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Daydream Nation

5.13b, Sport, 60 ft (18 m),  Avg: 2.8 from 9 votes
FA: Kurt Smith
Colorado > Rifle > Rifle Mtn Park > Skull Cave

Description

Wow! Arguably the steepest route in Rifle, this route suffers badly from seepage early in the season. After it dries, the route needs cleaning up for sure. Watch out for sand and spiderwebs.

Scramble up onto a polished ledge in the very back of the Skull Cave, and carefully climb to the first bolt which is about 20 feet off the ground. That is a bad place to fall. Move up and leftish for three bolts and then enter the horizontal world. It is very core intensive climbing. Powerful climbing brings you to the anchors. Kneepads are helpful.

Protection

Seven bolts to a two bolt anchor.

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

The leg thread move.
[Hide Photo] The leg thread move.
The section of drilled pockets.
[Hide Photo] The section of drilled pockets.
Moving onto the roof.
[Hide Photo] Moving onto the roof.

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

Jimmie Redo
Boulder, Co
  5.13b
[Hide Comment] A big section of rock fell off the top of this route above the last bolt making it unclimbable. Looking at what is left I think it would still go with a little cleaning. Jan 31, 2005
Jerad Friedrichs
Colorado Springs
5.13c
[Hide Comment] I was able to climb through to the original anchors making Daydream Nation still possible. I don't know why a lower anchor was put in as there were obvious holds still going to the original set. Not sure if anyone has done this since the break, but I imagine not, based on the hours of cobweb cleaning I had to do, haha! The bolts seemed fine but definitely starting to rust, it could probably need rebolting. Regardless of the drilled pockets and amount of cobwebs, I still thought this was a super fun route! Definitely a bit harder now, maybe 13c? Jul 1, 2013
Michael Schneiter
Glenwood Springs, CO
[Hide Comment] All of the bolts on this were replaced with stainless glue-ins supplied by the Rifle Climbers Coalition. Consider donating ( rifleclimbers.org/donate/) to help support the maintenance of hardware in the canyon. I still need to go back and finish pulling and patching some of the old bolts on this route. My ratchet broke while doing so on my first attempt. Jul 12, 2023