Looking down from near the top of pitch 7. This r...
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I don't know...unless it's 1000 feet off the deck, C1 can be pretty monotonous. In any case, this route is worth doing for the exposure on the last pitch alone! It is also a good practice route for bigger and better things.
I understand this can be a pretty crowded route on weekends so if you're planning on doing a one day ascent, you might as well forget about it if you get behind a party that's hauling. It gets good sun (SW facing) so it can be done comfortably in cooler weather.
The common strategy for this route seems to be to fix the lower section the first day and then come back the next day and fire to the top. A trail leads to the base of the climbing, a short section of sandy rock that leads to a ramp.
P1 (Easy 5th) Begin by climbing up sandy rock to the large, left-trending ledge/ramp above. Follow the ramp to the base of a chimney (identified by a tree about 10 feet up the chimney).
P2 (5.6/5.7) Climb the fun chimney to a belay (two drilled pins) on a large ledge. If you are fixing a line from here, you may want to back the belay up with a cam (#3 Camalot). We had a 70m rope but a 60m should be able to reach the ground if fixing.
P3 (5.5) Walk around right and climb a sandy trough up to a ledge at the base of the headwall.
P4 (C1) This is where the steepness begins. Aid the bolt ladder and eventually a thin crack on a steep slab, reaching a belay where the wall steepens.
P5 (C2) Continue up the crack system to a belay. Skip this belay and tension right into a thin seam. Aid the seam (crux) with creative nutwork and continue up to the next anchor. The seam aids perfectly fine with nuts, offsets, and tricams, so leave the cam hooks at home (camhooks aren't exactly clean aid pieces in sandstone)
P6 (C1) The crack at this point widens enough that it can be free-climbed at a reasonable grade. The guides claim 5.10 but it looks a bit harder and very sustained. If you're still in aid mode, as is likely the case, continue upwards in your aiders to the second set of anchors.
P7 (C1) This pitch looks like it might actually be 5.10. The crack leans pretty seriously to the right by this point, making retreat difficult. Continue aiding upwards to the enormous Solar Orbit Ledge which looks like a good, but slopey, bivy.
P8 (C1) This is the cool part! Traverse the ledge to the far right side, surmount the roof, and aid the bolt ladder to the top. Make sure you look down for a while at the lip of the roof... big exposure! The second has the option of taking a running swing into space at the lip (highly recommended).
This climb isn't too hard to complete in a day, but it is EXTREMELY POPULAR and you are likely to get stuck behind slow parties learning aid climbing. We fixed no ropes and reached the top just behind a party who was on their 3rd day on the route! Probably the best reason to fix pitches is to "reserve" the route, by some unwritten rule.
This is one of the most obvious routes from the road, and the tour buses love to point out climbers on it. When climbing the route, it seems there is always a tour bus moving slowly or parked below you.
This route is perfect for speed. We simul-climbed the first 3 easy pitches, regrouped at the base of the main wall, then simul-aided the remaining 5 pitches to the summit, going 8 hours base-to-base. It was very smooth and solid the whole way. Not only do you not need overnight gear, cut your rack down a bit, and leave the pig in the car, but nobody has to get bored belaying or jugging a single line! We climbed about 50-60 feet apart. My partner Ryan Sayers carried a small backpack with about a gallon of water and our approach shoes. I still trailed a haul line, which Ryan passed through a biner on his harness. When I needed gear, he just sent it up the haul line and I kept going. The only stops we had were waiting at a couple of the belays to pass! I don't know that I could ever simul-aid on C3, but C1 was a joke! With almost entirely bomber placements (except for a few micronuts in the 15-foot section of C2), I felt very in control. We always had 10-12 great pieces between us, and often a belay.
I used to think all those speed techniques were more dangerous, and I think sometimes they are. But in this case, it was much faster, much less of a hassle, more enjoyable since we didn't have to rush at all, and JUST AS SAFE!! And having less gear even made the rappels a breeze.
Yeah, we topped out just after dark as well. We found the raps okay, but it was a little confusing at that one middle spot. It involved a little scary scrambling when it was too dark to see what we were walking into. Then again, we did it in a half-day so no bags. Having just a light rack and 2 ropes probably made it a bit easier. I certainly wouldn't be excited about doing it with a heavy pig in the dark!
I can't believe no one commented on the first rap. It was (to paraphrase from a Simpson's episode) the WORST RAPPEL EVER. YMMV, but I first threw our ropes into a patch of cactus, then they got tangled all to shit later by all the bushes and tree branches. It was really fun running our hands down the ropes four more times and getting cactus everywhere.
Climbed this route over spring break. I thought it was a prettier line to look at than to climb, but none the less a good time overall. There's no need to simu-climb any of it since we were back to the car by 5 and started just after first light. Short fixing would be a good way to make the aid pitches go quicker. Comments on the free climbing: the upper pitches in guidebook listed as 5.10 seemed a bit on the sandbag side. The first one is .5 and .75 camalot size, usually not a desert 5.10 size. The second "5.10" pitch featured an overhanging #2 camalot crack that went through several small roofs and was very strenous, but good fun!One of the pins on the final bolt ladder sheared under bodyweight just after our ascent. Not sure how it is to get by now. Also, there was a party spending 3 days on this route over a spring break weekend. Have a little more respect out there, or at least let people pass. Pretty lame!
How would this wall be for soloing? I haven't soloed a wall yet, but I have to go out to Vegas for a wedding and thought this might make a nice diversion. Is it easy to solo in a day or do you really have to be hauling ass? I actually suck at aiding, so I'm probably slower than most parties on this beast, but ya gotta take it up a notch at some point, I guess..
Also, I've only climbed in Zion in March and APril. Is mid May gonna be too hot?
I climbed it in a day with a partner but I don't think I could make it in a day solo. It's certainly possible, especially if you can free the upper 5.10 pitches and are a fast solo aider. But I wouldn't try it unless you are really fast at both aiding and soloing. The first few pitches would be a pain to rope solo, although they could be done quickly free solo. No way would I free solo them, I almost fell off one of them on lead! Although technically easy, the rock is sandy and there's tons of loose rock around. Plus you would be carrying 2 ropes and a rack!
The heat is probably OK in mid-May, plus you get max daylight. Touchstone would be a more reasonable solo, especially if you fix the bottom 2 pitches or so.
How do the 6th and 7th pitches compare with the standard 5.10 at Indian Creek? If a person is free climbing those pitches is there a certain number of cams per size that you should take?
I remember placing many #1&2 camalots, the start of the first 5.10 pitch is likely sand bagged.
By Mike Morley Administrator From: Oakland, CA Oct 25, 2003
Will - I freeclimbed the 7th pitch and felt it to be accurately rated 5.10. Certainly no harder than 10+. I did, however, take a 20-footer when a face hold broke off - be careful!
Thanks. I should get up there sometime in the next few months to give this thing a whirl. I would like to free that pitch as I have heard that it is very good.
Comment regarding Luke and Andrew's ascent: I don't remember it being necessary to sling the bush (as shown in your photo)and subject it to the forces of jugging. Sure, in moments of desperation we sometimes need to grab onto bushes or sling them for pro, but climbers please show a little respect to the fragile desert vegetation and don't use bushes and trees as fixed gear if it's not needed. Thanks.
Just climbed this route a couple of days ago. Excellent route, really fun, straightforward. The exposure is spectacular and really cool. Unless you want to "leap-frog" cams, bring 4-5 each size .75-3.0 Camalots. The descent is easy, although it may be hard to find the stations in the dark.
So, we fixed to p2 and did the rest the next day, but had to wait for the other party behind us (they needed our ropes to rap) so we ended up bivying on the top in winter. It was frigid, but at about 4 am Magic Fingers ripped up his new guide book and started a fire with our last match. Not quite kosher without a fire permit--but, damn, Fingers was my hero.
Also, be really careful of verglas on the descent gullies to the rap stations in Winter. Ben slipped and fell with the pig on his back and almost slid off the edge. No fun. Be safe.
By Mike Morley Administrator From: Oakland, CA Nov 4, 2004
FWIW, Bigwall.com lists the FA in 1980 rather than 1978 as indicated in Joe's route description above. Not sure who's right.
Did this route last weekend and agree its better to look at than to climb. Fun positions but only OK climbing. i feel that there could be some upgrading of the harware on the route as well. Easy to do in a day as well. the crux is getting worse every year plaese clean resposibly on desert routes.
By John McNamee Administrator From: Littleton, CO Feb 25, 2008
Good forum discussion about strategies for soloing this route
Leaning Wall
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