Acid Rock

fa: pete cleveland and steve wunsch Jun 30, 2002

Can you get past the cruton Check Valve???? May 20, 2003

the crouton stopper!yo,why hasnt this thing been led?or has it?soloed? i mean with enough top-rope rehearsal you can get this thing so wired.oops i mean "head-pointing",pre rehearsing routes on t.r. now has a cool name. anyway,i had thought about leading it on sky hooks with 5ml tag lines on them that the belayer held down tight after you placed them,but then i moved away and saved myself the trouble. does the sky hook idea sound to crazy,people do it. Mar 24, 2005

I agree with Steve. Why has this not been led? Many regulars have this route wired into submission, so you would think that a lead ascent would be the natural progression. True, there is no pro to speak of, and the landing is, shall we say, "career ending". Mar 29, 2005

Actually scoped out the pro in '85. It's there. Two very (very-very) good horizontals. Difficulty is they're just after the check valve. Maybe a knifeblade high and right to make a fall off the cv "only crippling." Apr 13, 2005

Eat your hearts out. First lead: Jason Huston. 9/26/2006

badass Sep 27, 2006

Sweet dude, your boy Jason deserves some props... Sep 27, 2006

I really never thought I would see the day. Bravo Jason. Sep 28, 2006

Awesome lead, lets hear some details! Oct 24, 2006

God, nice lead Huston. I'm still trying to fish in some decent gear on the first part. I'm thinking maybe a Trango Splitter Cam. I did figure some tall man beta to do that crux move more smoothly, dialing it in! Apr 21, 2009

Ding! This one is done. I found that any hooks just got in my way in the middle so I stuck in some directionals at the start and then was able to stick in a good cam to the left before I made the traversing moves.
A classic climb and a standard for the grade. Oct 13, 2009

Nice work Rhoads!!! Oct 13, 2009

Jay, Thanks for repostin Jason's essay. [Editor's note: The essay has been removed.] Its interesting to reread it and gain more perspective into what was going on in his head.He obviously thought hard about what he was setting out to do( ask a mom)As well as become somewhat obsessed with the climb.
Bechler use to bug me about trying to lead Acid Rock as I had it more wired than he did,i remember lookin at the gear. At the time we couldnt bring our selves to place a pin on it but I thought about using hooks.Ultimatly i left to start a new life in colorado.Excuses ,excuses,it all adds up to what we use to call "failure to pull down" on my part.
I think its great that jason led it and sent one of the best climbs at DL. A very proud send!(not to mention his other amazing leads at DL. Club Salute. Steve S. Mar 1, 2011

Hey Jay, Steve, or anybody for that matter, does anyone know who soloed the route? And when? I was reading the forum from the original post and saw it mentioned? Just curious. Mar 3, 2011

Remo,the Solo of Acid Rock was by Mike McCarren late 80's 0r early 90's
(same dude who soloed Bagatelle and slew of other hard routes that he did not bother bragging about)Peace and F-nes Steve S. Mar 3, 2011