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The Tao (Previously known as D4)
5.10a,
Sport, 500 ft (152 m), 6 pitches, Grade II,
Avg: 3.4 from 139
votes
FA: Jess Lewis & Bobby Lewis
Colorado
> Buena Vista
> Davis Face
Description
D4 is a beautiful route on the right side of the Davis Face. Steep with clean lines and moderate climbing, D4 climbs mostly in the 5.9 range with a few bouldery 5.10 moves in a couple of different places. Unlike its sister climb, D3, D4 is bolted in a more traditional manner with bolts spaced about 10 - 15 feet apart.
Every pitch has a double bolt anchor with rap rings. Two 60m ropes are needed to rap the route.
Location
This route starts just south of Harvey Carter. There is an obvious ramp that climbs up and right from the base. Walk up the ramp to start the climbing. To get off the route, rap at any of the belay stations.
Note: Many parties have mistaken the dark-colored bolts of the Unknown Route as the start of D4. D4 has silver bolts and is about 30m right of the Unknown route in what might be considered a very wide dihedral.
Protection
A standard rack of quickdraws and anchor material for bolted anchors.
Per Graham Fillo: P1: 8 bolts; P2: 10 bolts; P3: 7 bolts; P4: 10 bolts; P5+P6: 8 bolts.
[Hide Photo] Roughly D4. Hope this helps. Not knowing what the route looked like sent us up Unknown 5.7, which is only one pitch. Scary trad lead above.
[Hide Photo] Jason following the first pitch of The Tao.
[Hide Comment] Climbed this route the other day. Fun movement, ample protection, and good position. A bit of loose rock here and there but overall a good quality line. Thx!
My main feedback is that the belays are in odd places. I would recommend bringing a light rack so you can belay at the natural breaks in the route and not at the awkward hanging stances. We were able to make comfy belays off a few cams and the many shiny bolts on route.
Sep 9, 2014
[Hide Comment] Thanks for the input. I moved the anchors at P1 and P2 to better stances. All the rest are good I think. Also, someone marked some bolts with orange tape that I suspect they were hoping would be moved or placed on more solid rock. I replaced some of those today and will get the rest next week.
Sep 13, 2014
[Hide Comment] Just a heads up! We were able to hand tighten a few of the nuts holding the hangers (at the anchors of P3 and P4, as well as a few clips) along this route. Could use a little maintenance if anyone wants to hit it with a socket wrench or impact along the way.
That being said...awesome route! Super cruiser sport climbing with a few cruxes. Route finding directions in the description were spot on.
[Hide Comment] I concur with Johnny MacKinnon about the belays. It seemed a sacrifice on some of the pitches to get a 100 foot pitch instead of a natural belay 20 feet below the anchored belay. With that said though, the climbing is awesome, the rock amazing, it is well-protected, and some of the rock formations are so interesting and wonderful. Thank you to the Lewis' for putting up a super fun climb.
Aug 28, 2019
[Hide Comment] If you are coming from Denver on US 285, take FR 311 to FR 373, then the parking lot (a small turn around below the wall). 311 and 373 are trails that require 4WD. The climb is a ton of fun, a few loose bolts on the last pitch. Great views of the changing aspens in the fall.
Oct 7, 2019
[Hide Comment] Great route with varied climbing. Definitely worth linking pitches as they are a little short. No real rope drag issues if you bring a few slings. I tightened the loose bolts on P2 and the P3 belay. If you tap with doubles, pay attention to your route of descent and your rope pull from the P4 anchors. Definitely some rope eating features up there!
Nov 11, 2019
[Hide Comment] Fun climb on great rock. Bolts were all tightened and in great shape. Thanks a lot for setting up that route and maintaining it!
Drove my 2019 Impreza up there coming from US 285 and leaving the other route. 4 wheel drive is needed, more ground clearance would have been nice, since I scraped a few times. It's possible with 5.1 inches of ground clearance and some offroading skill, but next time I would go for the truck.
Oct 2, 2020
[Hide Comment] Great varied climbing on a well thought out route. This is best done with a single 60m rope and rapped as such. All stations are less that 30m. We took two ropes up but only rapped with one since this route has more features to get long rap ropes stuck. Well thought out route, great bolt and anchor placements!
Oct 20, 2020
[Hide Comment] So good. I thought the crux was harder than 5.9+ working it in line with the bolt. Well-protected. Plugged a small grey c4 cam in the crux to stand on, which blew out. Ended up just climbing around the crux bulge to the left. Great route, good pro. Rapped the same route with a 70m. I brought as few finger cams and used them a bit between bolts.
May 3, 2022
I could be a little off here, but I am pretty sure these numbers are correct. If you bring 12 draws, you should be good. 10 for the longer pitches +1 for the Jesus draw at the starting anchor and +1 for the anchor at the top of the pitch. I would definitely recommend making a few of those alpine draws. The bolts wander a bit on a few of the pitches. As stated by others, most of the belays on this climb are partially hanging and uncomfortable. Bring a comfortable harness. Instead of linking 5 and 6 like I did, you can link 4 and 5 to get a better belay stance (big shelf) for the final pitch. You will need more than 12 draws for this. 16 will definitely be enough. I can't remember the exact number of bolts on P5, but it's really really short. I thought the cruxes of this route were P2 and P6. Rapped 5+6 together then pitch by pitch to avoid rope getting stuck.
Was surprised by the fun, off-roading adventure to get to the trailhead. Had to cross a 2' deep creek and traverse some other obstacles. High clearance 4x4 required regardless of which road you use to approach the trailhead.
Jun 10, 2024
[Hide Comment] We climbed this route with a 70m rope and 22 quickdraws. This was plenty to be able to link pitches 1 and 2, 3 and 4, and 5 and 6. Alpine draws (~6) are recommended if doing this. We brought some small cams and plugged a couple on P1 and P2, but they’re not really needed. Be ready for a little runout on P1, especially on the slabby bit right off the ground. There is a heinous spinner on P1 toward the top with the bolt protruding from the wall.
P1's anchor is on a small ledge with just enough to stand on, P2 and P3 are about the same with a little more space, P4 is a nice ledge with space to stand and stack the rope, P5 is a big ledge, and the top of the route (P6) is a big ledge with room to walk around and hang out. P1-4 are all probably somewhere between 70 and 100 feet. P5 and P6 are both pretty short, 20-40 feet.
Rap beta (70m): rap from the top of the route to P4's anchors. Rap each pitch individually after this. Be careful when pulling the rope, as there are lots of features for it to get stuck on. The route also drifts climber’s right on the way up, so you need to trend to your left on the way down to get to the anchors for each rap. Be careful not to accidentally let go of one of your rope strands while setting up your rap, because it will drift out of reach.
I would discourage climbing this route if there is already a party on it, since you have to rappel down and use every anchor. We had a party climbing behind us and had a lot of shenanigans going on when they passed us on their way up while we were rapping down. Unless you can communicate a plan to the other party about how you are going to manage passing each other on the route while rapping/climbing, it’s best to wait until the first party is down before starting climbing.
Overall, it is an amazing route with super fun movement and exposure - awesome holds and some challenging bits keep things interesting, and the view is just spectacular. Thank you to the developers for this absolute gem.
Jun 17, 2024
[Hide Comment] The coordinates for the parking are: 38.9144360, -106.1067832.
Road 311 has a water crossing. For both roads, it is strongly recommended you have 4 wheel drive.
The approach from the parking is about 15-20 minutes uphill. There is a spot that includes scrambling that is a little bit exposed.
We were comfortable with 11 quickdraws plus 7 alpine draws, and we combined pitches 1&2 and 2&4. Pitches 5 and 6 should be done separately for technical reasons.
The belay stations are not that great. We were comfortable enough using a quad anchor and PAS. We used two quad anchors and alternated between them.
The rappel was easy with one 70m rope. Rappel the top two pitches together, then one pitch at a time.
Prepare for morning shade and afternoon sun.
All in all a great climb. Every pitch has something to offer.
Jul 30, 2024
Avg: 3.4 from 139
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Hyde Park, VT
My main feedback is that the belays are in odd places. I would recommend bringing a light rack so you can belay at the natural breaks in the route and not at the awkward hanging stances. We were able to make comfy belays off a few cams and the many shiny bolts on route. Sep 9, 2014
We rappelled the route with a single 60 meter rope. A 70 would have been nice, but there's no real need to bring two ropes. Mar 29, 2015
UT/CO
We linked pitches 1-2 and 3-4. This only left a small amount of climbing to the summit, I am guessing the topo has changed with the new belay stances.
We rapped the route with a 70m rope.
Thanks for your work! Jun 28, 2015
Salt Lake City
That being said...awesome route! Super cruiser sport climbing with a few cruxes. Route finding directions in the description were spot on.
4 stars for sure! Aug 14, 2019
Durango, CO
CO
Drove my 2019 Impreza up there coming from US 285 and leaving the other route. 4 wheel drive is needed, more ground clearance would have been nice, since I scraped a few times. It's possible with 5.1 inches of ground clearance and some offroading skill, but next time I would go for the truck. Oct 2, 2020
Leadville, CO
Middle Earth
Colorado Springs, CO
Castle Rock, CO
Pitch 2: 10 bolts.
Pitch 3: 7 bolts.
Pitch 4: 10 bolts.
Pitch 5+6: 8 bolts.
I could be a little off here, but I am pretty sure these numbers are correct. If you bring 12 draws, you should be good. 10 for the longer pitches +1 for the Jesus draw at the starting anchor and +1 for the anchor at the top of the pitch. I would definitely recommend making a few of those alpine draws. The bolts wander a bit on a few of the pitches. As stated by others, most of the belays on this climb are partially hanging and uncomfortable. Bring a comfortable harness. Instead of linking 5 and 6 like I did, you can link 4 and 5 to get a better belay stance (big shelf) for the final pitch. You will need more than 12 draws for this. 16 will definitely be enough. I can't remember the exact number of bolts on P5, but it's really really short. I thought the cruxes of this route were P2 and P6. Rapped 5+6 together then pitch by pitch to avoid rope getting stuck.
Was surprised by the fun, off-roading adventure to get to the trailhead. Had to cross a 2' deep creek and traverse some other obstacles. High clearance 4x4 required regardless of which road you use to approach the trailhead. Jun 10, 2024
Denver, CO
P1's anchor is on a small ledge with just enough to stand on, P2 and P3 are about the same with a little more space, P4 is a nice ledge with space to stand and stack the rope, P5 is a big ledge, and the top of the route (P6) is a big ledge with room to walk around and hang out. P1-4 are all probably somewhere between 70 and 100 feet. P5 and P6 are both pretty short, 20-40 feet.
Rap beta (70m): rap from the top of the route to P4's anchors. Rap each pitch individually after this. Be careful when pulling the rope, as there are lots of features for it to get stuck on. The route also drifts climber’s right on the way up, so you need to trend to your left on the way down to get to the anchors for each rap. Be careful not to accidentally let go of one of your rope strands while setting up your rap, because it will drift out of reach.
I would discourage climbing this route if there is already a party on it, since you have to rappel down and use every anchor. We had a party climbing behind us and had a lot of shenanigans going on when they passed us on their way up while we were rapping down. Unless you can communicate a plan to the other party about how you are going to manage passing each other on the route while rapping/climbing, it’s best to wait until the first party is down before starting climbing.
Overall, it is an amazing route with super fun movement and exposure - awesome holds and some challenging bits keep things interesting, and the view is just spectacular. Thank you to the developers for this absolute gem. Jun 17, 2024
Road 311 has a water crossing. For both roads, it is strongly recommended you have 4 wheel drive.
The approach from the parking is about 15-20 minutes uphill. There is a spot that includes scrambling that is a little bit exposed.
We were comfortable with 11 quickdraws plus 7 alpine draws, and we combined pitches 1&2 and 2&4. Pitches 5 and 6 should be done separately for technical reasons.
The belay stations are not that great. We were comfortable enough using a quad anchor and PAS. We used two quad anchors and alternated between them.
The rappel was easy with one 70m rope. Rappel the top two pitches together, then one pitch at a time.
Prepare for morning shade and afternoon sun.
All in all a great climb. Every pitch has something to offer. Jul 30, 2024