[TR] Goat Wall - Sisyphus - 5.11a or 5.10b/c A0 7/3/2010

[pac man]

Trip: Goat Wall - Sisyphus - 5.11a or 5.10b/c A0

 

Date: 7/3/2010

 

Trip Report:

A more detailed trip report can be found HERE, with individual pitch details.

 

Over the extended weekend, my wife and I headed up to Washington Pass area to climb some multi-pitch routes, however the looming clouds made us settle for Goat Wall's Sisyphus (10 pitches) and Prime Rib (11 pitches, 5.8ish) the next day, both near Mazama. For the slab-challenged climber, a category which both of us are trying to escape, the route lives up to its mythological name, but is protected well enough to limit the stressfulness. The leader must still climb ~10ft past bolts at a 5.10b level which gave me the perfect level of excitement. The leader can also French-free past the 5-8 ft crux section of 11a climbing on cool-looking, somewhat polished rock with small pockets.

 

We found that pitch 2 is very remniscent of pitches 5-7, which includes the crux pitch and a 5.10a/b pitch of slabish climbing. Much of the climbing was on somewhat rounded holds with the exception of pitches 3 and 9, which I found to be superb steep climbing on positive holds, a style of climbing I am more comfortable with. If you decide this route is not for you after pitch 2, I would still recommend climbing pitch 3, which leads you to a cool position with some exposure.

 

Pitch 3, my favorite

 

Pitch 6, the crux pitch

 

Stellar views along the whole climb

 

After our 12 rap descent we debated on what to climb the next day, and decided on Prime Rib, hoping that we wouldn't have to bail due to rain, but we did encounter some nice, strong winds up high. I though Prime Rib was much more dangerous than Sisyphus, due to both the number of parties and the relative position of the rappel line to the climb, especially at pitch 8, where the pitch heads directly below 2-3 rappels. We luckily avoided a close call with rock fall here. The rappel descent for this climb was much longer than Sisyphus, but the climb was much more relaxed (aside from the falling rocks) mainly on very positive holds.

 

 

Gear Notes:

Quickdraws, 60 m rope, wind shirt, and helmets

 

Approach Notes:

Drive 2.7 miles past the Mazama store and park at the large pullout, heading up the steep, loose trail

[Drederek]

Hard to beat p3 of Sisyphus, we were lucky to have the whole wall to ourselves that day. We wondered what routes were on the wall above it.

[wayne]

Love that route, Thanks for the stoke!

[mountainmatt]

Nice!

 

We did the same set of routes a few weeks ago. We started by trying to do Restless Native, but p3 and higher was underwater.

 

I agree that Sisyphus was a lot better than Prime Rib as well. Too many loose rocks...

 

 

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