Type: Trad, 700 ft (212 m), 10 pitches, Grade III
FA: Jorge & Joanne Urioste
Page Views: 112,075 total · 452/month
Shared By: Scott Conner on Oct 30, 2003 · Updates
Admins: Luke EF, Larry DeAngelo, Justin Johnsen, Aaron Mc

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Warning Access Issue: Red Rock RAIN AND WET ROCK: The sandstone is fragile and is very easily damaged when wet. DetailsDrop down

Description Suggest change

This is one of my favorite climbs in Red Rocks. It is varied, steep, long and challenging with perfect rock. This route has some great crack climbing but the real excitement comes from the reasonably bolted face sections. The exposure is fantastic and the whole route is well protected.

History: A "Turkey" was a name given to someone who did not conform to the purist climbing standards, see in dictionary under "Kook." Jorge and Joanne politely responded to their given titles by self-professing and naming the route "Dream of Wild Turkeys."

DOWT is deservedly very popular and given the fact that it shares the first pitch with the equally popular Prince of Darkness (5.10c), an early start is highly recommended.

There are many other options on this wall and in this area if this route is jammed. Sour Mash is another good option on BV Wall and a few variations of DOTW exist also: Yellow Brick Road is a 5.10b 2-pitch direct variation beginning on the third pitch, and The Gobbler is a 5.10a variation to the start.

To approach, follow the stream bed until a large wall blocks the way. Here, you should be directly across from the large arch on the lower right side of the wall. At this point, follow a faint "trail" up left to fourth class terrain and scramble up this, aiming for the left side of the arch. Take the trail to a rocky terrace on the left of the arch. Locate a nice right angling crack about a pitch up. The bottom of this crack is the top of the first pitch.

P1: Climb nebulous 5.6 terrain aiming for the bottom of the crack on P2. Belay at 2 bolts about 100' up. The pro on this pitch is somewhat sparse but the climbing is easier than anything else on the route.

P2: 5.9, ~160' Make a few thin moves off the belay up and right and gain the crack. There are lots of slabular moves on this pitch due to the angling nature. The crack eats stoppers. Follow this crack to another double-bolt belay.

P3: 5.9, 100' Continue up the crack until a line of bolts leads to the right. Continuing straight up puts you on Yellow Brick Road. Check out the plaque. Make the exciting traverse right clipping 4 or 5 bolts on your way. This is steep here but the holds are big. Once you gain the large crack, make some 5.8 offwidth moves up another 30' to another 2 bolt belay on your right. If you miss the belay, which is hard to spot, another possible, albeit uncomfortable, belay can be had a little further up.

P4: 5.10a, 150' Continue up the crack to it's top. The crack becomes thinner and thinner until it's gone. At the top, two strangely placed bolts mark the crux of the pitch and the climb. Make a few very thin moves out left aiming for the bolted belay.

P5: 5.10a, 50' Exciting pitch! Follow the line of bolts up and left on tiny edges and belay at another set of bolts at the base of a cresent shaped corner.

P6: 5.9, 130' Follow the cresent corner up and right. It starts out shallow and easy and gets steeper and harder near its top. Step onto the face and make some bolt-protected moves up and left to a thin crack. Follow this bolted crack up to another bolted belay.

P7: 5.8, 120' Follow the thin crack straight up. Near the top, the angle rolls off and easy climbing leads to a large ledge with belay/rap bolts.

Most people rap from here as we did, although the route continues up for another 4 pitches which are suppose to be good.

For the descent from here, make a series of double-rope raps down the wall. Staying a little left on POD is the best option if noone is coming up as there are fewer rope-eating cracks there, although rapping down DOWT and Yellow Brick Road works fine too. We did it in 5 raps.

(Additional info for pitches 7-11)

Climbed on October 9, 2022

Pitch 7: 5.9 - 110' low angle crack with 7 bolts

Pitch 8: 4th class - 80' slant rightwards on some low angle slab for about 40 feet, the angle back left to reach the bolted anchors on a ledge. Not a lot of protection placing potential on the upper half of this pitch but it is a very large ledge.

Pitch 9: 5.9 - 140' thin crack and lots of facey holds and 7 bolts to a bolted anchor with a good stance.

Pitch 10: 5.9 - 150' really gentle climbing with lots of feet! At least 4x bolts along the way up to a bolted anchor.

Pitch 11: 5.7 - 120'? the rock quality starts to really degrade here. It gets quite adventurous. I took the right leaning crack up as there was lots of debris on the left crack. I was careful grabbing holds so that they would not break off (nothing did). There is 1x bolt near the top, a very old homemade style hanger. The anchor is on a slab (has tonnes of webbing and has 1x quicklink attached) but the bolts are not confidence inspiring (the anchor is also "backed up" with a single piece of cord trailing up to a bush). It is also a terrible belay position with it being so low angled. I imagine people do repel from here, but I would highly recommend repelling from the top of pitch 10 and not climbing this last pitch of Dream of Wild Turkeys. I actually anchored another 50 feet up off of several oak brush plants as the "bolted" anchor was not in the best spot.

To top out, there is a lot of scrambling required, at least another 1000 feet. I do not consider most of it 4th class, so we pitched it out 5x times into 100', 200+', 100+', 150', then another 150+' to summit on Black Velvet Peak. It is very adventurous climbing in and around slabs, pillars, and in any dihedral we could go up along. Do not veer into the gully on the left. As long as you follow the ridgeline you can make it to the top!

Descent is by way of the Epinephrine descent, across the saddle to the other ridgeline and making your way over to the Whisky Peak side (Frogland descent). Descent time is roughly 2x hours.

Protection Suggest change

Standard rack to 3", some quick draws, std. and a few long runners.

Photos

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