. be safe and have fun out there! :)

a fairly burly start to my cochise experience- i found this route to be more on the .10+ side of .10a, but to each his own. fairly sustained climbing- especially if you dont drift left or right enough (as i discovered on the 4th pitch).

the fifth pitch, though, no matter how you do those moves is .10+ imho.

no rack needed- its casual, never run out enough to make you nervous.

the last pitch was weird- got lost in the bolts, ended up finishing left of the route, we think, as i wasnt up for another mystery .10+ slab move.

John Rich and I did this route last week without a rack. Although I've done the route a number of times, I forgot that there are some pretty sporty sections if you don't have any pro. The clip of the last bolt on the first pitch is done 30'-40' out and it's a bit of tricky clip. Once you figure it out, it isn't that hard but it would be a nasty fall if you screw up. A small rack of a few medium to small friends would fix almost all of the runouts. Peacemaker is really a classic with superb climbing in a great position. Every pitch is thoughtful; though most of it seems like 5.10a to me.

It has been awhile, but I don't remember bringing or needing gear to supplement the bolts. I guess a few finger-ish pieces wouldn't hurt though.

The first time I did this we arrived at the base shortly after noon, simul-climbed it as a party of 3 in a couple hours, and were back at camp well before dark. What a great day on an awesome piece of stone!

Hah. To the gathering fray over gear/no gear, I'll add that if you are cool simul climbing Peacemaker like Mike here, then definitely don't bring extra gear. It's true the cruxes are all well protected, but, being more in that range, I still think the average 5.10 leader will want some supplementary pro. But if you got the head for it, disregard my continued whining - if you haven't the head for it, well, it's gonna suck.

I was at Sheepshead New Year's Day after the massive winter storm- there was snow EVERYWHERE! All of the routes on Sheepshead that we saw were encased in snow and ice. The ice had melted by the next day and it appeared dry but there was water running down the weird moves into the chimney and up to the first pitch belay stance.

Can't believe how much fun this route is! Well bolted, great topo (thanks Geir), and giggly fun movement. We did place a total of 4 finger sized pieces. Two at the top of the first pitch and two higher up on the route. I probably could have gotten away with just one piece at the top of the first pitch, but hey, I like to place gear. I am looking forward to doing more on the Sheepshead...

Amazing route.I found the fourth pitch to be the crux, and I recommend the light rack.

Seems like the only real 10a climbing took place on pitch 2 and pitch 4. The rest felt more like 5.8 or 5.9 IMO