Diablo Canyon - Styx

So was just trying to see if anyone out there has climbed above the anchors at the top of the styx in Diablo?? I have spent a few days climbing in that area and there looked to be some lines above the routes listed but there isnt any info on the route guides about it.

Trying to see if i can find some beta on it.

I haven't heard of anyone climbing up there. Knowing what I know about Diablo rock, especially the south facing rock, I'd be very leery to try to climb any of that ground-up. The rock up there appears to be high on the choss spectrum. Rapping in and cleaning it before trying to climb it would be highly advisable. But do that in off-hours, and have a spotter, since many people hike in the canyon bottom directly underneath. 

Rapping in from above seems to be a good idea first. I’m going to have to check that out. I will make sure it’s an early week day so we avoid the hikers. I was hoping for some beta but seems like I’ll have to provide some of myself.

Back in 1994 I climbed a route up the tallest part of the wall above what's now Styx in what I thought was the cleanest looking dihedral. The ascent is etched clearly in my memory and I think that even twenty four years later I could draw in the line. That was my first visit to Diablo (and first summer trad climbing). My partner and climbing mentor told me that there was no way he would lead the upper part, but that he'd be happy to belay me if I wanted to give it a go, proving that while he was a compassionate and intelligent teacher he was severely lacking in the judgement it takes to coach a protegee with obviously sub-par judgement through that first critical year on the sharp end. Every piece of gear seemed suspect, and I was certain that the entire dihedral would peel away from the wall with only a few gentle words of encouragement. Virtually every hand and foothold flexed, and at one point a foot blew, leaving me dangling above a semi-attached ledge that was stacked with blocks. I somehow managed to calm my exploding heart, pull myself back on, and inch my way to the top without killing myself or my belayer.  When my partner reached the belay he patted me on the back and said it was the worst climb he'd done in a decade of traveling the US. We ended up in a bowl to the left of the line that I seem to recall added a final kick in the pants--maybe because we were walking through cactus in climbing shoes. We picked our way back down from the top via a circuitous route and ran into a large man in a lawn-chair with a cooler of beer next to him. He'd gotten comfortable in the arroyo in order to watch the shenanigans and he gave us each a beer as we walked up, saying, "You boys look like you need these." Indeed we did.

Joe, please share what you find if you rap in (or go ground up!). It could be that the rock is fine and that I was too inexperienced and incompetent to know what I was on, but I didn't go back to Diablo for years after that scarring event and I certainly never had a desire to climb that wall again.

Josh Smith wrote: Back in 1994 I climbed a route up the tallest part of the wall above what's now Styx in what I thought was the cleanest looking dihedral. The ascent is etched clearly in my memory and I think that even twenty four years later I could draw in the line. That was my first visit to Diablo (and first summer trad climbing). My partner and climbing mentor told me that there was no way he would lead the upper part, but that he'd be happy to belay me if I wanted to give it a go, proving that while he was a compassionate and intelligent teacher he was severely lacking in the judgement it takes to coach a protegee with obviously sub-par judgement through that first critical year on the sharp end. Every piece of gear seemed suspect, and I was certain that the entire dihedral would peel away from the wall with only a few gentle words of encouragement. Virtually every hand and foothold flexed, and at one point a foot blew, leaving me dangling above a semi-attached ledge that was stacked with blocks. I somehow managed to calm my exploding heart, pull myself back on, and inch my way to the top without killing myself or my belayer.  When my partner reached the belay he patted me on the back and said it was the worst climb he'd done in a decade of traveling the US. We ended up in a bowl to the left of the line that I seem to recall added a final kick in the pants--maybe because we were walking through cactus in climbing shoes. We picked our way back down from the top via a circuitous route and ran into a large man in a lawn-chair with a cooler of beer next to him. He'd gotten comfortable in the arroyo in order to watch the shenanigans and he gave us each a beer as we walked up, saying, "You boys look like you need these." Indeed we did.

Joe, please share what you find if you rap in (or go ground up!). It could be that the rock is fine and that I was too inexperienced and incompetent to know what I was on, but I didn't go back to Diablo for years after that scarring event and I certainly never had a desire to climb that wall again.

I have attempted 2 raps with 2 different climbing partners (not my normal partner) and I failed on both attempts.

The first one started off smoothly but about 5 feet over the edge I realized we were about 15-20 feet to far the the left of the line I have been eyeing. After ascending back up and moving my anchor over and resetting all the gear I didn't even make it over the edge but 2 feet and the rock I placed my foot on contain a rather nasty prickly pear cactus leaving me with 18 or so needles of pure pain to pull out of my foot. My partner declined not to go over the edge after my experience and we decided to just call it and go back around and enjoy the rest of the day climbing.

The second attempt, with a different partner failed before we even got up top. We started our hike around to the top and were about half way up when he rolled his ankle pretty badly and instead of leaving him on the trail we decided it was in our best interest to just turn around and get to the cooler that was icing our "refreshments" to help with the swelling he was getting.

I don't have anything planned for this in the next week or 2 but once I get something figured out for a day I can make it back over there i will make sure to post the results. :)

I expect there can be at least one other line above Cold Day in Hell.  I second the comments above:  rap in and place another high anchor, clean during the week with a spotter below and definitely take care not to destroy the existing anchors at the Styx area.