Summary Haiku
Run it out my friend
Easy, except when it's not
It was HOT this day!
Run it out my friend
Easy, except when it's not
It was HOT this day!
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CLIMB: Olive Oil (Trad) - 5 pitches, 665' feet
WALL: Rose Tower GEAR: Pro to 4" FOR A NEW TRAD LEADER? Probably not Conclusion WTF? What the FRIED! |
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Pitch 1
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Pitch 1 goes up the ramp then out of sight around the right to an alcove, which is where you set up for pitch 2.
We began on the right side of the ramp, but some people begin on the other side, which might set you up better for the crack and features to the left (which help you avoid the steeper slab above the bulge). The way we started there is little to no protection for the first 20 or so feet where there are some horizontal cracks just below the bulge. After you turn right out of view (see photo), it is easy, run-out terrain (5.4ish) for 30-40+ feet. |
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Pitch 2
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Unless you have fat gear to place down low, the protection at the start of pitch two in on the left side. Be careful not to get sucked off too far left, because it gets awkward and then it's still awkward to traverse right to gain the large crack shown in the right side of the photo.
Many people string pitches 2 and 3 together (which is approximately a 200-feet), but we opted to end pitch 2 in the small ledge just below the white rock with the clear crack. The crux for this pitch is right below where this pitch ends, and the crux for pitch 3 is right right at its start, so if you string them together you will have some cruxes in a row - but these cruxes are protectable. |
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Pitch 3
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As mentioned above, the crux for pitch three is right off the bat - jam and smear through the slopey rock to easier terrain.
As the left-side corner ends, where it meets the black petina chunky rock (in the photo where Rick is touching the "left side corner") continue up a little bit then veer left towards a ledge that should soon be visible left of the base of the dihedral above Rick in the photo. 
Just above this point on pitch 3, veer left towards a ledge left of the base of the dihedral seen in the photo. (Photo Credit: Climb-On Maps)
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The start of pitch 3 of Olive Oil. (Photo Credit: Climb-On Maps)
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Pitch 4
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The base of pitch 4 is a fairly good sized ledge with some weird gear. Delicately traverse out and up climber's right to go around the dihedral.
Place gear where ever you can find it down here, because you are about to enter about 20-30 feet of no protection up juggy, easy terrain. Keep angling right towards the blocky corner, NOT the crack going straight up. Place a #4 or larger in the offwidth and stem up to the right block and continue to the belay ledge. |
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Pitch 5
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Pitch 5 is the most serious of the pitches on this climb. A confident climber should lead this pitch.
Have the lead clip into a piece of pro in the anchor because the first piece of pro is in another 30+ feet. From the anchor, traverse right across the black petina to gain the crack and head up towards the large corner. Although not super difficult, this starting terrain is not as easy as the other runout sections of this climb so far. Once you reach the large corner, stem and grunt your way up, placing pro where you can - because options disappear on occasion - unless you brought a #8 or so with you. We had a #4 and that was too small be used. |
Pitch 5 of Olive Oil. (Photo Credit: Climb-On Maps)
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The upper part of pitch 5 where there is run out and cruxy climbing. (Photo Credit: Climb-On Maps)
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In the close-up photo of the pitch 5 corner, there is a flat, black patina face above Rick. This section is the unprotected crux of this pitch (at least 20+ feet above the last piece of gear). You can try to offwidth-grunt your way through a tight chimney with a bulge, or come out onto the slick face with limited holds. The face will go faster and save energy, but you definitely feel exposed with the lack of protection beneath you.
We stopped and belayed at the end of this corner where the terrain flattens out. To the climber's right is a low-angle (but very exposed) scrambling for the walk-off. Next time, rather than building the anchor at the top of the corner, we would go ahead and continuing up and right for another 10 or so feet to maintain some protection for the start of "walk-off" portion. It's possible this might cause some rope drag or a need to simulclimb a bit (because the pitch is a full 70 meter rope). We use walkie-talkies and those would be especially helpful in this circumstance. (Or you can short-rope with some protection to get past that exposed start of the walk-off section.)
We stopped and belayed at the end of this corner where the terrain flattens out. To the climber's right is a low-angle (but very exposed) scrambling for the walk-off. Next time, rather than building the anchor at the top of the corner, we would go ahead and continuing up and right for another 10 or so feet to maintain some protection for the start of "walk-off" portion. It's possible this might cause some rope drag or a need to simulclimb a bit (because the pitch is a full 70 meter rope). We use walkie-talkies and those would be especially helpful in this circumstance. (Or you can short-rope with some protection to get past that exposed start of the walk-off section.)
Walk-off
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Refer to the last paragraphs of pitch 5 above regarding the "starting point" of the walk-off and how to reduce exposure. This leads into a large, shady alcove where you can eat, drink, rest, and assemble your gear for the big walk-off (Stef's selfie photo). We opted to keep our climbing shoes on to navigate the booty-scooting/down climbing section.
From the alcove, head out straight, up, and then veer left. Soon you will see a pile of rocks and a summit register. From the summit register, go left (west) where you will scramble/booty-scoot down and "hop off" a lip/ledge. There is some exposure here, but a "fall" would be more like a road-rash tumble and scrap then a full-on fall. 
Rose Tower summit register. (Photo Credit: Climb-On Maps)
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Stef's selfie in the alcove at the top of Olive Oil. (Photo Credit: Climb-On Maps_
Continue down then west to gain the slab (Rick in the photo), then veer right to work your way down into the gully on the other side of the Rose Tower (the gully is shown and labeled in the very top photo in this page.)
Follow the trail down the gully. If you still want to do some more climbing. We would highly recommend Canola Cracks - especially the right crack! Once we entered the walk-off gully, we switched into our approach shoes. 
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Climb Stats to Date
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DATE OF CLIMB: September 17, 2022
WALLS HIT: 1 NUMBER OF 5.7 CLIMBS: 1 NUMBER OF 5.7 PITCHES: 5 NUMBER OF FALLS: 0 NUMBER OF TAKES: 0 VERTICAL FEET CLIMBED: 665' DIRTY UNDERWEAR ENCOUNTERED: 0 TOTAL CLIMBS SO FAR: 184 TOTAL PITCHES SO FAR: 247 TOTAL 5.7 VERTICAL FEET ON THE TOUR SO FAR: 22,365 NUMBER OF CLIMBS REMAINING: 54 (out of 238) VERTICAL FEET REMAINING: 28,057' DIRTY UNDERWEAR ENCOUNTERED TO DATE: 8 |
FALLS SO FAR:
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