Curley Shuffle

Great route for practicing those 5.12 moves, even if there is only one.........great for top roping and letting the whole group try. Jan 23, 2004

Local legend is that it's harder than it was originally b/c of a broken hold. I've never seen it any different than its current state, but I've only been playing on it for a few years. I scoped the whole line on TR today, and the section past the crux is stellar, somewhat making up for the crux being right off the deck and pretty painful. There's a pocket that takes a red tricam between bolts #2 and #3. Nov 18, 2013

Clip bolt 2 at your waist, after doing the crux. Don't worry, that spinning quarter inch first bolt is bomber, lots of folks have 'tested' it. Nov 18, 2013

Current hardware details: The first bolt's SS SMC hanger spins and is bent a bit. The bolt is a 3/8" sleeve anchor, probably a Rawl "5-piece." It's still strong however as I've seen 3 people, myself included, fall on it several times. Give a good soft catch on this bolt, little hop, as it's damaging to the rope. Bolts 2 & 3 are also 3/8", "5-piece" sleeve anchors. An old Kong Italy hanger on the 2nd bolt. I would like to replace the bolts soon, they could use it better sooner than later. I think bolts are carbon steel and hangers are stainless. On 06/07/2015, bolt 2 was tightened but remains a bit loose due to the rock beneath the hanger not being flat, hanger on bolt 3 was previously tweaked sideways out of position, the hanger was repositioned. The bent hanger on bolt 1 prevents a socket from gaining the hex head so an open faced wrench will be needed to tighten it. Addition of a washer and some loktite would help.

Protection Beta: the second clip can be made after hitting the left hand crimp just left of bolt 2, but it's hard to do. It may be better to make the next couple moves to a better right hand then clip just above the waste. Either way, don't blow the second clip or the moves after the left-hand crimp before clipping. If you do, prepare to absorb the shock of hitting the slope below. Try a Red Tricam in the pocket in camming mode with point facing left. I've also seen it proed with a C4. Your hand will be where you want your pro. Stay cool and make one more move right to the jug and a good stance to fiddle in gear. There is an option to climb to the right at the top to clip a bolt on Fly Away and protect the runout at the top, unless your pride gets in the way like mine did.

Very fun, albeit mentally challenging route with many sequence options for getting through the crux. Bring your crimp strength and pay close attention to your feet.

Edit:
Here is a video of the route prior to the hardware replacement. Thank you Kash for the video and editing and thank you Jared for the photos!
youtu.be/D-f8i9X17YE Jun 14, 2015

HARDWARE UPDATE: All old 3/8 bolts have been removed and replaced due to unsafe conditions. Since this route has changed over the years, bolts have been added and first bolt placed in a better location. Bolt 1 has been placed a bit higher and more direct to protect blowing the crux. Bolt 2 has been placed back into the same hole. Be sure not to Z clip bolt 2 as it can be easy to do. New bolt 3 been placed left of the pocket. Why? Simply because the natural pro in the pocket is remarkably poor and could lead to serious injury if you blew the 4th bolt. Bolt 4 was placed back into the same hole where the old bolt 3 use to be. New bolt 5 has been placed 6ft above bolt 4.

Hardware Used: 4“ 316 Stainless Steel Wave Bolt w/ Powers AC100+ Gold epoxy Dec 11, 2015

The bolt replacement job on The Curly Shuffle is now finished thanks to Kash. I joined him to help out this past Wednesday afternoon after he received a verbal "go ahead" from climbing ranger Max McGuire. Max and another young ranger who also climbs came out and observed the first part of the process. Kash generously donated 6 new Wave bolts to the wall. They are glue-ins and have a very low profile, much less visible than a painted bolt hanger. The visible portions were painted and look great. We moved bolt one up a bit and slightly right to protect blowing the clip with an armful of slack on bolt 2 and to allow a climber better protection when opting to not clip from the left hand crimp crux rail but to move past this and clip bolt 2 at the waist from a right hand pinch. This adds the potential to z-clip since bolts 1 & 2 are closer together but isn't a big deal since even if the mistake is made the fall isn't bad. We patched the old hole with a bit of the Powers epoxy and some dirt from the base; it has all but disappeared.
Kash & I went back today (friggin' cold!) to 'test' the bolts and both redpointed the route again with the new hardware. It climbs and protects great, is a lot of fun, still very challenging, and I think much more accessible now since the R is essentially removed.

Anyone know the story on where the name came from? Was it from the hit 80's song? Or a play on the footwork involved? Dec 12, 2015

Here is a bit of the route history from Ken:

"Dancy and Eriksson are both still close friends and I have their contacts if needed.

Matt and I cleaned, worked and top roped Curly thinking I was a tr first around 88 or so. About a year later E calmly informed us he had done it years earlier.

Then I began drilling it on lead, as I was still old school at the time. I was even uncomfortable drilling on it as I had already previewed it via TR. I did not modernize until early 2000's and have always been asynchronous with the times. I was even in Smith Rocks in the 80s witnessing the full sport scene but stayed a dinosaur. Now I'm full sport.

I placed the first 2 bolts via hooking and let it sit a while, think I was out of town. Joe Potter and Tim Medina rapped in, placed the 3rd bolt, and also a pin between bolts 2 and 3 -- I just happened to walk up as this was happening. Didn't care too much but I thought it was rather lacking in valor.

Medina red pointed it, looked like he had it wired already. Potter did not climb at a 5.11 level and didn't try.

I was rating it either c or d at the time as it had a large hold before the bulge that is gone.

On the retro I would advise rethinking all placements as the line is different now, more right. Also a bolt near the pin site would not be amoral. Pulling a pin after a lead is f#@%ed up in this type of scenario.

That's the story."


Here is the onomatology, also from Ken:

"Matt Dancy and I were into the 3 Stooges at the time (still enjoy the show infrequently). Curly does a dance called the shuffle.

Also Shemp out at Hollister (.11d fingers) was named after the show.

Wacky entertainment was limited and much harder to obtain back then.

I've been trying to get my hair to look exactly like Moe's for many years."


And here is a little treat:

youtube.com/watch?v=u4_Apvt… Dec 13, 2015

Dang...what color was that bus? Dec 16, 2015

Crux feels about like a V6 boulder problem approximately 7 moves long with a clip in there as well. Try Pete's Problem on the Pete Boulder for training. May 25, 2017