Home - Destinations - People - Partners - Forum - Photos - What's New
 ADVANCED
Eastern Reef Slabs
Show routes:
Select route...
1000' of Fun 
A Mile and a Bit of Fun 
After Thought. II 5.7 
Aguille Du Tangelo 
Angle of Deception 
Arrowhead, The 
Beach Boy 
Beer Festival 
Black Helicopter, The 
Bottle Tester, The 
By the Seat of Your Pants 
Carnivore 
Clouded Dreams 
Come-Up-Pance. 
Commitment 
Cry Not 
Day of Atonement 
Death by Chocolate 
Dread Naught 
Dreamy Clouds 
Dune Buggy 
Easy Street 
Endless Journey 
Faith Hope and Clarity 
Fall Not 
Fear Not 
Feeding the Rat (part II) 
Firebird 
Forget Me Not 
Freeze Not 
Fried Brains on Toast. II 5.9-R 
Giraffe, The 
Goliath's Groove 
Gordian Knot, The 
Grand Expedition, The 
Haste Not 
Heart Of Stone 
Holey Ghost, The 
Holy Braille, The 
Hunter, The 
Jack Russell Buttress 
Just Dreams 
Katzs Way 
Knights-Errant 
Laugh Not 
May Cause Dizziness 
Mean Lady Variation /Zadie's Ace 
Mellow Yellow 
Mercury 
Middle Finger 
Mitten, The 
No Where To Run 
On a Wing and a Prayer 
Outrunning the Dog 
Perhaps Not 
Pillars of Solomon 
Planetary Alignment 
Reefer Madness 
Reptilian Curiosity 
Return of the Crocks 
Road to Mecca, The 
Rumble Strips 
Runout Ridge 
Sexy Ogre to East Ridge of North Peak 
Shade Runner 
Silver Lining 
Slab Not 
Slip Not 
Sorcerer's Apprentice, The 
Super Crack of the Reef 
Surfing The Swell 
Sweat Not 
Thumb, The 
Trespasser Groove 
Tynesider's Lament 
Under the Influence.  
Under the Spell 
Way of the Increpids, The 
Why Not 
Zadie's Ace 

Mellow Yellow 

5.9 R

   

FA: 31 March, 2003 Paul Ross, Layne Potter
New Route: Yes
Type: Trad
Consensus: 5.9 [details]
Length: 6 pitches, 1060 feet, Grade III
Views: 119 page views

Submitted By: Paul Ross on Mar 31, 2003


Add Photo  Add Comment 

You and this route  |  Other Opinions (2)
Your todo list:
Your stars:
Your rating: -none- [change]
Your ticklist: [add new tick]
 Printer Friendly View

BETA PHOTO: The Triple Buttress . Grades:- A)5.7+R B)5.9+R C)5...


Description 

This route and the two that follow are situated on a section of the slabs we call Triple Slab Buttress. These climbs give one a good introduction to the type of climbing found on these slabs. Location ... From the I.70 access drive 6.1 miles on the main dirt road to a right turn (this next section requires good clearance). Drive 1.7 miles, then turn right for about 100yds and park. Directly in front will be the Triple Slab Buttress. Mellow Yellow climbs the right hand buttress.

P1) Climb directly up dark slabs about 25' out left from the obvious left facing corner/crack. Keep more or less to the edge to double anchor bolts. Some cam pro. 200' 5.8

P2) Climb the groove above the belay, and then the slab left of the big corner to anchors below a big ledge (20' left of the top of groove). 180' 5.6

P3) From the big ledge, climb the slabs up to the right to a step down into a groove system in the center of the face. Follow to double anchors. 200' 5.5

P4) Straight up the shallow groove above, the first 20' are tricky, then easier climbing to a bolt belay. 80 5.9R

P5) Straight up groove above to bolt anchor. 200' 5.4

P6) 4th class up slabs to summit and register. 200'

Descend the route via rappel.


Protection 

There are no protection bolts on this climb. Cams: Metolius one #2 and 3, two #5, one #7 and #8. Some medium to large stoppers. Two 60m x 9mm ropes. Slings, and a few quick draws.



Add Comment Comments on Mellow Yellow
Show which comments
By Steve "Crusher" Bartlett
Dec 20, 2003
rating: 5.9

Gear Alert

Just did the second ascent of this climb. Great climb, continually interesting. Looks like the Flatirons, climbs like the Black Canyon. The rock is the pale stuff, yet is much harder than it appears, and much less sandy than it looks. We were impressed by the runout climbing. The 5.5 third pitch demands way more attention than 5.5 usually does. The fourth pitch is 5.9, and very "R." A couple notes on the description: The second pitch is about 80 feet to the bolts, and then you need to move the belay to the large ledge thirty feet higher, so you do do not run out of rope on the third pitch. On the third pitch traverse below the large flake sitting on the slab. The rack given is about right. Maybe double up on all the cams from 1"-2.5", but you only get good gear on the easy bits anyway.

Lastly, the fine climbing, and quality of route is let down by some poor hardware. Anchors on the tops of the fourth and fifth pitches are currently single bolts. These act as both belay anchors and rappel anchors. One of these is a spinner. A dangerous lead is one thing; you eyeball it good, step up to the plate and do it, or else back down, but rapping off someone else's single bolt on this rock is a bit of a crap shoot. Anyone doing this route should take a couple bolts and a bolt kit to back these up. Apparently there are a few more of these single-bolt rap anchors around these Reef routes. I'm told that Death By Chocolate, Day of Atonement, 1000' of Fun, and the more recent routes all have regular double-bolt anchors. The lower rap anchors, with double bolts, all sport single "American Triangle" pieces of 1/2" webbing. Best expect to have to tidy these up too.

By Paul Ross
Dec 20, 2003

If you do back up some of the anchors and take a hand drill suggest you take #1 angles ,as hand drilling in this sandstone can produce a hole too big for regular bolts. Crusher..Pleased you enjoyed the adventure...Cheers

By Paul Ross
May 22, 2004

Layne and I popped up and resolved 'Crushers'conserns with the rap/anchor bolts on the very low angled pitches of 4 and 5 , we added two more 4" bolts ,(blue Rawl), as well a bit more webbing here and there for the nervous .The bolt on Pitch 4 was not a spinner, all it required was a bit of nut tightning . This type of bolt, a pin drive, is excellent in the softer sandstone,and tests out above the blue Rawl type that is often sold in climbing shops.While we were in the area we also did a couple more new rather steeper slab routes ,both are equipped with well placed double 4" bolts . We want to keep you Bolder, I mean Boulder lads happy.......Have a good one.......