Ballantine Blast - SUMMARY
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Climb: Ballentine Blast (Trad) (5.7)( pitch ~490')(Pro to 4")
Wall: Lazy Buttress Beginner Lead? Handren P1, yes, stopping at the first set of bolted anchors. If yo string together P1 and P2, like we did probably not Pq. Maybe pitch 3, easy terrain but either run-out or requires creative pro in holes, horizontals, nuts in petina. Maybe not the other pitches. Depends on their experience and confidence, especially with roofs. Conclusion WTF? What the FLARING! Ballantine Blast is the 2nd 5.7 (of three) on the Lazy Buttress in Black Velvet Canyon. Although a decent climb, it is not nearly as good of a climb as Schaffer's Delight, which we rated "What the Fabulous!" Ballantine Blast is also both harder and easier than Schaffer's Delight.
Although the Schaffer's Delight corner is rated a 5.8 in some places, the upper corner of pitch 1 (P2 listed in Handren) of Ballantine Blast is significantly harder. This flaring corner is what prompts the "What the FLARING!" rating for this climb. This climb also has a couple of roofs that add some spice, and then quite easy climbing in between. There is also some loose rock to be wary of if you go the way we went (which we detail in the pitch descriptions below). We did not experience loose rock on Schaffer's Delight. In addition, on Schaffer's Delight most of the pitches are nicely sustained for the grade. |
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It is also important to note that the Handren guidebook has some incorrect and unclear/misleading information about this climb, so we correct it here.
Lastly, there are a couple of options for the end of the climb and the walk-off, which we describe in the "Descent" section below.
NOTE: Because Ballantine Blast finishes on the climb Lazy Buttress, the Handren Guidebook describes the climb as being 300 feet. Mountain Project describes it as being 400 feet, and this is correct if you finish at Lover's Ledge. We list the climb at 490 feet because we climbed the optional 4th pitch.
Lastly, there are a couple of options for the end of the climb and the walk-off, which we describe in the "Descent" section below.
NOTE: Because Ballantine Blast finishes on the climb Lazy Buttress, the Handren Guidebook describes the climb as being 300 feet. Mountain Project describes it as being 400 feet, and this is correct if you finish at Lover's Ledge. We list the climb at 490 feet because we climbed the optional 4th pitch.
Pitch 1 - ~120 feet
The start of Ballantine Blast. Rick Momsen leading.
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Handren shows pitch 1 ending about where Rick is, and there are some bolted anchors. Rick continued to string together P1 and P2. Above Rick is the flaring corner which gives our WTF rating for this climb.
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Barb (our knee surgery support angel - joining us and helping carry gear while Stef's knee heals from surgery) jams up the flaring corner on the upper section of our pitch 1 (Handren P2).
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We strung pitch 1 and pitch 2 of Ballantine Blast together into a single 120-foot pitch. There are bolted anchors at the top of both the Handren P1 and P2. The first half of "our" P1 (aka. the Handren P1 pitch) is quite easy but gets wide near where Rick is in the upper middle photo. You have to run it out to the white rock if you don't have the gear. The largest piece we brought was a #4. (In the middle photo above you can see that Rick is quite run out and has not yet placed a piece).
The second half of "our" P1 (aka. the Handran P2) is a fairly challenging and committing flared corner that is a little odd to jam and challenging to place gear (not recommended for new trad leaders). This corner is significantly harder than the Schaffer's Delight corner rated 5.8 in some places.
There is a bolted anchor at the top of this pitch.
The second half of "our" P1 (aka. the Handran P2) is a fairly challenging and committing flared corner that is a little odd to jam and challenging to place gear (not recommended for new trad leaders). This corner is significantly harder than the Schaffer's Delight corner rated 5.8 in some places.
There is a bolted anchor at the top of this pitch.
Pitch 2 - ~200 feet (just over a 60m rope)
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Our P2 is P3 in the Handren guidebook. The 2016 and earlier editions of the Handren guidebook the topo and pitch length is incorrect for this pitch.
The Handren topo shows the climb going out left over the roof - the correct way is to the right of the roof (see our photo of Rick going over the roof.) Handren also lists this pitch as 180-feet, it is actually closer to 200 feet - or a full 60m rope (we had to simul-climb a tad with our 60s.) Be sure to use a very long sling beneath the roof to prevent rope drag! Also there are not many options for protection above the roof. Put in what you can to try to keep the rope in place for the follower. This is because once above the roof the climb veers left across the face and if you don't place something the rope will keep moving left, making it difficult for the follower to get far enough right to get up and over the roof. Above the roof the terrain is quite juggy and run out. Place creatively where you can. Go up the juggy black face, around the left of the next roof, then onto the slabby, low angle white rock (also run out.) The white, slabby low angled section of this climb is where Ballantine Blast joins up with the climb Lazy Buttress (5.7, as of this writing we still need to do.) There are some bolted anchors at the top of this pitch, but they are oddly placed. Rick built an anchor to be able to belay comfortably. |
The best access over the roof on this pitch is to the right. The 2016 Handren guidebook incorrectly shows this pitch going around the left side of the roof. Be sure to think of the follower in this section (read the description of P2.)
The low angle featured slabby white rock at the end of "our" pitch 2 (Handren P3) of Ballantine Blast.
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Pitch 3 - ~100 feet
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Pitch 3 begins below this roof, which definitely has some spicy moves and challenging protection to get through. Height definitely has some advantage here. Above the roof is some loose rock as well, so be careful.
(NOTE: When we did the climb Lazy Buttress we went a little different way once above this lower roof - it was far better. Check out that post for the beta, it will improve your experience of this climb.) Make your way up some moderate, blocky terrain to Lover's Ledge. THE DESCENT This is the best place to end the climb. Refer to our post on Schaeffer's Delight for details on the walk off from here. Basically, scramble down into a narrow gully then go right, UP the gully, until you run into the Whisky Peak gully (which is quite wide and has a lot of slabby rock at the intersection.) There are cairns marking the way. |
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Optional Pitch 4 - ~ 90 feet (and the walk-off from here)
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Above Lover's Ledge is a face that looks pretty good from the ground, but many describe the rock as junky. There are many instances when people have described rock on a Red Rock climb as junky and we disagreed (such as pitch 2 of Pillar Talk), but this one we are in full agreement on. The white rock beneath that inviting petina is very weak and it doesn't take much to break it off.
The Handren guidebook describes this pitch going up the right crack, but it just didn't look that great, so Rick chose to go left. He had to stop in a bushy alcove to build the anchor because the terrain started getting quite broken up. It wasn't a great belay spot. 
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Once we were all up in the alcove, there was still some exposed scrambling to get out of the jumbled mess and into the Whisky Peak gully. We went ahead and stayed tied in and short-rope belayed for safety, since we didn't know what we would encounter.
One of the reasons we wanted to do this pitch is because it allows you to avoid the scramble up the gully from Lover's Ledge. We thought climbing has to be better than going up a gully... well, that's not quite the case here. If the pitch didn't end in that blocky mess, it might be worth it to do the climb - if you can palate the junky rock. But with the junky rock and the messy end, next time we will just end at Lover's Ledge.
One of the reasons we wanted to do this pitch is because it allows you to avoid the scramble up the gully from Lover's Ledge. We thought climbing has to be better than going up a gully... well, that's not quite the case here. If the pitch didn't end in that blocky mess, it might be worth it to do the climb - if you can palate the junky rock. But with the junky rock and the messy end, next time we will just end at Lover's Ledge.
Climb Stats to Date
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DATE OF CLIMB: March 12, 2022
WALLS HIT: 1 NUMBER OF 5.7 CLIMBS: 1 NUMBER OF 5.7 PITCHES: 4 NUMBER OF FALLS: 0 NUMBER OF TAKES: 0 VERTICAL FEET CLIMBED: 490' DIRTY UNDERWEAR ENCOUNTERED: 0 TOTAL CLIMBS SO FAR: 179 TOTAL PITCHES SO FAR: 237 TOTAL 5.7 VERTICAL FEET ON THE TOUR SO FAR: 21,040 NUMBER OF CLIMBS REMAINING: 59 (out of 238) VERTICAL FEET REMAINING: 29,987' DIRTY UNDERWEAR ENCOUNTERED TO DATE: 8 |
FALLS SO FAR:
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