Booty Loader

Booty Loader (named for one of the first ascentionist's young son's toy truck) is a fantastic ride up the Wild West Wall. Safely bolted and relatively free of choss, this route has some great climbing and wild situations. This was put up in 2014 and is fully bolted.

Begin at a gnarled, wind-blown tree that's a few hundred feet right of the Kemp Shield.

P1 (5.12a, 130'): Climb up orange rock which is easy at first then gives way to some tricky and somewhat reachy moves on vertical rock at about the halfway point. Several tough sections provide a bit of a harsh warmup.

P2 (5.12b, 70'): A burly roof pull leads to a corner that can be solved with wide bridging (crux).

P3 (5.12a, 120'): Climb a fun left-facing corner to a massive roof, then traverse left on crimps and underclings to a final hard move pulling up and around the left end of the roof (not too bad). Belay out left in outer space (crazy exposure!).

P4 (5.12c, 120'): Apparently a hold broke at the crux, but I found the grade to be accurate as of 2018. Tricky moves left off the belay lead to a technical shake/rest, then a bouldery sequence through a steep bulge on less than perfect rock eventually gives way to perfect rock and pumpy edge pulling. Move up and right to a belay.

P5 (5.11b, 90'): Move up off the right end of the ledge and climb a shallow corner and arete (thin, tenuous) to a belay on a massive ledge system. Move this belay up and right to the first bolt of the next pitch once your partner arrives.

P6 (5.11d, 90'): Climb the attractive orange streak. Unfortunately the rock here is super sharp & painful (try not to draw blood!) - this pitch is hard. Link into the next pitch easily...

P7 (5.11a, 70'): Continue up a steep headwall crack to a bolted anchor at the top of the wall.

Descent: Use two ropes or a single 80m rope. Two ropes are better since you'll want to rap from the top of P2 straight to the ground. The best strategy might be to climb with a single 80 but bring a second rope/tag line which can be left on the ground: Climb the route, rap with the single 80 until you reach the anchor atop P2, then send someone down to the deck on a single line to retrieve the second rope for this final rappel). Since several pitches are very steep and/or traversing, you'll need to clip back in on rappel to make it to the belays (pay attention or pay the price!) - there are a few off-route directional bolts to facilitate this process.

Begin at a gnarled, wind-blown tree that's a few hundred feet right of the Kemp Shield.

16 or so draws and two ropes should do the trick.