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
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.
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.
eldo sprngs, co
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