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Thousand Pints of Lite
5.7 YDS 5a French 15 Ewbanks V+ UIAA 13 ZA MVS 4b British
Type: | Sport, 180 ft (55 m), 3 pitches |
FA: | Ron Olevsky |
Page Views: | 41,736 total · 232/month |
Shared By: | Julian Smith on Apr 30, 2010 |
Admins: | Perin Blanchard, GRK, David Crane |
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The sandstone here is easily damaged when wet. Please allow at least 24-48 hours before climbing after any precipitation. If the ground is at all damp, please do not climb on any local sandstone. Consider nearby options on basalt, limestone, granite, or plastic instead.
Description
This is an awesome line that ascends wonderful varnish chicken heads, jugs, and burnishes to the top of Island of the Sky in 3 short pitches. Definitely it is worth combining it with a route like Wills Rush (1st pitch) to get off the ground and have a multi-pitch outing.
To get to the start of the route, climb something like the 1st pitch of Wills Rush to reach Intersection Ledge. From the top of Wills Rush, look up and to the right to see an obvious 3-pin anchor, probably with webbing slung between the pins. To reach the anchor, ascend a short chimney and then work to the right across an easy slab, passing a fixed pin along the way. Officially this is the 1st pitch, but you might find to be so easy that it is hardly noticeable.
Pitch 2 - Once at the 3-pin anchor, head up on awesome varnish jugs to reach another chain anchor in 50 feet or so. You will pass 2 pins along the way.
Pitch 3 Continue up more varnish jugs for 80 feet, passing 6 pins to reach a 2 pin anchor atop a nice ledge at the top of the route. You will be almost at the top of the Island of the Sky at this point.
To get down, head north (climbers left) for 200 feet to reach a flat, sandy area that has some bushes in it. Turn back to the west and work you way down to a flat ledge. Look for a nice chain anchor on a north-facing wall.
Though it is only 115 feet back down to the Intersection Ledge, if you are using a single rope, there will be another anchor you can stop at about 90% of the way back down to Intersection Ledge. It is an easy down climb from this anchor to the ledge, but it may be better to stop and re-rig the rappel anyway, since the next rappel station is below Intersection Ledge, and you wont have do down-climb to the next anchors.
The next set of anchors is below Intersection Ledge, directly below from where you rappelled from the top. However, they are down inside a little chimney feature and can be hard to find unless you look down!
It is 115 feet from this set of anchors back down to the ledge at the top of the approach gully. There is another rappel station located about half way down, so you can split this up into 2 rappels if you only have a single rope.
To get to the start of the route, climb something like the 1st pitch of Wills Rush to reach Intersection Ledge. From the top of Wills Rush, look up and to the right to see an obvious 3-pin anchor, probably with webbing slung between the pins. To reach the anchor, ascend a short chimney and then work to the right across an easy slab, passing a fixed pin along the way. Officially this is the 1st pitch, but you might find to be so easy that it is hardly noticeable.
Pitch 2 - Once at the 3-pin anchor, head up on awesome varnish jugs to reach another chain anchor in 50 feet or so. You will pass 2 pins along the way.
Pitch 3 Continue up more varnish jugs for 80 feet, passing 6 pins to reach a 2 pin anchor atop a nice ledge at the top of the route. You will be almost at the top of the Island of the Sky at this point.
To get down, head north (climbers left) for 200 feet to reach a flat, sandy area that has some bushes in it. Turn back to the west and work you way down to a flat ledge. Look for a nice chain anchor on a north-facing wall.
Though it is only 115 feet back down to the Intersection Ledge, if you are using a single rope, there will be another anchor you can stop at about 90% of the way back down to Intersection Ledge. It is an easy down climb from this anchor to the ledge, but it may be better to stop and re-rig the rappel anyway, since the next rappel station is below Intersection Ledge, and you wont have do down-climb to the next anchors.
The next set of anchors is below Intersection Ledge, directly below from where you rappelled from the top. However, they are down inside a little chimney feature and can be hard to find unless you look down!
It is 115 feet from this set of anchors back down to the ledge at the top of the approach gully. There is another rappel station located about half way down, so you can split this up into 2 rappels if you only have a single rope.
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