New 8 pitch sport route in Rock Canyon (*Now 22 pitches)

FYI: The upper pitches are fully being worked on now. If you have binoculars, you can go look for us on Saturdays. I took a water stash up today for Tristan (who was bolting the last 4 pitches) and I could barely spot him as a TINY speck way up there! It was like trying to spot climbers on the last pitch of the Nose on El Cap with your naked eye! Keep your eyes peeled and your comfy shoes ready...this route will be done this fall and ready for mass consumption.

Woohoo! Looking forward to it.

Mmmmmmmm

Did this today with Steve Bott and had a lot of fun. Good route. Thinking it might be mixed bolts and gear like Devil's Castle, I took a light rack and used none of it. At the end of the eight pitches, we walked up the slope to look for the next pitches. I think we followed the topo photo but could not find any. Have the next pitches, after the first eight, been completed?

Not yet. We are now working on the last big wall. 4 pitches up there so far with maybe 2-3 more. Then we will get going on the shorter middle wall. Time and money have been slowing us down this season...Hope to be up there the next three weekends to get it done.

criscokid wrote:Time and money have been slowing us down this season...

Mostly money. I really want all of the bolts to be stainless but it gets really expensive when you're putting 250 bolts in a route (even more so when you're a college student...). All of the bolts I've put in so far have been stainless but I'm starting to think I might just go for plated steel ones to finish the route faster. I dunno.

-Tristan

Good luck. I look forward to it, as do many others.

I was wondering if any progress had been made on the route despite the weather. I have a friend visiting who would enjoy it. Is it posssible to climb beyond the bottom eight pitches yet?

Nope. The upper wall (6 pitches) is almost done but there is still a middle section that needs to be completed to link it all together. We're still making some progress despite the weather, though I'm about to run out of bolts again. This puppy might have to wait until next year :(

Bless you, Tristan.

While we had hoped to complete a few more pitches this weekend; Tristan has been sick and I simply wanted to climb it again. I went up with two buds and knocked off a bunch of loose blocks on the first few pitches. This included a big crazy stack of very unsteady blocks near the top of pitch one.
I have been impressed with how often I see parties up there now (even ran into a second party on the way down). Some of the key hidden holds are getting chalk on them and the route itself is getting pretty clean. Thank you to all who have chipped in with doing a little cleaning and even stamping out some faint trails! I have been getting many "thank you's" from climbers I have seen up there (even though the biggest ones should go to Tristan {the main driving force for this project}). All I can say is; just wait for the upper wall! It's incredible!

hey criscokid, im the guy you ran into on squawstruck on sat afternoon. we finished the 8 pitches just before the sun went down and gotta say i really digged it. the last move on the 8th pitch was flippin sweet! we had to rappel down in the dark and on the 2nd to last rappel the rope got completely stuck and i had to leave it. so if anybody goes up before i get to it you will know what happened. im pretty stoked to see what the rest of the pitches are like. thanks again crisco and tristan and anybody else involved.

this climb looks rad. Thanks for the development, i appreciate your time and beta.

i will definitely be checking this out soon. anyone interested in coming along?

Sorry guys, but I'm tired of working this thing. It won't be done before winter. I'm tired of hiking up there just to bolt and never going climbing! I'll probably take another trip or two up there to bring down my gear, etc., but the route in its entirety won't be finished till next year. I also don't have money to get quality hardware right now, so that's another reason it won't be finished soon. I've been planning on going up there every weekend and miss out on climbing trips to other places, but then the weather craps out or I get sick or something and I end up not getting anything done. As the route currently stands, the 8 lower pitches are done and there are 6 upper pitches done, but the pitches that would connect the upper and lower parts aren't finished. Bummer.

This route haunts me. I've probably spent at least 30 days up there in the past year, if not more. I can see the wall from my house, from my street, from school, from work, from my girlfriend's house, from everywhere else in town... And every time I see it the feeling of excitement is mixed with this sort of uneasy feeling knowing that I have to go back up there again and again and again and again. It's desert season and the towers and walls are calling! Stay tuned, as this puppy WILL some day be finished, and it WILL be rad! (And so far it WILL still be 5.10 and easier!)

Tristan

I had hoped to work with Tristan today on the middle wall but the weather is starting to turn. Like Tristan said; not till next year I guess. Sorry everybody.

Christian "crisco" Burrell wrote:I had hoped to work with Tristan today on the middle wall but the weather is starting to turn. Like Tristan said; not till next year I guess. Sorry everybody.

Hey no need to be sorry for all that hard work! Taking a break from a pain in the butt project (like bolting a 12 pitch route) will probably make you enjoy it rathing than hammering in that last bolt and saying f@#ck this route! Be glad that certain incarcerated (sp?) climbers aren't having a bolt war on this one :)

It's official: We stripped all the ropes and brought down all the gear for the winter. I can't remember lifting a pack so dang heavy!
We did a pretty good reconnaissance of what is left and our best estimate is that the whole route will end up at 20-21 pitches. This WILL get done next year as soon as the weather permits us to get back up there.

Has there been any more devlopment on this route?

Not yet. Waiting for all the snow to melt on the hike to the top. This thing WILL be finished this year, I promise you that!

It'll be years till I tackle this, but thank you for your time! It'll be a great addition to the local scene.