colt45

For anyone interested, I looked at a different route description (in Bourdon's Squamish Select guide) and it looks like the wide corner to the right of the second-to-last pitch of Express Lane is McLane's "10a R dihedral" for the original finish...Bourdon doesn't give it an R, but he does say that it's a 10a squeeze chimney (which could certainly be unprotected!)

hey Matt, I saw you posted a few years back that you did the Express Lane finish--I assume that's what you're referring to. In the McLane photo, its second-to-last pitch seems to end near a corner (the route's original finish climbs a different corner, and the topo calls that pitch 10a R). In addition to whether the fall is safe, I was wondering just how big the corner is--eg would a #3.5 camalot do the trick or it it just too wide to be a reasonable protection option?

Does anyone know how run-out the 10a R corner (standard finish) on Freeway is, and also just how far run-out on 5.9/5.10 one might be on the Express Lane variation?...

Climb: Squamish-Cruel Shoes/Grand Wall/Upper Black Dyke (and more) Date of Climb: 7/27/2005 Trip Report: This is an outstanding day of climbing--all 15 pitches are 5.10 or 5.11! I led Cruel Shoes as a block, then Yuko led the Grand Wall as a block. We each onsighted our block, and rounded out the day by swinging leads on the Upper Black Dyke. Cruel Shoes was much safer than I expected, with new bolts throughout, no notable runouts anywhere, and apparently a new well-protected 5.10 variation on the "5.9 R" pitch. The Black Dyke is safe and fun too, with nice shiny 1/2" bolts and a new pitch 2 variation that avoids a chossier part of the dyke. There are some loose holds and moss and some easier sections where a fall could be bad, so caution is warranted, but all around it's fairly mellow, exit 38-style 5.10b climbing on blocky jugs in a spectacular location. Here is how we spent the rest of the week: Sunday: Rock On (5p 5.10a), Exasperator (2p 5.10c), Apron Strings (2p 5.10b) Monday: Sunblessed (3p 5.10c), Enlightened Direct (3p 5.11a) Tuesday: Rest Wednesday: Cruel Shoes (6p 5.10d)-->Grand Wall (6p 5.11a)-->Upper Black Dyke (4p 5.10b) Thursday: Over the Rainbow (6p 5.10a), The Great Game (4p 5.10d) Friday: Arrowroot (1p 5.10b), Rutabaga (2p 5.11a) A full trip report with photos is here.

Climb: Liberty Bell-Liberty Crack Date of Climb: 6/26/2005 Trip Report: Eric8 and I climbed this classic yesterday. I posted a trip report with photos here. Gear Notes: The aid section is almost entirely fixed. We brought one hook but didn't use it.

The rappels should be totally straightforward: all the belays are in a direct line, and the wall is pretty steep with few flakes or cracks--just lots of nice, positive edges for the climbing!

Climb: Red Rocks-Moderate link-ups Date of Climb: 4/11/2005 Trip Report: Red Rocks is THE place for linking routes!! We sampled a number of classics with three days of climbing. The trip report is here. *Ginger Cracks (7p 5.9) and Power Failure (3p 5.10) *Black Orpheus (11p 5.10-) and Chicken Lips (7p 5.10-) *Inti Watana (12p 5.10+) and the Resolution Arete finish (8p 5.9)

Interesting idea...for Stone Gardens I would break them down like this (all w/o face folds): Fist crack in TR area: 5.9 Off-finger/thin hands in TR area: 5.11b Overhanging hand crack: 5.10+ Vertical hand crack: 5.8 Overhanging finger crack near entrance: haven't done it...5.12+??

Yep, 2 50's would work. So would 2 35's...I just consider 60m to be the 'default' length but I guess a lot of people use 50's to save weight. I didn't realize that the FA is the same guy who died on Exasperator. The bolt placements are perfect and incredibly bomber (1/2" stainless, huge chains & 3 bolts at each belay), not to mention the quality of the climbing...he really knew how to establish a classic.

who is Beta Dave?

Climb: Index Upper Wall-Heaven's Gate Date of Climb: 3/13/2005 Trip Report: This climb is absolutely spectacular! Trip report and photos are here. Gear Notes: 14+ qds, standard rack for lamplighter, 2 60m ropes or 1 70m.

Yeah, nobody carries Boreal all of a sudden! I recently contacted about 10 shops in various states to locate a pair with no luck. I was told that Boreal lost their US distributor for unknown reasons. Fortunately I just ebay'd a new pair of Aces for $50. Aces are the best shoes I have ever owned, my previous pair went through 3 resoles until the uppers finally wore out. I got my last pair for $75 (new) from Barrabes, I never understood why US retailers were marking the price up by so much. But now they cost $150 on Barrabes, wtf? Regardless of price, hopefully they will regain their US market as I own 3 models of Boreal shoes (Aces/Stingers/Bambas) and have been quite pleased with all of them.

Thanks for the beta! We're going to try to head up via BO; I assume the descent is the same as for Eagle Dance/Lev29. Given some good weather (we're heading down in late Dec.), the link-up sounds like it will be a blast.

Has anyone climbed Chicken Lips at Red Rocks? I'm wondering whether the route is reasonably well protected. The topo shows just a few bolts, which are apparently 1/4" and ~25 years old, so I'm hoping there is a fair amount of natural pro available in between...

Instead of a steel quicklink, consider the DMM Belaymaster carabiner. Lighter, easier to use, and cross-load-proof. Plus a quicklink would probably seize if you took a hard fall onto it. Also a grigri self-feeds on TR if you use a reasonably skinny line with the end weighted. I tie an overhand on a bight every once in a while in the free end of the rope-- this provides a backup if the cam does not activate, and leaves the slack rope hanging below you so that the grigri can still self-feed.

Unfortunately all efforts at a speed attempt were thwarted by the fact that I couldn't pull the moves! However, next time I will be sure to bring my gri-gri and tibloc...

A friend and I tried King of the ruins at Vantage recently. We both thought it felt sort of stout fot 5.12a (he sent it and I didn't). We then looked at a photo in the guidebook, which shows a sequence using an apparently good hold at the lip of the roof, about 2' up and right of the bolt. Well, as far as we could tell, no such hold exists...the only good hold we located over the lip is the one being heel-hooked in the photo. Anyone know if a hold has broken off from the route??

That was me & eric8 last Sat. The mammut sling/trango superfly combo is the way to go--they are actually trimmer and lighter than most quickdraws! I normally carry 12 trick-tripled shoulder-length mammut slings (2 superfly biners each) on a rock route (plus a 7mm cordelette or two for belays, for use as a super-long runner, and to cut for rap slings if necessary). The superfly biners are so light and cheap (I got em for $6.50 w/free shipping & no tax at gearexpress.com) that I am trying to outfit the remainder of my rack with them. In addition to being the lightest biner on the market, they are just as strong as a standard biner.

I don't understand one part--if it really is a mandatory rappel which requires a fixed anchor...how did that party manage to cut all the webbing and still get down??

Here's another good, and technically much easier traverse to consider. I found it in Peggy Goldman's scrambling book, and hiked it earlier today (5.5 hrs CTC): climb the south peak of Ingalls, take its south ridge to the next summit (point 7382), and follow the west ridge from here down to trail 1226.2/1394. It's 3rd class with a lot of fun rock scrambling, good exposure, and moderate route-finding. And, it's a loop--new views the whole way! jbclimber--There was basically no snow on Ingalls or on what I could see of Stuart.

If you have not done a Red Rocks grade IV route previously, I would agree with what others have said and not try to do two of them in two days. The approaches and descents can be sort of tiring, and can take much longer than anticipated. Once you're familiar with the area, you should be set for more ambitious outings. Something like Dark Shadows or some other short multi-pitch the first day, then something longer the next day might be a good plan of attack. For the longer routes at RR, it's a good idea to plan on moving continously from 6am-->10pm (or later), and then being psyched if you finish earlier than that.

Good point!...the TR has been updated accordingly.

Climb: Kyes Peak-south ridge Date of Climb: 7/17/2004 Trip Report: The views are awesome, but the ridge has several sections where I had to scramble around on loose scree. The summit block scramble is sort of scary, and downclimbing it is really scary! Then again, I'm an alpine gumby. Here are some photos: http://students.washington.edu/mwschmit/kyes/ Gear Notes: ice axe & crampons Approach Notes: No snow until nearing the summit.

I was there up last month & an axe was plenty. The route is moderate third class, and very enoyable. There is some loose rock--probably more loose rock now that it's later in the season--so a helmet is an option, but I felt OK without it.

Thanks for the link, but isn't that TR "just" a traverse between the two peaks (which looks awesome in itself)? I meant continuing the traverse beyond the north peak along the rock ridge. In the photo linked above (taken from the summit of the south brother) the north brother is in the center of the photo and a ridge continues to the right.