Working up to Yellow Spur

Title is pretty self-explanatory. My goal is to lead pitches 1, 3, and 5 by the end of the fall. I've been up Gambit and Ruper in Eldo so far, just wondering if there are any routes anyone else hopped on that helped them get to Yellow Spur. 

Follow those pitches?

Are you trying to onsight it? If not, how about just follow it leading the easier pitches, so you can get an idea what it feels like. I think the route is worth doing again and again.

I'd say if you can climb the following in pretty good style, you're ready for Yellow Spur:

* Green Spur
* Tagger
* Long John Wall
* Bastille West Buttress

Check out Green Spur.

Thanks Stimpy, exactly what I was looking for. 

The journey from having done two Eldo 5.8 routes to get on Yellow Spur (face climbing 9+):

Hard 8: Over and Out, Whistle Stop, Sunshine Wall.

Soft 9: Sister Morphine, Touch and Go, Unsaid, Heavy Weather.

Medium 9: Green Spur, Hair City, Allosaur, Emerald City combined with 2nd pitch of Over the Hill, Peanuts, Horse d'Oeuvre.

Dress rehearsal 9 (that can be set as TR or easy bailoff): Morning Thunder, 1st pitch of Tagger.

All of these have some aspects of face climbing and small nut placements, but all are less committing than Yellow Spur.

Mostly good recommendations above except West Buttress I'd really recommend against. Nails hard and I thought pretty sketchy. Hair City is another one I wouldn't recommend. Sketch factor is real on those where I'd consider the yellow spur mostly safe. If you want to work on your head game The Bulge could be good, probably more run out than anything you'll see up there. Ant Hill Direct too is another one thats good run out easy climbing. Again though probably more sketch than anything on the Spur.

The first pitch of Ce La Vie could be a good one. Hard 9 with thin climbing and a bolt at the crux. First pitch of vertigo is a great pitch too. Not really similar climbing but safe and if you can climb it you're plenty ready for the Spur. Morning Thunder (hard, safe) and Allosaur are great recommendations, and right next to each other. Rewritten if you haven't already done it is an excellent one to tick. About as awesome, similar climbing and a bit easier all around.

But really, just jump on er' when you feel ready. My suggestion is look around and figure out how to protect that first move off the deck. If the first pitch feels hard but doable you're ready for the rest of it. If you're feeling good I'd absolutely recommend combining the last two pitches. Bring lots of slings, be mindful of rope drag and just do it! I don't know why anybody would split that up.

I see lots of nervous leaders forget to protect the second on P1. That'd be an ugly pendulum if your second blows it. Maybe get after the Ruper traverse again and focus on protecting your second?

Don't do this. The 2 pieces to the left of the leader in the blue shirt were added after he escaped the belay. The only piece originally between him and his second was the piece to the girl's left. Once unclipped, a fall would have led to a huge pendulum.

stimpys list is real good, i would also add that if you can follow cleanly and lead the runout pitch on anthill direct 5.9 that would set you up for success as well. 

Following up on Mac's comment regarding West Buttress, I don't remember it being that sketchy, but maybe I just suppressed that memory. It's got some technical climbing in the pins section that's heads-up, but I don't recall it being dangerous. It's fun climbing, but I wouldn't call it a prerequisite to being ready for Yellow Spur. Hair City I would avoid as a 5.9 leader. 

I'd also second thinking about your follower on Yellow Spur P1, that's a nasty swing if they blow the moves getting established over the roof.

Without getting hung up on specific routes, if I recall correctly, the crux on the Yellow Spur was a committing lieback up a right-facing dihedral protected by shitty ancient pins. I recall thinking if I did the route again, that was the takeaway from the first go-round. If I were to do it again, I'd probably bring some Screamers for that section. Enjoy & go for it- it's classic!!!

And at least the ancient pins are fairly close together taking the spook factor down a notch.

It is fantastic.

Go to Rincon and dispatch Over and Out P1 , P2 OTH, Emerald Ciy, Rincon P1, 5.10 crack, 5.8 crack (maybe drop a TR on this one) in a day. If you can handle that, YS shouldn't be a problem.

Another good day could be Calypso P1 to Reggae, Tagger P1, Whistle Stop, P1 Cest la Vie, Touch n Go

Easier mileage training would be Green Spur into Rewritten into Rebuf's

I'm way late to the party here, but I don't agree with Stimpy's list. Of course, this is just my opinion. The climbs are all good, but everyone is harder than the Yellow Spur (Tagger is much harder, and even the first pitch alone is probably harder) with the exception of Long John Wall, which is a great route to do before the Yellow Spur. Although, even LJW has a very dangerous and spooky first pitch. Doing the first pitch of Break on Through, while harder, is a safer way to start. If you've already done the complete Ruper, then I'd say do LJW and then go for the Yellow Spur, which links very nicely from LJW.

But...the first pitch of the Yellow Spur is a bit tricky/dangerous if not solid at this grade. The first piece of gear is way off the ground and there is some legit moves to get to it. Be really careful there. Then, the big roof is protected by an old pin. It appears bomber to me, but probably wise to back it up. Then, if you can go from there to ledge without gear, it is way easier, but that is a serious runout. Best to put in a piece, quickly, as this is overhanging, in the finger crack. And, as previously stated, make sure you put in a piece as soon as you turn the roof to protect your second before doing the long traverse over to the tree and the first belay. Sorry if this is too much information, as I realize it might be.

Good luck!

I'm with Bill. Tagger is significantly harder than YS and not even close to the same style (it's a burly roof, and the YS crux is essentially a sport climb). 

If you're really psyched to onsite the Spur, than you can't go wrong with climbing any of the classic 8's and 9's in Eldo to prep for it, but if on-siting isn't a big deal to you I would definitely just go with somebody that knows the route so you can see it for yourself! The best way to prep for YS is to do YS!

Mostly good advice above.  

IMO:

Tagger first pitch is a bit tricky to climb and protect.  It is number 3 on the injury board.  

West Buttress is harder than YS briefly, but gear is reasonable, pins and small nuts near the crux.

Morning Thunder has an awkward start with less than idea gear.

Hair City is fairly runout.  

I would save these for after Yellow Spur. 

Greg D wrote:

Tagger first pitch is a bit tricky to climb and protect.  It is number 3 on the injury board.   

What are number 1 and 2?

Brian Carver wrote:

What are number 1 and 2?

Calypso and Bastille.  I think Calypso is 1.  This is on the board by the restrooms.  So, it may not be quite up to date.

T G wrote:

For sure Bastille crack is #1. Per an AAC analysis by Joel Peach in 2017, the East Slabs descent off Redgarden is #2. Calypso is #3, #4 is a tie between Rewritten, Werk Supp, and Yellow Spur.

All the easy classics...although pitch 2 of Werk Supp is hard by my standards. This makes sense since these climbs get done a lot more often than Jules Verne and Perilous Journey...