[TR] Voodoo Dome - White Punks on Dope 9/8/2007

[Otto]

Trip: Voodoo Dome - White Punks on Dope

 

Date: 9/8/2007

 

Trip Report:

JMclimber and I were lucky to meet up with a couple dudes from Moab who'd spent a lot of time here. Jason and Andrew clued us in on the best way to get to White Punks on Dope from the Needles campground. Taking the lower road, while getting close to Voodoo Dome, would take hours just to drive. Why not just rap the route? Knowing we'd have to set up some rappel anchors with gear, we took some extra cams and nuts. Then we'd just pick them up on the way back up the route.

 

Two hours to the top of the dome from camp, and another hour to rappel, and we dropped in at the start just as another party was racking up. They had just made the grinding hump up from the lower road in two or three hours. I was glad our plan worked out without breaking a sweat.

 

The first two rappels were fixed with nice modern anchors.

 

The first pitch is sweet hands to fists.

 

I ran the first two pitches together, pulling an overhang on face holds at the end. This ended at the undistinguished chimney pitch, which John led. And next, I got the amazing 5.9 enduro corner, a full 200 feet of this.

 

At the top of the pitch there's a wild layback with no possibility of protection, but the slab is less steep.

 

This made up for Big John getting the two great pitches on Igor Unchained. Satisfaction. Happily, he got an excellent full lenght slab pitch with all of four bolts.

 

Random interesting variations are everywhere.

 

I took the flake undercling variation to finish it off.

 

A timer shot session on the summit. Tried to bracket for brightness, but still a bit dark in the foreground.

 

This place absolutely rocks for route quality and cleanliness. And so many more moderate routes to do here! The climbing exceeded my expectations, with the pristine, primitive camping an extra bonus. Thanks to Jason and Andrew for the tips, and for showing us the swimming hole!

 

Gear Notes:

Full range, plus some for the raps.

Photos by John Medosch.

 

Approach Notes:

Hike past all the Needles to the top of the dome, rap the route. Pull the ropes patiently through the chimney. Two raps are fixed bolt anchors, one from a tree, one from a pinch point, and two on medium sized cams and nuts.

[catbirdseat]

I thought that John posted as neverenough. Is he also JMClimber?

 

Looks like a great trip!

[Otto]

Ah, I see you are right, "jmclimber" is from his email address, oh well.

 

Yes, it was good to get out on a road trip again. We had a blast. Next installments are from Tuolumne...

[Alpaholic]

Nice work. That place looks sweet. It's probably beneficial that the guide is out of print...

[fheimerd]

So the climbs named white punks on dope. Was the FA by one of the WPD crew? Just wondering. Looks really nice.

[Otto]

What is the WPD crew? I'm not up on current pop music, if that's what it is...

[ScottP]

FA was by a guy named EC Joe who used to work out of Big Foot Mountaineering in Bakersfield. He and Dick Lerversee did a lot FA's in the Kern River area (Needles, Kernville Slabs, Elephant Dome, etc.)

[chris_stolz]

that route was awesome. esp the long layback pitch that turns into what feels like the inside of a wave, tube-like, where at the end you have 10 meters of protectionless 5.7 and hten you have that 4 bolt rope-stretcher of a slab. one of my favorite ever routes. and the guy i did it with ran out of smokes and so was freakign out by the end ;-0