Gear recommendations for Hitchcock Pinnacle

Hi folks,

I would love climb Hitchcock the next time I am in Tucson, although I am new to trad leads (I've done a few at the 5.5 -5.7 level). So, of course, my trad rack currently consists of mostly passive nuts and hexes, along with a couple old (vintage?) cams (1.5 HB wales and old Camalot #2), couple of tri-cams...

So my question is, what are your recommendations for gear on the standard 5.7 route up Hitchcock? I'm suspecting my current hodge-podge may be inappropiate...

Thanks a bunch,

Nate

There is a spot for a smaller cam, 0.5 BD or so, in addition to a bolt. The gear is actually not very good. After I saw the placement I just kept going...the climbing at that point is easier than the beginning moves on the route. As long as your up there, top rope the .10 on the other side, it has a couple really fun moves.

yeah, the gear is marginal. I believe a yellow or orange tcu would work, then there is a bolt a little higher. It's only 30 ft or so, and the first 10-15ft is basically a scramble (which I guess you could get gear in), so those two pieces should see you to the top. Beware of the even trickier 5.10 to the climbers left. It has seen a deck or two from the occasional leader. Do the route during the week unless you want a peanut gallery gawking at you. Have fun.

I remember thinking the gear is solid, once you get it in. However, doing so isn't easy, so I wouldn't consider it a great early gear lead. I remember it being a couple of smallish cams (yellow and maybe red alien size?)

The 5.10 on the left side takes fantastic gear and lots of it under the roof. I understand that someone recently decked by pulling a piece on it, tho. Good idea to put in multiple pieces there probably.

Thanks for the info guys, I'll probably pick up some more tri-cams and give it a shot with those.

Unless the climbing is very easy for you, I think you're going to want a couple of real camming units in the smaller sizes.

Ah, I see. Thanks for the advice. I may wait until I get a few more leads under my belt and a better variety of gear, sure looks like a fun climb though...

Jeff thought I ought to post this photo of the different ways that the lower horizontal crack on Hitchcock can be protected...

Jeff and Bob,

thanks for the pics. Looks like that day's weather was a mite bit unpleasant for you! Nice placements, looks like those are all aliens? And the horizontal crack they're placed in, is that above the big block on the north face?

I actually was in Tucson a couple weeks back, and stopped and looked at the route after we did the standard route on the Matterhorn (fun climb). It was a bit late in the day to climb it unfortunately, but I noticed that the north face route now has two bolts, the one consistent one and now one at about the level of the top of the block on the north face. The bolts on the route continue to shift in number it seems...

Thanks,

Nate

The north face is very climbable without gear. I think it's 3 bolts, but it's short and starts halfway up if you scramble up to the large rock on the right. Top rope the .10 imo unless you're looking for a real challenge in terms of gear. It was last year when I did it (top rope) when I was significantly weaker, but I had a fair amount of trouble getting over the roof.

The most important gear you can take on this route is between your ears. Fiddle some stuff in to relax the brain then don't fall off. Welcome to adventure climbing. If you can climb 5.9 you can do this with marginal pro. If you think you are going to fall off then down climb and come back another day. When you are finally able to do the climb it will be that much more satisfying.

Thanks for the additional responses. Since I originally posted this, I got a good look at the route after a day of climbing (unfortunately it was getting dark and my partner voted, smartly, on waiting 'til another day) and feel pretty confident about climbing it. Especially with the three bolts, which though unfortunate that the bolting controversy continues, I am not too proud to clip.

Thanks again,

Nate

I think one of those bolts belongs to the Northwest route, but it can be clipped then back-cleaned to reduce rope drag once you clip the higher bolt that actually belongs to the North side route.

I was on this route a couple of months ago, and think it was still only two bolts between the two routes???

According to climbaz.com, last time more bolts were added to the North side route Steve Grossman then took the opportunity to chop 'em on a visit to Tucson.

there are 3 bolts on this thing but the last time i was there they were on 3 different routes. there aren't 3 bolts in a row anywhere, are there? have new bolts gone in recently?

True, my last comment about the 3 bolts was mistaken. When I looked at it there were two bolts in a row for the north face route, and I was under the impression that previously only the lower first bolt was in place.

I checked things out after Nate said there might be an extra bolt on the pinnacle. Unless I am going blind, which is possible, there are two bolts on the north side - one for the 5.7 route and one for the 5.8 route. Same as it ever was...

I do not view the two bolts as being in a row - unless it is horizontally...

So IIRC the way to get to the top without gear is start off the block on the 5.8 NW route, clip that bolt, then traverse left over to the north face route, clip that bolt, then back-clean the first bolt, then head for the summit.

classic Jeff!