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Crown Royal
5.8,
Trad, 500 ft (152 m), 5 pitches, Grade II,
Avg: 2.4 from 16
votes
FA: unknown
Nevada
> Southern Nevada
> Red Rocks
> (16) Black Velv…
> Whiskey Peak
> Whiskey Peak - East
Access Issue: Red Rock RAIN AND WET ROCK: The sandstone is fragile and is very easily damaged when wet.
Details
Holds rip off and climbs have been and will continue to be permanently damaged due to climbers not respecting this phenomenon. After a heavy storm, the rock will remain wet, sometimes for several days. PLEASE DO NOT CLIMB IN RED ROCKS during or after rain. A good rule of thumb is that if the ground near your climb is at all damp (and not powdery dry sand), then do not climb. There are many alternatives (limestone, granite, basalt, and plastic) nearby.
HUMAN WASTE Human waste is one of the major issues plaguing Red Rocks. The Las Vegas Climbers Liaison Council and the AAC provides free "wag bags" in several locations (Black Velvet, First Pullout, Kraft Mtn/Bouldering, The Gallery, and The Black Corridor). These bags are designed so that you can pack your waste out - consider bringing one to be part of your kit (just like your rope and shoes and lunch) no matter where you go. Once used, please dispose of them properly (do not throw them in the toilets at the parking area).
Description
Between the main (Frogland) face of Whiskey Peak and the Lazy Buttress to its left, lies an indistinct rib. Crown Royal goes up the left side of this rib.
Pitch 1: Start in a small dihedral and follow mostly easy rock to a belay stance on the left.
Pitch 2: Move left into the main corner. Belay on a ledge with a small tree that is halfway up to the roof.
Pitch 3: Handjam past one tricky spot (5.8) to the roof. Step right and continue up the easier but wider crack.
Pitches 4 & 5: Routefind your way to the top.
Descent: cross south to the main gully and descend as for Frogland.
[Hide Photo] View of the first dihedral pitch from the trail. You'll have to scramble a bit to get to this ledge.
[Hide Photo] I don't know if I'll ever climb this route, but if I do, this will be on the back of my harness.
[Hide Photo] If you don't belay at the obvious bushy ledge on the second pitch, you can continue to this cramped position underneath the overhang. You'll probably want your big cam as part of your anchor. You…
[Hide Photo] Descent to the main trail is on the back side of the climb.
[Hide Photo] ¡On P2, don't go too far left like I did and end up in this corner. It was fun climbing, but not the right route. The correct way is up the crack in the top right of this photo
[Hide Photo] Approaching the ledge on the second pitch.
[Hide Comment] P. 1 is really nice and not very difficult. Not much of a belay ledge at the top. P. 2 is awkward and a bit bushy. The oak trees at the top make for a cramped belay. Sadly, the beautiful crack directly above the first belay, which looks from below like a good alternative, ends in the middle of nowhere. P. 3 is excellent. A second #4 wouldn't have been unwelcome, but there's enough variety to improvise other protection for the wide section. Great belay ledge. We finished up the varnished rib on the left in two moderate pitches. A bit of loose rock up high, but pretty pleasant. Overall, a fun moderate route with just a smidge of 5.8 climbing.
Apr 7, 2015
[Hide Comment] We did a variation on P1 and P2 because of a mistake, but it was pretty nice. The mistake was traversing too early on P1 and belaying at 1/2 rope on a small ledge with a bushy tree and a rap anchor. There is a John Wilder photo with route overlays of Gentle Ben's and Crown Royal, on the Gentle Ben's page, that shows the approximate line we took to the ledge. For P2, we went straight up to the anchors via a little easy face climbing and a nice crack. About 20-30 ft up this P2 variation, there is a comfortable stance on the right where there was a huge mass of stiff and bleached tat slung through a chockstone (we cleaned it up and left fresh cord). Larry D'Angelo's photo above "approaching the ledge on the second pitch" is taken from this vantage point, which is directly left of the P1 belay shown in the Handren book and in the "Crown Royal" photo above. It must be somewhat common for people to use either the tree ledge that we used or this chockstone ledge as alternate P1 belays. I continued up the nice looking crack left of the chimney (seen in Larry's photo) rather than climbing the chimney, which looked grungy to me. This seemed around 5.7 to me ( although a bit steeper than the chimney) and it took gear well. As seen in the photo it goes directly to the P2 tree ledge.
Oct 1, 2020
[Hide Comment] I included photos for bottom of first pitch (from the trail and from the start of the climb), view of belay stations not yet shared (top of second to fifth pitches), and location of descent trail. I hope this will help divert traffic from the ever so popular Frogland. Pitches are pretty short but I don’t recommend linking them because of rope drag! And definitely was nice to have brought up two #4s, and even then I was shuffling one of them up.
Apr 14, 2022
[Hide Comment] Good climb, wanted to leave a note on the last two wandery pitches. If you want to preserve the adventure aspect inherent in the last two pitches, just move on to the next thing/don't read any further.
The top of pitch 3 was fairly obvious. After pulling the smaller roof near the end of the third pitch, head up clean rock to the right of a patch of scrub oak and head toward the corner where there's a crack and a larger scrub oak tree to its left (please build an anchor, this tree isn't particularly beefy). From here it's not super obvious. What we did...
Pitch 4: Head up from the belay to the left arching crack, use this for intermittent gear. Rock quality here is best described as plated. We climbed gently. Top of the crack head up and right on a white rock slab, then up a bit more to a larger scrub oak(?) tree for a belay on the right side of the large swath of growth in a small gully. There's a lot of loose rock here, be careful. ~70 feet
Pitch 5: Head right for about 20 feet, to the edge of the ridge (as seen from the belay). There's a bit of gear but it's mostly 5.5-5.6-ish for a couple moves to a stance. It's quite exposed but straight forward. From the stance head up and left, following path of least resistance. There's another left trending crack/short corner with a few trees at the top of it. This was the top out for the climb/final belay. ~90 feet
At the time of posting, from the top there were a few cairns that led due south to the main descent gully behind.
May 1, 2022
Avg: 2.4 from 16
votes
Access Issue: Red Rock RAIN AND WET ROCK: The sandstone is fragile and is very easily damaged when wet.
Details
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P. 2 is awkward and a bit bushy. The oak trees at the top make for a cramped belay. Sadly, the beautiful crack directly above the first belay, which looks from below like a good alternative, ends in the middle of nowhere.
P. 3 is excellent. A second #4 wouldn't have been unwelcome, but there's enough variety to improvise other protection for the wide section. Great belay ledge.
We finished up the varnished rib on the left in two moderate pitches. A bit of loose rock up high, but pretty pleasant. Overall, a fun moderate route with just a smidge of 5.8 climbing. Apr 7, 2015
Upland
Los Angeles, CA
Pitches are pretty short but I don’t recommend linking them because of rope drag! And definitely was nice to have brought up two #4s, and even then I was shuffling one of them up. Apr 14, 2022
Las Vegas, NV
The top of pitch 3 was fairly obvious. After pulling the smaller roof near the end of the third pitch, head up clean rock to the right of a patch of scrub oak and head toward the corner where there's a crack and a larger scrub oak tree to its left (please build an anchor, this tree isn't particularly beefy). From here it's not super obvious. What we did...
Pitch 4: Head up from the belay to the left arching crack, use this for intermittent gear. Rock quality here is best described as plated. We climbed gently. Top of the crack head up and right on a white rock slab, then up a bit more to a larger scrub oak(?) tree for a belay on the right side of the large swath of growth in a small gully. There's a lot of loose rock here, be careful. ~70 feet
Pitch 5: Head right for about 20 feet, to the edge of the ridge (as seen from the belay). There's a bit of gear but it's mostly 5.5-5.6-ish for a couple moves to a stance. It's quite exposed but straight forward. From the stance head up and left, following path of least resistance. There's another left trending crack/short corner with a few trees at the top of it. This was the top out for the climb/final belay. ~90 feet
At the time of posting, from the top there were a few cairns that led due south to the main descent gully behind. May 1, 2022