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Hayden's Line

5.13b/c PG13, Trad, 600 ft (182 m), 4 pitches, Grade III,  Avg: 4 from 3 votes
FA: Josh Wharton and Corey Flynn
Colorado > Boulder > Eldorado Canyon SP > Redgarden Wall > Redgarden - Tower Two
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Description

Hayden's Line is perhaps the proudest positioned pitch in Eldo, linking all the difficult climbing on Between Heaven and Earth, with the crux sections of Wingless Victory. The position and exposure are incredible, and the climbing is quite sustained by Eldo standards.

There is very little "filler" climbing on the pitch, and you enter the Wingless Victory crux with a pump. It's essentially a link up, although it does feature about 10 feet of new terrain. That said, it greatly changes the nature of the routes, and is a truly special pitch, so I think it's deserving of its own name. I think HK would approve.

Words can't express how much HK meant to me. I'll miss you buddy. Respect.

Approach the crux pitch of Between Heaven and Earth via the Redguard route (easiest and quickest option), via Between Heaven and Earth proper (bit chossy), or via The Naked Edge or Lene's Dream (highest quality). For the last option, you do an easy, 5.7, rightward traverse from the top of The Edge's second pitch to reach the crux pitch's belay.

Start up Between Heaven and Earth's crux pitch. At the small roof atop all the hardest climbing, bust left across underclings and around the arete into Wingless Victory (#1 C4 protects this bit). Climb the final twenty feet of Wingless Victory past two ring bolts. A long sling on the first bolt is key to keep the rope running on the east side of the arete, and the second bolt is hard to clip without a draw in place. At the big ledge traverse left to a two bolt belay on The Naked Edge.

From here, you can finish up Sickness Unto Death, The Naked Edge, or rappel and do Centaur.

Some video shot after the FA to remember HK:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6jz3e1_qLM&t=154s.

Protection

A standard Eldo rack. The crux pitch is primarily bolts and a fixed offset, but you need two #1 C4s, a #0 C3, and plenty of alpine draws to manage rope drag.

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

Gaining the ledge atop Wingless.
[Hide Photo] Gaining the ledge atop Wingless.
Thanks to Wade Morris for the pics.
[Hide Photo] Thanks to Wade Morris for the pics.

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

Steve Sangdahl
eldo sprngs, co
[Hide Comment] Nice! That's some out there stuff, Josh. Thanks. Nov 11, 2017
[Hide Comment] Sick new line! Awesome to see how visionary climbers find such rad adventures amidst popular terrain, but most Eldo climbers would probably not agree that the "proudest pitch" in Eldo is a bolt and fixed nut clip-up next to naturally protected lines that surmount the same proud piece of stone. Mar 15, 2018
Tank Evans
  5.13b/c PG13
[Hide Comment] Fantastic rock climb, surely one of my favorite and diverse pitches in Eldo. Indeed it is a 'clip up', but do not be fooled, as it is rather exciting and delivers an odd flavor of spice, or maybe I am just getting old. As mentioned in the comments of Heaven and Earth, bolting is sub-optimal in two places.

Some rope beta: not sure where I screwed this up, but somehow on the exit boulder to the anchor, the rope drag went from 'fine' to 'Im gonna eat sh$t' trying to pull onto the anchor slab. This would not have been a good place to fall. I would suggest (1) flicking the rope after pulling onto the arete of Wingless and (2) putting a long sling on the last bolt of Wingless in addition to the other long runners.

Good reminder of the best dude. Nov 9, 2019