The Scenic Cruise 

A couple extra landmarks for finding the start of the route: after the second rappel in the Cruise Gully, you have to continue a ways down along the base of the cliff. Specifically, go a ways past a huge cleft which runs the entire length of the wall, a huge RF corner just left of the cleft, about halfway up, and a large LF corner, also halfway up (Journey Home), just left of that.

Good description by Charles Vernon. A few additional comments: End pitch 1 under the second roof. It is a poor stance, but it is protected from rockfall (the second pitch could easily generate some). Pitches 3 & 4 can be combined with a 60 m rope. The variation he reported for pitch 6 is not bad. You climb up the corner directly above the belay for about 30' and reach way around the arete to your left to clip a sling. Hand traverse around the arete and back up the the fixed piece (it will be the last piece you can get in for a while). Down climb the ramp and climb up the rounded Pegemite lieback to the block with slings. On pitch 7, there is a chockstone in the crack that can be slung just before traversing right under the roof. On pitch 8, about 30' after passing the bush, leave the wide crack and do a rising traverse left to a good ledge (one person could bivy here). This keeps down the rope drag on the following pitch (plus it is a nice belay spot).

To find the Cruise Gully, go halfway between the campground and the ranger station and look for a trail on the South side. About 40' along this trail is a sign saying that this is the Cruise Gully.

Wasn't the motto: "A rack, a rope, and a little bit of dope"? -S.L.

Alternative pitch description: P1: Climb the entire initial corner, and the broken rock and short corner above in one pitch, belaying at the top-most stance where Cruise diverges. 5.8, 85m, simul-climbing required. P2: Climb right and up, through the 5.9/5.10 bulge and continue up crack to old slings at a stance. 5.10, 55m. P3: Continue up the crack to the end at a ramp right, continue up through pegmatite and the peg traverse, moving left to belay at a spike almost below the crux corner. 5.10, 55+m. P4: Climb the corner, step right and up some wide cracks to a flat ledge with an old bolt, on your right. 5.10, 50m. P5: Step left, up a crack, then lower angle face leading to left side of big flakes. Climb around flakes on left and up and right to 2-bolt anchor. 5.9, 55m. P6: Traverse right, climb short bolted face, then up and right on peg to a bulge with a crack, then up to good ledge below final broken headwall. 5.9, 55m. P7: Traverse left to a crack/corner system, then straight up past small overhangs to broken ledges below the terrace. 5.9, 75m, simul-climbing required. Carefully climb up and right to get top the terrace. Walk left almost to the end to a short class 4 break and the rim.

I wouldn't particularly recommend going by some of the A.C.'s description (with some exceptions, we simul-climbed for the first pitch as described) unless you have done the route before, and/or are solid on 5.11. P3 & P5 in particular might present rope drag and route finding issues. Never-the-less, it would be a great way to do the route fast, while keeping simul-climbing to a minimum.

With a 70 meter rope this can be done in 9 excellent pitches.....

With a 600m rope, this can be done as one pretty darn good pitch.

Please note that the route description in the new Black Canyon guidebook contains a significant error, i.e. the pegmatite traverse is described as going right, whereas we all know it as a leftwards' traverse.

For those desiring a little obscure tidbit, on the original FFA of the Cruise by Dunn & Wiggins they did not climb the now-popularized "crux corner" on the pitch above where the Cruise and Scenic Cruise meet (right after the peg traverse). Instead they climbed what is now referred to as the "Wiggins finger crack". This takes off to the right of the corner, near the horn where people belay after the peg traverse. It is difficult (5.11), sustained, long, and slightly under-nourished in the protection department, but quite good climbing. This is also the purported aid line on the original Kor-Dalke.

Also, AC, with a 600m rope you'll be short.

70m cord4-5 pitches3-4 hrs

keys to success:dont stop to look aroundsimul everything!

have fun

Or...

60m rope.5-6 pitches, no rope drag.4 hours rim-to-rim.

key to success:stop to savor the experience.have it all ruthlessly wired.

any idea on the roped 2-person time record? can it be done faster than 2:48 (the new record for the Nose)? sure hope so.

According to www.speedclimbing.com the record is 3 and 1/2 hours, by Jim Dunn and Kerry Gunther. Slower than the Nose (of El Cap)--guess that makes this a grade VI ;)

Or... a 60 meter cord, ten to twelve pitches, 5 to 10 hours and what a great route in a spectacular setting.

Charles, the record you mention is car-to-car. It seems possible that they took 45 minutes to descend the gully and rope up. That would put the route time at 2h45 and faster than the new Nose record. :-)

This route is MUCH shorter than the Nose of El Cap (15 pitches vs. 33 pitches) and MUCH easier (5.10d vs. 5.14). Hans and Yuji would likely be able to do this route (after climbing it at least once or twice) in well under two hours, probably under 90 minutes, and maybe under an hour.

That said, it is more than enough route to kick my butt. We did it in 14 hours car-to-car, I think. Had some trouble finding the easiest way up top and had to do some aid to get off. Clearly I was off route there. A fun adventure route.

Bill

The rules should be a little different for speedcliming the Scenic Cruise vs something on El Cap. On the SC both climbers should free climb every pitch. So jugging, short roping, pulling on a piece, etc are out- not that these techniques are at all required to climb this route fast.

Or ...

no ropeno rope drag

keys to success:figure out how to get to the base without rapping!don't fall

Personally, I was happy to have a fat rope, loads of gear and a better partner to (barely) see the rim before darkness ...

Charle's route description is quite good. Couple of points: combining pitches 4 & 5 isn't that bad. While these pitches are pumpy, there are quite a few rests to recoup energy. On pitch 8, I wouldn't recommend the crack on the right through the nasty bush. The crack on the left has got a little shit in it, but will allow you to make it to the top of the flake in one pitch. Prudent runner use will alleviate rope drag.

Somebody once told me they thought this route was the best climb in Colorado. I don't know about that but it's pretty good. How can their be a best or favorite climb anywhere? Aren't all climbs really different and every experience different? You hear climbers say it a lot: "Thats the best climb I've ever done" . I just think it's a weird statement, especially coming from the mouths of talented experienced climbers. Whoa! I'm babbling, I'm injured and I 've eaten too much percocet . Sorry.

I climbed the route for the first time with Kerry Gunter on June 11th or so this year. The weather was perfect and we were one of four total parties in the whole canyon. Climbing here in June is recommended if you just watch the weather and pick a cooler day.

We did the route in 9 pitches with a 70M rope, rim-to-rim in 8 hours.

We climbed a 2 pitch variation at the top of the route. Instead of going left, continue up on steep edges and flakes, trending slightly left towards the end of the pitch. Belay on a nice ledge with a right facing flake/corner system above you, and a steep right facing corner above that. This pitch was about 9+ but with somewhat questionable pro, but great climbing.

The last pitch of this variation goes straight up the steep overhanging corner, and steps right around the small roof at the top of the corner (about 10b or 10c, with a fixed wire at the crux). Continue up and slightly left around a corner to a large left facing corner, which leads to a 2 or 3 move hand traverse right to the top of the wall and the walk-off.

Upper version of the peg traverse: Not Recommended. It's hard, not real safe, and the second ends up downclimbing 5.9+ face for 20' to the belay, with a factor-2 consequence if the ledge doesn't slow you down. Bootied a 0.75 Camalot, though....

This is the going-up-the-corner-to-the-triangular-roof version mentioned in an old Rock & Ice article.

[2008 edit: All the way up the corner, yes. I heard that George Bracksieck had been told that a variation existed that went that way and insisted that it be noted in the article, despite no one's having any firsthand information on it. Just one among the many reasons to be leery of the old R&I mini-topos...]

Rob, are you talking about going up the corner and then traversing out at the fixed nut, or going all the way up the corner to its end and then ???I don't even recall what if anything noticable was up above that corner.

Classic. This route goes quickly for a competent team.

Option for those days that may be crowded, or during the hot season: We started down the gully at 3:00 pm, then headed up the route with light bivy sacks and pile jackets, Goretex etc in a small pack with a couple of cans of Chef Boy-R-Dee and canned peaches, etc. When we got to that big ledge halfway up, we bivvied (spacious for 2) then headed up next morning. We were in the shade the entire time and had no crowds. I've done it both ways. The bivy adds a nice dimension and feel to the climb.

What a route! I could believe it as the best in Colorado. So many pitches would be *** at a crag.

Adam Brink and I climbed this route last week. Our impressions:

-Simul climbing the first 300' is definitely the way to go.

- Retreating from this route would be epic! There are no fixed anchors and the traversing nature of the pitches would make it difficult, although I'm sure it's been done plenty of times before.

- We found the pitches before and after the traverse to be the crux. Both were well protected where it mattered (although the first 20' of the pitch after the traverse offers no pro). The harder sections involved making a few moves off of insecure fingerlocks/liebacks to bomber jams.

- I didn't lead the traverse, but still found it to be a serious undertaking! Not super hard, but runout and heady. My partner did it with a cool head, no problem, but I imagine that I would have taken a much longer time to commit had I been on the sharp end.

Have fun on this one- it lives up to the hype!

Best route ever. Peg traverse is awesome, the pitch after the peg traverse is one of the harder 5.10s I've climbed.

I think the crux was the beginning of a long 5.10 pitch, right after you climb into a sort of dihedral with finger crack. But probably not harder than 10c. Traverse pitch is not bad, maybe 9+? And the pitch after traverse is definitely easier than the first long 5.10 pitch. Awesome climb. We also climbed it in 9 pitches with a 70m rope.

Just climbed this a couple days ago and I wanted to add a few notes.

We were using the topo from the guidebook along with the written description from here on MP. I have since realized that the pitch numbers do not really match up...I probably should have looked into that a little more before climbing! But here's the deal for anyone interested:

What is described as pitches 1 and 2 here on MP is shown as pitches 1 to 3 in the guidebook. What is described here as pitch 3 is shown as part of pitch 4 in the guidebook. The only reason this matters is that Charles mentions his partner linking pitches 4 and 5 in one monster 200' pitch. It would not be possible to link pitches 4 and 5 as they are shown in the guidebook as it would be about 300' of climbing. Guess you could simul....

Otherwise, I found the descriptions here on MP to be excellent; the route was fantastic and I would highly recommend it.

Contrary to the comments here, we found P4 / aka the pitch before the Peg traverse to be NTB / 5.10- as stated on the topo. P6 / after the Peg Traverse was burly, undoubtedly the crux for us. Make sure to take a C4 Camalot on this pitch. Also, if I do the route again, I would like to take a drill kit and replace the horrible rivet on P10. That move is kind of hard and unnecessarily dangerous. If there's a hole already there, there's no good reason not to put a proper bolt in it.