PRINT: Rock Climb Do The Mashed Potato aka Acquitted, Rifle Mountain Park

Do The Mashed Potato aka Acquitted

5.7, Sport, 60 ft (18 m),

Avg: 2.3 from 145 votes
FA: Herman Gollner? P. Colin McGraw?
Colorado > Rifle > Rifle Mtn Park > Ice Cave Walls > Middle Ice Caves (Pot…

Description

This is 10 feet to the right of Hot Potato. It is a well-protected, straightforward route. All of the bolts have great holds/feet to clip in from, except for the second to last one which is the crux. The best part of the route is at the top following a crack for about 6 feet to the chains.

This route is not in the guidebook that I have (Bite the Bullet by Dave Pegg), so if anyone has the info on FA, name or actual rating, please update.

Addendum: according to P. Colin McGraw, Herman Gollner bolted this route, but he related that he didn't climb it.

Protection

8 bolts to a 3 chain anchor.

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

A really good, 5.7 sport climb.

The crux of the route.

Do the Mash Potato, showing the route.

Do The Mashed Potato.

Kirstin just below the crux. Photo by Greg Fisher

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

Zach Roth

This route is named Do the Mashed Potato, and the real rating is 5.7, great route for beginner lead. May 22, 2003

Dustin Bauer

5.7

Fun little route with one or two intersting moves at the second to last bolt. The rest is around 5.6. Jun 2, 2004

Ken Trout
Golden, CO

First ascent of Do The Mashed Potato: Herman Gollner. Nov 20, 2007

P. Colin McGraw

Hey, I cleaned this route! I pried some huge loose flakes off with a crowbar.

Anyway, a little history: the City of Rifle's recreation department wanted to start a climbing program around the year 2000, but all the routes in Rifle were too hard for beginners. I worked for them that summer and went around trying to recruit someone to bolt an easier route and along came Herman Gollner (a truly great guy) to volunteer.

He pretty much bolted it pro bono, only charging for the hardware if I recall, and the irony is that he was busted by the city the year before for illegally bolting "Crime and Punishment"; a fact I nervously withheld from the rec department given that he was the only dude nice enough to help the city out!

On a side note, Herman told me that he bolted but didn't actually climb the route, so I may have actually bagged the first ascent. I wanted to call it "Acquitted" as a sequel to the whole "Crime and Punishement" thing, but Dave Pegg's guidebook came out with the redub and credit to Herman, so there went my claim to fame in the area. Oh well.

I still think some of the greatest time in my life was spent working routes in Rifle. May 28, 2011

Nicholas Kant

5.7+

We thought this one was definitely harder than the other 5.7 in the area, Rickles. Both are 5.7 in the guidebook, but this one is certainly harder than Rickles. So I don't get why this one is 5.7 here and Rickles is 5.8- here in MP. The crux is toward the top where the book says you should do a layback, but we disagreed. It's maybe a move or two of layback, but really you're doing face climbing in that top section with the bottom being easy slab. On the top section, the holds get thin and greasy, and it's more vertical than below. Maybe we were missing something, but for a move or two, it was scary and seemed harder than 5.7 but still doable. Aug 20, 2022

Michael Schneiter
Glenwood Springs, CO

This was recently rebolted with glue-ins with hardware provided by the Rifle Climbers Coalition. Please consider donating to help maintain hardware in the canyon: rifleclimbers.org/donate/. Sep 25, 2023