New River Starter Trad Climbing

Looking to see if anyone has suggestions for easy to protect 5.9 and below trad at the New? I'm somewhat new to trad, and would like some things with plenty of protection options to practice on. The 2 things I decided to do last time was there unfortunately ended up being run-out stress-fests...

mountainproject.com/v/fanta…

I didn't actually bring trad gear when I went to the new, but next time I go I'm hitting the above area. Looks like a lot of great crack lines, that (imo) can be lower stress than sport climbing if you're proficient with plugging gear and rock quality is good.

There are plenty of routes in that range at the Bridge Buttress: Zag, The Layback, Beginners Only, Hortons Tree, easily Flakey, Jaws (strenuous 5.9), Your Mother, Where Real Men Dare, Hopfenperle Special....

• Bridge area
• Junkyard
• Fern Buttress
• Beauty Mtn
• Meadow

There are tons of moderate gear lines throughout the gorge, but there's a good concentration of fun, easy lines at the above locations. If you want routes that you can sew up, any of the New's 'splitters' ought to be a good choice, provided you have lots of hand sized pieces. If you are unfamiliar with crack technique, check out Meadow (near Toxic Hueco area) for a collection of fun, gear protected faces at 5.8-5.9.

Bridge and Junkyard have easy toprope access -- just set up a TR and place gear if you really want to practice placements without needing to commit.

Thanks for all the replies! I'll definetly have to check some of these out, they look great!

@JakeJones, One of the routes I tried last time was the Yert Yak crack at Fern Buttress. While fun (if a little dirty/mossy) there was a middle section that was simply too wide for anything I had for a good 15-18 feet. I remember being about 45+ feet up, maybe more, with two pieces below me (a BD #2 and WC Tech #4) and seeing a lot of great placements if I had a bigger cam. Higher on the route took gear everywhere though, but it was still considerably more stressful than I wanted it to be considering I'm still pretty new to trad.

New River Gunks, 7+
Fantasy, 8
New Yosemite, 9
Supercrack, 9
Four Sheets to the Wind, 9++

All of these are good or great routes and protect well

I don't know anyone who would describe New River Gunks as "well protected." It's an excellent climb and certainly not R rated, but there is a 10-15 foot runout which wouldn't be worrisome except that it's on low angle terrain. Also, I think I remember the crux being towards the end of the runout section

Most of the routes at Junkyard and Bridge Buttress can be top roped (there's an easy trail to the top, and its not hard to get to the bolt anchors from above). And most of the routes are *mostly* G-rated, FWIW.

Those two crags have the best density of G rated trad climbs at 5.9 or below.

Just got back from the trip, tried to take as many suggestions as possible.

Ended up leading a 5.8/5.6 over in the Bridge Area Crags (can't remember their names at the moment, before having a great day at Junkyard.

Led New Yosemite, New River Gunks, Anne's Revenge, and Four Sheets to the Wind, and pushed myself and climbed The Entertainer (10). Had tons of fun on all of them particularly New Yosemite and The Entertainer. Would reccomend them both to anyone else looking for some fun jams.