Desert Shield

Updated to reflect changes for 2024.

This is an amazing route, combining both excellent free climbing and moderate clean aid on an amazing headwall. 

The anchors are all bolted, and you rap the route. Suggested you climb this on the weekdays, we saw 6 parties bail on route on the weekend, zero parties besides us on a Wednesday.

“For competent and experienced parties there should be no problem doing this route in a day” If you are reading this description to find out how to climb the route, you should plan on two days. The aid climbing (I assume from experience on other routes and the placements) has gotten a bit trickier. The other IAD problem is how to get in there without an overnight pass and get back, since day users can’t get picked up by the shuttle, you have to wait for it to get in, there’s a big bivy BBQ ledge, etc.

You need a permit to overnight, which now allows you access to drive your car up the road and park it. Avoid bikers and Turkeys.

Approach- Walk up the trail to the vinyl brown steps, step over the right side. Go up and left to the angled handcrack (3rd class to base)

P1 Continue over right to the base of a low angle crack (5.4ish). At the top, traverse hard left, then go up the blocky corner to an anchor. 

P2 Start on runout 5.7 face climbing to a sport-bolted section of 5.11a which is not really aidable (but you could always just pull on the bolts to make it easier). Instead of blowing out free climbing holds with hooks, just bring a 5’ stick clip/cheater stick or whatever. The bolted section sucks to aid with ladders, would suggest dogging the rope and just flailing on it. Appease the free climbing people and don’t use hooks. Up above it turns from fingers to hands/bigger hands.

P3-We ended up linking this pitch to a comfy small stance, which is a handcrack at 5.9. There’s not really a separation between P2-3. Finish in an alcove with bolted anchor below a short #4 crack. 

P4 Go up #4 crack to base of chimney. A 5.9, left-facing chimney to some easier scrambling. There’s some death blocks in there. IF you don’t want to run it out on the outside of the squeeze, you need to lengthen your knot and take all the gear off your harness to squeeze in, and place 2’s-3’s above. Lower yourself out, then continue up to the BBQ ledge. 

P5 we climbed the face/cracks directly above BBQ ledge, a spooky move to a great edge, then blocky climbing. Then up to a somewhat sandy lieback flake crack system that ends to the left of the obvious prow (5.9). This seems like 100 ft or so. This is the white tat bolted anchor you can barely see in the red rock.

P6 The business. Aid the bolt ladder with one hook move up the overhanging prow, around the corner, and then to a set of anchors at the base of the headwall crack. 

P7 The first pitch of the amazing crack that splits the headwall. C2+ micro-nutting fun; lots of aliens and offset aliens are good too. This pitch is fiddly and sustained, but never too hard as there is always a good cam or nut before a thin section. There’s a chance you could deck on the slab for a while, clip and bounce test everything. A #1 ballnut might work in a spot I used a #2 hand placed beak. Tons  of different sizes and shapes of nuts. Fixed nuts seemed fine. 

P8 The second headwall pitch that begins easy, but packs a punch. Aid C2 for a while up to a bolt under an overlap. There are opportunities for Camalots throughout this section. Eventually it gets thinner and some hook moves and bathooks are necessary to move right to another crack. This is the C3 crux of the route. A couple more thin micro scars lead to mandatory 5.6 steep free climbing to the belay. This section is extremely loose. Beware of huge loose blocks, but it is possible to climb around them.

P9 Didn't get to do this because of a huge thunderstorm that pummeled us and sent us to the ground in retreat. Apparently a C1 crack to a 5.6 ramp to a short bolt ladder to the top.

Have great fun on this amazing route!

For the first half of the route (which is free) you'll want a standard free rack up to a number 4 Camalot. Take doubles in the hand-size pieces. Triples to #3 Camalot would make these pitches a lot more reasonable if you’re aiding any lower pitches or 5.9 is difficult for you.

Aiding now requires 2 sets offset brassies,  single wire DMM nuts, DMM offsets (4x #7 would not go unused) up to #11. 3 hooks, talons are not helpful. Two skyhooks, one cliff hanger. Offset cams are sometimes more useful than Totems on the aid pitches when you need them. 2-3 rivet hangers for summit pitch. #2-4 ballnuts, and 2-3 #2 beaks to be hand placed only. (This is likely controversial, but we firmly believe that a hand placed beak is just as clean as nuts, and possibly further enhances placements where you might actually be able to get a nut in it. Let’s be honest here, nut placements do not make the placement better afterwards.

HOW TO NOT BLOW OUT THE ROCK FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS

You want a proper nut tool to remove nuts,  then use your ATC to tap-tap-tap up on the corner of the nut. It works. DO NOT JUST RIP NUTS straight up. This also messes up all your wires, and removes more of the placement than tapping them out.