SUMMARY HAIKU
Hit three walls today
Some sport climbs to take a break
Phew! A hot walk back!
Hit three walls today
Some sport climbs to take a break
Phew! A hot walk back!
Climb-On Maps excerpts for Sandstone Quarry and Calico 2 showing the path we took (the pink/purple arrows) to hit 3 walls on Day 52.
Note: The underlying trail colors denote the difficulty of the approach (green = easy. yellow = moderate, orange = strenuous, red = ass kicker, black & red = soul crushing), black lines show the wall locations, and the circles are the At-A-Glance Crag Summaries e.g.The Walrus has 6 climbs, all sport (blue circle), three 5.9 and under (green in outer circle), three 5.10-5.11 (yellow in outer circle), and three 5.12 or above (red in outer circle]
Rick and I were ready for a (hopefully) fun sport day on the WTF 5.7 Tour (I say hopefully because we've hit some crap sport routes - Glue Gun anyone?), but the remaining sport routes on this tour are scattered and becoming slim pickings! But, after the scary "trad" climbs on Tuna and Chips, we were determined to do some sport climbs! We planned a somewhat ambitious loop of climbing on this hot summer's day.
Often it seems we set out to do multiple climbs on different walls and, for various reasons, we don't get our original plan completed. But, this time we did it!
We began with a short 30 foot climb on The Walrus in the Sandstone Quarry area, then went over for one 5.7+ on the Running Man Wall, and finished up on two 5.7s at Sweet Pain Wall. The map above shows the path we took. Below are the route details.
Often it seems we set out to do multiple climbs on different walls and, for various reasons, we don't get our original plan completed. But, this time we did it!
We began with a short 30 foot climb on The Walrus in the Sandstone Quarry area, then went over for one 5.7+ on the Running Man Wall, and finished up on two 5.7s at Sweet Pain Wall. The map above shows the path we took. Below are the route details.
The Walrus (Sandstone Quarry)
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Climb: I Am the Walrus (Sport) (5.7)(30')
Wall: The Walrus (in Sandstone Quarry) Beginner Lead: Maybe - it's not that difficult, just freaky with the loose flakes Conclusion WTF? What the FLAKEY FLAKES! The key features of this climb are:
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Running Man (Calico 2)
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Climb: Eat My Shorts (Sport) (5.7+)(80')(found only in Mountain Project)
Wall: Running Man (in Calico 2) Beginner Lead: I don't think so. Conclusion WTF? What the FEISTY FRICTION! The Mountain Project description says "fun easy climbing." We agree it's fun, we disagree that it's easy. A comment below says "Have your head screwed on right for this lead. Pretty engaging thin sections above bolts make this not ideal for a new leader. Great technical movement regardless." That we agree with. The bolting distance is good, but seems odd when you look at it from the ground - as they angle off to the left. Thus the climb is a bit traverse-y on thin, technical terrain. The angled bolting keeps you off the featured arete to the right as you near the anchors. You might find yourself wishing the bolts went over there... but alas you are kind of forced to stay on the technical slab. We found it to be pretty sustained. Usually we interpret a + as one or two moves that exceed the 7 rating, but this has a lot of plus - making it a bit sandbagged for the grade (rick calls it a 5.8 and I'd even give it a 5.9 rating). |
Rick on "Eat My Shorts" at Running Man Wall.
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Sweet Pain (Calico 2)
Climb: Unknown New Route (Sport) (5.7)(50')(found only in Mountain Project)
Wall: Sweet Pain (in Calico 2)
Beginner Lead: Hmmm, the right climb might be a better option.
Conclusion WTF? What the FUN!
This is a fun climb but the start is a bit muscle-y and spicy, especially if you don't get the right sequence and find the hidden hold. I'd recommend stick clipping the first bolt because the terrain drops off below. Falling before the second bolt will result in a deck.
The climb gets featured and straight forward after the first few moves. It's run out to the last bolt over slope-y, low angled terrain.
Wall: Sweet Pain (in Calico 2)
Beginner Lead: Hmmm, the right climb might be a better option.
Conclusion WTF? What the FUN!
This is a fun climb but the start is a bit muscle-y and spicy, especially if you don't get the right sequence and find the hidden hold. I'd recommend stick clipping the first bolt because the terrain drops off below. Falling before the second bolt will result in a deck.
The climb gets featured and straight forward after the first few moves. It's run out to the last bolt over slope-y, low angled terrain.
Climb: Right of Unknown New Route (Sport) (5.7)(50')(found only in Mountain Project)
Wall: Sweet Pain (in Calico 2)
Beginner Lead: Yeah, probably. Recommend reading the details below to decide.
Conclusion WTF? What the FUN!
This is a fun climb but the start is a bit muscle-y for the first several moves. It gets easy after that (it's easier than the climb to the left). Recommend stick clipping the first bolt because a fall might cause injury due to the gap below.
Falling before he second bolt will likely result in decking. The climb is mostly highly featured face with some low angled slab run out to the anchor. There are mussy hooks on this anchor and chains you can clip your own anchor into if you plan to top rope with multiple people.
Wall: Sweet Pain (in Calico 2)
Beginner Lead: Yeah, probably. Recommend reading the details below to decide.
Conclusion WTF? What the FUN!
This is a fun climb but the start is a bit muscle-y for the first several moves. It gets easy after that (it's easier than the climb to the left). Recommend stick clipping the first bolt because a fall might cause injury due to the gap below.
Falling before he second bolt will likely result in decking. The climb is mostly highly featured face with some low angled slab run out to the anchor. There are mussy hooks on this anchor and chains you can clip your own anchor into if you plan to top rope with multiple people.
Climb Stats to Date
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DATE OF CLIMB: July 26, 2020
WALLS HIT: 3 NUMBER OF CLIMBS TODAY: 4 NUMBER OF PITCHES TODAY: 4 NUMBER OF FALLS: 0 NUMBER OF TAKES: 0 VERTICAL FEET CLIMBED TODAY: 210 DIRTY UNDERWEAR ENCOUNTERED TODAY: 0 START & END TIMES:
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TOTAL CLIMBS SO FAR: 124
TOTAL PITCHES SO FAR: 166 TOTAL 5.7 VERTICAL FEET ON THE TOUR SO FAR: 14,540' NUMBER OF CLIMBS REMAINING: 114 (out of 237) VERTICAL FEET REMAINING: 36,207' FALLS SO FAR: 0 TAKES ON LEAD SO FAR:
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