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Climb: Elephants Perch-Sunrise Book (III 5.10 C1 or 5.12-) Date of Climb: 8/27/2005 Trip Report: Long time fan, first time TR poster... Climbed Sunrise Book (aiding the 12- crux) with my wife. Thanks to NOLSe for emailing me the topo. Had the pleasure of running into retired and co. at Saddleback Lakes (much thanks for Astro beta which we did not get a chance to use on this trip ) Found the route quite hard and sustained. We were slow on it! The rock is amazingly clean and solid all the way up! Took a 15 foot fall on pitch 1 when I went too high on the face traverse. Was happy to have the green Alien not pull out despite bad placement. Amazing place and an awsome formation! Couple of shots: Gear Notes: Hard route for us so take this with a grain of salt: doubles from green to red Alien. triples from #.75 to #2 Camalot double #3 Camalots single #3.5 Camalot Approach Notes: Shuttle boat across Redfish Lake is too good to pass up (saves ~4 miles I think). From the marina at the far end of the lake, the hike up is on good trail and took us 2 hrs. at leisurely pace. We belayed the short mid-5th chimney in the approach gully.

PM Jim T. Think he did it a few days ago if you want more specifics.

We were a party of 2 behind Kyle and the others. The way we got down was as follows (all raps were double rope): 1. rap off "far" end of catwalk into a loose class 3 gully (that's to the right as you're facing the formation from base). Lotta crap fell on us while pulling ropes here. 2. scramble down about 100 feet (loose and a bit exposed class 3) to a good tree on a large ledge (this is right and level with start of the .10 crack pitch). 3. 3 (maybe 2??) double rope raps off of good fixed rap stations to the base. We were roughly following the right side of buttress (near gully separating MM from LB).

Tried that too - it's OK. Favorite thin rope belay device is HB's Airmarshall (???) - simple and functional.

Bugette belay device from DMM was a waste of $$ (that's the DMM unit for thin ropes). The wire loop that hooks to the biner is (was? at least in the model I had 18 months ago) coated wtih some black, rubbery plastic (high friction) and keeps getting sucked in by the ropes.

Hope it's not a blue Camalot with a biner from somewhere near the base of Snibble Tower! If so, it might not be in tip-top shape as it took a long fall from the .9 pitch on Snibble, bouncing off of ledges on its way down (sorry about that).

Awsome! Is the upper portion as good as Nelson & Potterfield would make you believe?

this is a bit late but.. the "famous" loose flake (or maybe there's another more famous loose flake that I missed) is visible at bottom of photo inside the hand crack (looks like it splits the handcrack into two finger cracks). Kinda wiggly but held my weight. I guess there's another thin flake below and just out of photo as well.

Dechristo, It LOOKS good from afar but the climbing was mediocre I thought. First pitch was OK but the rest are kind of ledgy - much low 5th terrain with a step here and there of up to .7 or .8 (there's no .9 on it as Supertopo would suggest). Think there's better routes on that peak. Thinking Mithral Dihedral (5.9) for example which I haven't done.

Photo with route superimposed: http://www.summitpost.org/mountains/phot...r_by____limit__

That's one cool shot of Rye Crisp.

Sawtooths, ID were nice last weekend only till about 1pm on Saturday. Then it rained. Rained some more. Got 2 pitches up Finger of Fate on Sunday morning and it started pouring at about 10am. Didn't stop. Should've gone to City of Rocks.

BTW, Ycat. is an easy car to car in a day outing. The 5.7 I mentioned is called "Orion". If you want to do multiple routes in Castle Crags, I suppose you could bivy up there (illegally?) but I think you'd have to bring your own supply of water (approach is about 1.5-2 hours so it kind of sucks to have to do it multiple times in a weekend)?

Nor. Cal ideas (with solitude): Castle Crags suggestions are below. Should be pretty empty of climbers - always(?) is I think (other than pherhaps "Cosmic Wall" route). Specifics: Mount Hubris: http://www.summitpost.org/show/mountain_link.pl/mountain_id/1146 Cosmic Wall route (6P 5.6) Castle Dome: West Ridge (II -III 5.8 - have not done it) Six Toe Rock: http://www.summitpost.org/show/mountain_link.pl/mountain_id/3255 Six Toe Crack (3P 5.8) Lots of stuff in the mid to upper 10's with many routes carrying "R" next to them....again, acc. to guidebook. Trinity Alps. Only one I know is Ycatapom Peak with its north (?) face. Climbing is not stellar but you're almost guaranteed to be alone and in sunny weather. Check snow conditions - no idea if TH is melted out or not. http://www.summitpost.org/mountains/mountain_link.pl?mountain_id=2266 There's a 10+ pitch 5.7 route on it according to the guidebook. I have not done it but can give you book description - if you want it, pm me. Good luck.

"Washer Woman from top of pitch 3. The classic 5.10 route (can't remember the name) is in the shadowy chimney leading to the exposed face climbing to the summit." Wondering if that's "In Search Of Suds" III 5.10+ you got in the photo? Awsome TR!! Thanks for posting.

Coxsackie, NY

I thought that Spread Eagle Peak, UT is a good one. It's got a page on summitpost: http://www.summitpost.org/show/mountain_link.pl/mountain_id/4138

Integral Designs. Not sure what the model name is anymore but it was one of their high end ones. Probably not the lightest but never had ANY condensation issues and if the whole thing is too heavy, you can leave the one support pole at home.

(1) Red Rocks (just look at one of the guidebooks - it's heaven for long, easy to moderate routes) (2) Cochise Stronghold, AZ. Granite Domes. Routes from 1 to 6 or 7 pitches long. Seek the Bob Kerry guidebook to Backcountry Climbing in Southern AZ. (3) Moab would be at top of my list but think you'd be hard pressed to find stuff under 5.8 there.

"I might as well plug Greg Ortons up coming guide... It is said to be at the printers" That is great news! The first ed. was excellent IMHO and looking forward to checking out the expanded version. I also read that that "Oregon Scrambles" (or something) guidebook is coming out this April. Nothing technical in it but still interesting to see a book on Oregon summits.

Thanks.

Maybe this is a stupid question, but is the "backroad" open already (FS 855 or something?) or did you guys hike up from the highway? Nice pics. thnx.

Sunrise Book: http://www.summitpost.org/mountains/phot...e=&user_id= and http://www.piquaclimber.com/past/sawtooths/sunrisebook.htm

Also check out http://www.piquaclimber.com . Nice collection of TR's on the Perch (routes other than the ones you mention) and some others in the Sawtooths (you can email site maintainer - Brad - if you got more specific questions). That is an awsome collection of route topos NOLSe has (my printer's working overtime)! One thing about the Finger is that it seems super popular - start early or be ready to take a number and wait in line (maybe it was just our bad luck - and that was not even a long weekend or anything). I thought the Mountaineers Route on the Perch was fun and not really sustained (most climbing was in the .7 range with some steps of .8 and one short section called 5.9 by the topo we had). Sunrise Book looks like a great climb. If you're looking for an almost-guaranteed solitude, try the Warbonnet Peak further in. "Standard Route" (south face) is an easy .7 but has a great fun summit pitch. See the summitopost page on this one. There is an .11 route on it too acc. to Lopez. I love that area!

Got to see the s. face of the dome up close over the weekend. Ran short on pins (and balls - mostly the latter) for an honest attempt. Dodge book rates the standard ("route 1") s. face route at II 5.6 A2 and describes a direct variation ("route 1V") to first pitch that makes the route III 5.6 A3 (these converge atop the 96-foot rock band). Now for the question part. It looked as though the A2 pitch of standard and the A3 pitch of the direct were comparable in looseness/mossiness/seriousness. It also looked as though the direct would avoid some of the nasty free climbing (moss thrashing) of the standard route. Anyone got any experience with this route (variation)? It looked as though most clean gear would be useless (moss filled seams in between blocks) for either option - pins and more pins it seemed? Thanks for any info! PS I was surprised to see almost a trail (animal track?) on the approach to the s. side saddle?