[TR] Icicle - Stone's Throw/Roto Wall

[rbwen]

Climb: Icicle - Stone's Throw/Roto Wall

 

Date of Climb: 4/30/2006

 

Trip Report:

Another beautiful day in the Icicle. Where is everybody? Are gas prices keeping people away? It didn't seem very crowded except for a large group near Mounties Dome on Saturday and then again near Mad Meadows on Sunday.

 

It was cold in the morning, with a pretty good wind blowing. We chose Stone's Throw because none of had been there before. The approach took us all of about thrity seconds.

 

There are four routes here, three listed in Kramar's book. We started on the far right on the 5.8, Blink. We TR-ed it but it could be led pretty easily. The book lists it as having four bolts but there were none to be found, nor any sign of them having been there. We wondered if they had gotten chopped. I later searched on cc.com and found a lively discussion about cracks and bolts with Stone's Throw being the center of the discussion. This was a pretty good route with lots of horizontal cracks for protection and a great vertical crack up top for the last ten feet. There are two anchor bolts on top but no chains and the base of the climb slopes down pretty sharply.

 

We moved to the left part of the wall and climbed the 5.8+, Audrey 2. A nice crack at the bottom but it peters out and gets pretty dirty toward the top. It seemed easier than 5.8+, maybe even 5.6-7. Two anchor bolts on top.

 

We moved right and climbed a route that's not in the book. It's bolted and has a rap anchor up top. Does anyone know the rating on this climb? Name? It's between Audrey 2 and the 5.9, Stone's Throw. It starts out pretty blocky down low and quickly thins out onto a face. After the crux it's fairly easy to the top but the middle ten feet is pretty good cliimbing. I would guess it would go at 5.10b or c?

 

The last one we did here was the 5.9, Stone's Throw. It gets a star in the book and it was probably the best climb we did at this area. It moves up and slants right the whole way and crosses a huge crack slanting down in the other direction. The crux is down low, about fifteen to twenty feet up and a long reach helped to get by this. After climbing it we all agreed it sorta twists you up and causes you to do some funky foot moves. Pretty consistent for its grade all the way up.

 

After that we had some time to kill so we cruised on down to Roto Wall and did the 5.7 Slippin' and Slidin'. The route was very slippery and made it much harder than 5.7. While there I noticed a new route that had just been bolted (you could still see the rock dust) and cleaned. It was just left of Non Vertical Smile, the 5.6 crack. It had two anchor bolts on top and I saw at least two bolts on the route. It looked like you could put in a few pieces on the way up. It looked pretty uninspiring (but I'll probably climb it someday).

 

All in all it was a fine day to be out cragging and as I mentioned before it seemed very quiet for a sunny spring day in the Icicle. The river is running so maybe everyone's kayaking?

 

If anyone knows the rating on the route between Audrey 2 and Stone's Throw. I'm curious to know.

 

rbwen

 

Gear Notes:

50m rope

Standard rack, draws

[viktor]

Gerbil Jive, 5.10