Three O'Clock Rock Total Soul

[joe_catellani]

Skip Edmonds and I climbed this excellent route in late august '00. It's an extension and variation of the old Rubber Soul route and very well described in Jim Nelon's Selected Climbs Vol 2.

I'm generally not a big fan of friction climbs but I liked it better than Dreamer because it's longer, better protected, and more varied. No rope eating cracks either. The rubber soul pitch (#4) has neat fingerlocks. We used TCU's 00 to #4 and .75 to #2 camalots, and 2 1/2 and 3 Friends. (5 pieces 2 to 2 1/2 on pitch 4) we had wired nuts along but never used them. a nut tool may be handy for a little extra crack cleaning.

In Nelson's guide pg 240 the letters(route names) A and B are switched. Great trail to base of climb, my thanks to whoever brushed it out. The upper 4 pitches are in "almost first ascent condition" ie a fair amount of dirt and moss. this should improve with traffic. no brush though. 10 hours car to car.

[none_dup1]

Yes, a great route. I did it in Sept. '99 with a guy who climbs rock much better than I do named Aaron Houseknecht. Ten hours car to car sounds about right, though I can't remember our exact time. Silent Running is also worth an afternoon trip, but is quite a bit easier.

One thing I remember about Total Soul is that the pitch above the Anti-Fly or Super-Fly pitches seemed the hardest of all, but was rated 5.9 or so on Dave Whitelaw's excellent topo. I can't remember what Jim and Peter rated it in their new book, but it seemed like 5.10 to us in places. We did Anti-fly mostly because it was my lead. Super-Fly looked harder.

Having climbed half of Safe Sex thinking I was on Dreamer some years ago, I can't compare Total Soul to Dreamer. But Aaron, who knows Dreamer very well, said Total Soul was harder. And of course the approach is shorter and on a better trail.

Next time you go up that way look for the new route on Blueberry Hill, Dark Rhythm, 5.10d. I haven't done it, but Whitelaw says it's great. Jim should have the topo, or can help you get it from Dave or Matt Perkins.

Cheers,

John Sharp

Bellevue