SUMMARY HAIKU
This is a FUN climb!
Seventy-meter rope best
And two-rope rappel
This is a FUN climb!
Seventy-meter rope best
And two-rope rappel
First Creek Slabs and Romper Room (Romper Room is the extra dark square face in the lower center of the photo and Algae on Parade is the crack on the far right edge of that face).
CLIMB: Algae on Parade (Trad, 5.7) (3/4 pitches)(I calculated ~665', Handren says 550' and MP says 600')
WALL: Romper Room
PROTECTION: You can get away with doubles to 4" + nuts, we brought a #5 and used it a few times (though you can probably find alternatives if you don't have a #5)
BEGINNER LEAD: Not pitch 1. The rest of the pitches, yes, but you may want to shorten the pitches. Rope drag on long pitches can be stressful and exhausting.
Conclusion WTF? What the FUN!
WALL: Romper Room
PROTECTION: You can get away with doubles to 4" + nuts, we brought a #5 and used it a few times (though you can probably find alternatives if you don't have a #5)
BEGINNER LEAD: Not pitch 1. The rest of the pitches, yes, but you may want to shorten the pitches. Rope drag on long pitches can be stressful and exhausting.
Conclusion WTF? What the FUN!
The key features of this climb are:
- Algae on Parade is a super fun climb! Pitch 1 does have a little spice, but it is well protected. The remaining pitches are long but pretty cruiser. (Be prepared for a rope-drag-work-out if you do the full rope-stretcher pitches.)
- If you read through the Mountain Project posts there are discussions about using a 70m rope versus a 60m versus bringing two ropes for the rappel. Here is what we strongly recommend:
- At the very least bring two ropes to rappel or you will be doing some nasty, exposed down climbing. By having two ropes you can get down in two rappels (60m ropes work - they just barely reach the bottom on rappel two with rope stretch.)
- To do the climb in three pitches using the belays in the topo (& mentioned in most of the other guide resources), you need a 70m or you will be simulclimbing to reach those belays (We had to simulclimb for about a total of 40 feet even though we did the climb in 4 pitches - but our pitches were broken up weird because of confusion - which we try to clear up for you here.) If you have a 60m, I'd recommend planning for four pitches and do hanging belays at spots in between the belays marked in the topo above. The "standard belay spots" don't work that well for a 60m rope.
- The best rope combo would be to use a 70m and have a tag line to do the two-rope rappel. You can get away with a 60m tag line if you want to save weight.
Pitch 1 (~135' the way we did it, estimate 180' for recommended way)
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Rick, Pitch 1, Algae on Parade
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Pitch 2 (our P2 was about 90' but I'm not sure I went the "best way," alternative P2 ~230, possibly a bit more if you do the other crack to what looks like a ledge)
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Stef's Pitch 2, Algae on Parade.
The amazing tree alcove (sans the poop smell... puhleeeezze bring emergency poop bags with you!). There is a handy dead branch for the rope coil!
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Pitch 3 (or P2) (~230')
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Final Pitch (~210')
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Rick on the final pitch of Algae on Parade.
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The Descent
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- There are two small down climbs. On the second down climb, as you face the valley, traverse left (caution) towards the oak tree (it's an easier down climb.) This gets you to a trail where you continue down, encountering about another 10-15 feet of down climbing to access the main trail to Romper Room (turning right) to retrieve your stuff (if you left anything near the base of the climb)