Tour de S'Platte

Here's one that got me. Yeah, I can't believe I don't know this but maybe I do.

What is it?

What are you talking about Mark?

it's a linkup of any group of routes from the bottom of helen's dome to the top of sheep rock. i've done it several times, linking up different routes. if i remember correctly, the name comes from either harlin's "rocky mountain rock climbs" or chris jones's book of a similar nature. good fun. go do it.

I had a feeling it was something over on those.

I am pretty sure that is a Trout-ism.

Friends and I also refer to it as a long weekend road trip, hitting Eleven Mile, Turkey Rocks and Devils Head. Climbing one day at each, camping in between. I didn't know there was an actual link up it referred to. Good info though.

brian,

yeah you might be right. maybe it was from that mini-guide that he wrote for rock and ice in the '80's. pretty cool piece of work. if you're out there ken, chime in.

If I remember right, I think Pete (Hubbel) Brodie came up with the Tour d'Platte and yeah Slim, it's doing routes on Helens Dome, Acid Rock, and Sheep Rock. Best link-up I did on 'em was Beam Me Up Scotty on Helens, Sandinista on Acid, and Sheep Just Wanna Have Fun on Sheep Rock, finishing on the summit...about 10 pitches of slabbing. Man, my feet ached!

sticks n stones into rotorooter (spelling?) into some horribly licheny climb that was much harder then it appeared to be, wish i knew the name. it was 12 pitches of climbing ranging from easy (i.e. walking up a slab) to 5.10, lots of bolts, so its very protected. on second thought i dont know if its roto rooter but i know its roto something :P its got the 5.10 pitch, it was a fun lead

It's Roototop. Great route for a full-value adventure. Three pitches up the South Face of Helens, a pitch up Stone Pony, 5 pitches up Acid Rock, 2 pitches up Velcro Wall on Sheep Rock and 300 feet of 3rd Class to the top of the Platte. Pete says Roototop is an Indian word...

Mark: I think the reference is indeed to the link up between Helen's Dome/Baby Helen/Acid rock. I went back to my old (1988) Hubbel-Rolofson guide but saw no direct reference to the phrase there. I did the linkage about 12-15 years ago, lotsa fun but (at the time, at least) typical somewhat runout SP climbs on old 1/4" buttonhead bolts. Don't know if these bolts have been upgraded since.