Snow Creek Wall, Hyperspace

[goatboy]

Jim Nelson's second guide describes a route called Hyperspace on snow creek wall. I'm curious if anyone out there has done the route and what they thought, and if they have any thoughts on gear or routefinding or anything else pertinent which Nelson does not mention.

Also, is the route wet in early season (as many of the routes up there seem to be)?

Thanks in advance.

Steve

[Retrosaurus]

Steve,

I did this route several years ago. These are the thoughts that come to mind:

There really doesn't seem to be a good way to get to the big ledge two pitches up. The RPM start is good, but serious.

The Psychopath pitch is very cool; I think it's the best pitch on the climb.

There is a 5.10 crux on pitch 4 that has confused me every time. I always got through it, but the solution never seemed obvious.

The pressure chamber SUCKS SO BAD!!! Overhanging. Flaring. Squeeze chimney. If you reach really deep into it, you can get a fist jam. But you can't pull up on it. You can only pull yourself tighter into the back of the flare. You can only move your knees about 4 inches because it is so damn tight in there. If you inhale really deep, your torso jams between your chest and back like a balloon blown up inside of a box. You can't fall out, but you damned sure can't go up. Beta: curse, squirm, grunt, sweat a lot, swear some more, repeat for 40 minutes. The only thing worse than leading this pitch is following it with a pack.

The exit moves are cool.

With the hard pitch variations, the route is solid grade IV.

I don't remember anything unusual about the gear required. You will probably want a large rack from thin nuts to four inch cams. (I think I had a four Friend and a four Camalot.)

I'm not sure, but I'm willing to bet that the route will stay pretty wet until the snow melts off the top of the wall.

Have fun.

[Smoker]

Retro,

What the heck are you doing up at these wee hours?

Smoker

[Wallstein]

I haven't done Hyperspace but I did Iconoclast last summer wich shares all but the last two pitches. Like Retrosaurus said getting to the big ledge kinda sucked. It was alot harder than expected. Doing Iconoclast might be a better option as you can then avoid the nasty flaired chimney. The route was absolutely wonderfull. We started at about 2:00pm so we didn't get baked off the wall and the route took us about 4 hours. We did the route in August, I think, and the upper pitches of hyperspace still looked kinda dirty and maybe wet. I took a set of nuts and doubles from #3 camalot to blue aliens and then picked up a #4 camalot on route (booty!). This rack seemed sufficient. Routefinding can be tricky but it wasn't to bad. The 4th pitch wondered a bit and it felt like I was off route though I finished at the right anchors. Overall the route is very exciting and entertaining. Good luck.

 

[highclimb]

yeah i think SNow Creek Wall is notorious for finding cool gear. on an attempt of Outer Space in July my partners and i found a HB cam just sitting a crack perfectly placed just waiting to be found and once we retreated we found a number 11 HB chock just sitting in the sand underneth(sp) the wall!!!

WHO WOUND LEAVE A #4 CAMALOT JUST SITTING THERE? if that were my peice and the follower just left it there i would go crazy those thngs are like 80 bucks and then rappel and get it out...hahaha

Aidan

[Retrosaurus]

Iconoclast is a good route that deserves more credit. Do not let Kramar's topo intimidate you. There are some glaring errors. The pitch where you exit the Galaxy dihedral system onto the shield is a bit run out once on the shield, but only at mid class 5. That pitch ends at a gnarled pine as indicated. The next pitch is nothing like indicated. It is a classic little left facing book with a hand crack at the back that goes at ~5.7 and brings you directly to the extreme left end of library ledge. There is no single bolt and no 5.10c and no run outs on the pitch. The next pitch off the left end of library ledge is quality slab climbing and roughly as indicated. And the next pitch is fun too. Even if you can't climb 5.12, it is easy to French your way through. Edge of Space looks like it would be spectacular and I would love to try it some day, as soon as someone yanks those 1/4"ers and puts in some bolts (in the same holes of course) that would hold a falling fat boy.

Enjoy,

Retro

 

Steve,

I work evenings and often don't get home until the wee hours.

Retro

[This message has been edited by Retrosaurus (edited 03-08-2001).]

[Wallstein]

The #4 we found was placed perfectly behind a large block at the anchor. There were two bolts there so the only reason we thought it could be left was when the the team was at the anchor one guy was hanging on the cam so he wouldn't crowd the belay and he must of lead of first just leaving the cam for his partner to clean. I have had things just like this happen to me numerous times before. I lost two cams on liberty crack when my partner just left them there. I almost lost a #5 on El Cap but our third guy was jugging past the already cleaned pitch and thought he scored some booty but it was my cam that the cleaner had accidently left. I think I have lost a whole set of cams now due to spacey partners, but at least they have always been good about replacing them!

[goatboy]

Thanks to everyone for the info! Sounds like some good opportunities for me to get off the "Hilary Step" called Outer Space and onto some quality routes which are less crowded.

By the way, it was the one known as Smoker who was questioning the wee hours, not me!!!

See you folks at Gustav's.

Steve