The two major objectives were Gunslinger and Acid Crack.  Gunslinger is the longest most sustained 5.12 in the park, with 3 5.12 pitches and one of hard 5.11b slab.  It ascends the North Astro Dome around right of Figures on a Landscape.  I’d seen it in the guide, but I had never heard of anyone actually climbing the thing.  There were a few tidbits on mountainproject about it, but not much.

After a quick drive, warmup on the Gripper Traverse, and a hike in we were at the base.  Looking at the first pitch, it really didn’t look that intimidating.  However, after I geared up and tied in I quickly discovered the real difficulty of the pitch: crumbly potato chip flakes that are scary as hell!  The features on this pitch have been described as “moguls” and I thought that was an extremely good description.  You climb a series of bulges wandering between them, standing on top of them and clipping bolts, going through short steep section after short steep section.  Almost every move on the pitch had me on edge as holds continuously broke as I ascended the face.  My feet would cause them to crumble, they would tear off luckily right after reaching the next hold, but somehow I managed to not fall once due to holds breaking.

Instead, what shut me down was a tough and devious short blank vertical section.  I tried and tried, and fell and fell.  I even pulled on the bolt, managed to clip the next and worked it on TR for a bit, but nothing seemed to work!  I can’t tell if it was just me, or if that section had holds break, but it seemed significantly harder that 5.12a.  I finally pulled through, finished the pitch, and brought Roberto up.

As Roberto followed me up what we have now nicknamed the “North Astro Choss” he was unfortunate enough to have a hold break while he was cranking on it.  The result was a rather hilarious (to me) “face dab” on the rock.  I’m not sure his wife found it as funny…  The low rock quality and number of breaking holds made it quite apparent that this route sees essentially zero traffic.

Roberto took the sharp end on the next pitch, a short but very stout 11b slab climb.  He unlocked the sequence beautifully, which I almost botched following.  Looming ahead was the beautiful overhung crimpy 12b pitch!

I took the lead back, and after utilizing my height to reach a high crimp I battled my way up the pitch.  It was amazing movement on perfect quality rock, up there with any other 5.12 pitch I’ve done in the park.  This is where the route gets it’s five star rating!  Roberto, being a little shorter, had trouble with the initial reach, but dispatched the rest of the pitch with ease.

He was climbing strong enough that he wanted to try to lead the last 12a mixed pitch.  It was a bizarre shallow corner with amazing friction but few holds.    As he scuzzed his way up, he got into a tough position and took a nice 10-15′ ride on the rope.  He headed back up and tried again with the same results.  It looked to be a tricky one!  Eventually, after an awesome effort, he passed the sharp end back to me and it was my turn to see if I could get up the devious pitch above.  With some crazy scuzzing, opposition, twisting and footwork the pitch went down first try.  Soon we were kicking it on top of the North Astro Choss enjoying the spectacular route we just finished.

We decided that if you want quality, rap in from the top and skip the first pitch.  The upper three pitches were awesome and definitely warrant the five stars.  If you want adventure, and a wickedly thin and hard crux that I had no clue how to climb, add that first pitch in and hope the potato chips don’t result in a “face dab” for you too.

On the hike back, we were wondering what other forms of destruction we could find.  As we circumnavigated the lake at Barker Dam, I realized not only that Father Figure was right there, but that Roberto had never tried it!  I threw the draws on it, falling on the last moves, and Roberto gave it a go.  Again, being shorter, the last moves were insanely hard for him.  Where I could keep my feet on awesome holds, he had to dyno feet cutting to slopers.  He got all the moves except the last, and it was fun to see all of his hard work and training paying off!  (For an old trip report with footage of Father Figure go here: http://pullharder.org/2009/04/15/joshua-tree-sendtastic-wanger-banger-hidden-arch-father-figure/)

As we packed up and finished the hike to the car, I spontaneously veered right.  It was getting dark, but there was another ultra-classic that Roberto needed to try: More Funky than Monkey!  It’s a roughly 15′ handcrack out a roof with a crux at the end.  We wandered over, and it was like showing a kid a candy store.  Roberto instantly wanted to try leading it.  I warned him that the hardest thing was wrapping your brain around being upside down while leading.  He made a valiant effort, and I planted the seed of desire in him for the future.  He’ll be back when he’s less tired wasted from 5 5.12 pitches already that day.

After a night around the campfire with limited imbibing of alcohol, we hit the rocks again early next morning.  First on the list, Acid Crack!  It’s a beautiful 60′ finger crack splitting an overhung wall that requires finger locks, highsteps, multiple kneebars, liebacking, flagging, and crimping skills clocking in around 5.12d.  We had toproped it previously, and I did one last burn on it on TR to figure out the gear.  The crack is thin, and the positions are difficult often liebacking away from the crack.  As I found what fit where, I quickly realized that leading this thing pinkpoint vs redpoint would be massively different experiences.  I made a judgement call, and for the first time in my life I left the gear in the crack.  The other guys TR’d it, working out the tricks that worked best for them, and then we pulled the rope and I gave it a go.

All the tricks I had worked out came together, and I pinkpointed the route.  The climbing was so demanding, and the body positions so strenuous that I still couldn’t even clip all the gear I had placed.  Roberto and Nate kept progressing on the route on TR and worked on getting the tricky moves more wired.

Next up, Shay’s objective.  We all wandered over to Hercules.  It’s a beautiful 11c/d off-finger crack behind the ranger station in Lost Horse.  It requires awkward jamming, more straightforward but strenuous liebacking, and a significant amount of endurance.  By this time, some of us were pretty tired, but Shay had skipped working Acid Crack to save himself for the redpoint.  I managed to sneak out an onsight, and then Nate and I grabbed cameras and took pictures of Shay on Hercules hoping he would send.  Near the top, Shay flamed out after almost making it to the only “rest” on the route.  After he finished, there was some TRing for extra punishment, then off to the boulders!

As unlikely as it might seem, we ran into Bob Gaines in the Intersection Rock parking lot before pebble wrestling.  I talked to him a little bit about Gunslinger, and he said that we may have had the 3rd ascent as far as he knows.  While one side of me thinks that more people must have gotten on it under the radar, another part of me thinks it’s quite possible given the high quantity of holds that broke or crumbled while we were climbing.

Next up, Pigpen (aka Bachar Cracker of the Desert).  Essentially every route that Roberto and I did all weekend ranged from at least partly overhung to a full on roof.  Roberto was sick, also, so by the time we got to Pigpen we were devastated.  We threw some pads down and proceeded to get our butts kicked for a while.  Luckily, some guy was there working it who knew a few key pieces of beta like a cool one leg hang under the roof and a crucial toehook.  After he sent, the shananigans began.  Somehow we talked Shay into making a boxer-beanie attempt, and he fell off on the last move of the problem.  (If there are enough requests, maybe we can get Roberto to link to some of the “better” pictures.)  Roberto and Nate also progressed, and in my final effort for the weekend I sent on my upteenth try.

All in all, we were pretty devastated.  We got what we asked for.  We threw ourselves on route after route that was at or above our limits and we all had massive grins to accompany our exhuastion.  A weekend with the guys is awesome, but a weekend of P = G in desert with the guys is priceless.

 

While it’s one of the smallest of the walls I would call a “bigwall,” the Rainbow Wall in Red Rocks regularly sees  multi-day ascents and requires some efficiency and motivation in order to pull it off in a day.  It turned out that two of my good friends, Konstantin and Kostas (I called them “K2″) were going to attempt to free the Original Route, something that I had done back in 2007.  K2 planned to take every “easy” variation which still meant over 10 pitches up to 5.12a with a lot of 5.11.  I did the same thing my first time freeing the line, but this time, I decided to attempt every hard variation, including the 4 pitch Rainbow Country deviation.  This would essentially eliminate any pitch under 5.10 and add 3 5.12 pitches up to 5.12d to an already sustained line.  Yikes!  While it was a lofty goal, my purpose was to test myself and see how I would hold up on a very long hard free route and it certainly did it’s job….

Roberto partnered up with me for his 4th multipitch!  His third, 2 weekends previously was actually the “easy” variations to the Original Route with Luke that K2 planned to do.  Way to jump in head first, my friend!  I knew he had a good attitude and liked to find his limits.  Since he hadn’t fallen once on the 12a Original Route, I figured we could get our asses kicked together!

We met  up with K2 at 4am outside the gate, and started hiking around 4:20am.  Konstantin had an iPod and speaker on the outside of his pack, and we made the 2hr 40min approach in the dark listening to everything from Metallica to crazy Russian propaganda songs.  Of course he was singing along making for some good entertainment along the way.

The sun started to rise after we passed the fixed rope, and soon we were at the base racking up.  K2 started up the 5.11+ variation to the left, and I soloed the first 5.6 pitch and tried to link it into the 5.12b pitch.  Unfortunately, it was cold, I hadn’t warmed up properly, and I read the route wrong.  I clipped the first bolt and ended up dynoing out left to a crimp and essentially swinging under it on one hand and no feet in order to match it.  I felt something funny in my hand, and decided to hang.  I yelled take, lowered to a ledge below, brought Roberto up and inspected the damage.  I’d obviously done something bad to my hand, probably tendon related, but I pulled on some holds and it didn’t seem to hurt too bad so I just said “screw it” and when Roberto got up to me I punched it back into the sequence again.

This time, I pulled it off with some wicked long hard moves and joined Konstantin at the belay.  Kostas was coming up, and instead of stopping I linked into the 5.11+ pitch above to save some time and get above for some good pictures.  I brought Roberto up, who also fell once, but ended up doing what I think is the “correct” way to climb the pitch which is continue up the corner instead of going out left.  I have no idea how hard what I climbed was, but I must say it felt hard…  After he joined me, I fired off the next 5.11a pitch stopping so Roberto could snap some pictures of Konstantin coming up.  He onsighted both 5.11+ pitches in a row which was awesome!

Roberto linked the next two pitches, 5.11a and 5.10, and I ran us up to a ledge at the base of Rainbow Country where the routes diverge.  Here we stopped for a food and drink break.

Roberto had talked quite a bit about how much he liked the look of these pitches two weekends ago, so he ended up leading both of the 5.11b pitches below the crux.  He onsighted both, which was awesome since he’s been leading trad for less than a year.  K2 was traversing easy ledges below us, had finished the first half of the difficulties, and were going strong!

Next up: the 5.12d crux pitch!  I racked up with draws only, since this was reported as a “sport” pitch and headed out.  I made some delicate edgy moves til I was about 30′ up, and then hit the show stopper.  Above was a small leaning arete, which could be potentially liebacked, but there were NO feet to oppose off of.  Just blank, lichen covered, slick sandstone.  I worked my way into delicate, balancy, position, and started cranking like mad.  A few moves into the insanely powerful yet strangely delicate liebacking moves, I pitched off.  This became a theme.  I tried everything.  I pinched the arete trying to switch directions of lieback.  I tried to just go straight up the small arete, ignoring the bolt and holds out right which were obviously the way to go, and nothing worked.  After quite some time of trying and failing, I finally pulled on the bolt to reach a hold way out right, and clipped the next bolt.  I was fried enough and the climbing above was hard enough that I ended up finishing the pitch in a bolt-to-bolt affair, and even had to lower back to the belay to grab a cam since there was a 25+’ runout that included pulling a 5.11ish roof above the last bolt.  I pretty much had my ass handed to me on that pitch.

Roberto made a valiant effort, but was also shutdown on the crux.  It was insane.  Maybe I’m a sissy, but it felt significantly harder than 5.12d.  It could simply be one of those bizarre “aha!” moves where once you figure it out THEN it’s 12d and it’s utterly impossible until then, but who knows.

Even after Roberto quickly worked through the other bizarre moves on the pitch linking wild features I lowered down again for another try.  Roberto had figured out a way to stem and grab the arete from the opposite side and I wanted to try.  I got into position, grabbed the one good pinch on the arete, and was instantly shut down.  At 6′ tall with a positive ape index, I was completely “starfished” on the wall, and couldn’t lift my entire weight using just my left hand on a small pinchy sidepull and  no feet.  I tried a few times, but instead I pulled on the bolt again and linked the rest of the pitch without falling.  K2 was catching up so I quickly headed straight into the traverse that linked back into the Original Route.

The traverse was rated anywhere from 11d to 12b, depending on the source, and it was thin.  Delicate crimps, sidepulls and feet for about 3 moves lead to easier climbing.  It really wasn’t that bad, and in a minute or two I ran up the to the belay under the final hard dihedral pitches on the route.

The next 3 pitches were 11d stemming, 12a liebacking, and then a final hard variation which included entertaining 12b underclinging at chest level.  K2 had caught up to us on the easier territory out right, and were nipping at our heels.  Roberto, being fatigued, told me to lead so we could go a little faster.  I lead out and pulled the hard stemming move above, and ran up the rest of the pitch.  I brought up Roberto who was starting to “bonk” after so much hard climbing, and we stopped to grab some photos of Konstantin as he lead his THIRD 11+ onsight for the day!  He hadn’t fallen yet and was on a ROLL!

As I started up the next 12a pitch, I realized how tired I was.  The moves are straight forward, but sustained.  I was failing to make reaches and having to make multiple attempts at moves, the whole time locked off in a powerful  lieback.  I realized that I was “bonking” too.  AWESOME!  That was what I had come out for.  To push my limits and get a good ass kicking.  I decided to PULL HARDER and finished the pitch without falling.

Once Roberto joined me at the belay, it was getting grim.  We were both exhausted, Roberto had trouble with the last pitch and there was a 12b variation I’d never tried before looming above.  I fished some Trader Joes Cinnamon Almonds out of the pack and ate a few handfulls to replenish the energy stores and drank some water.

While Roberto and I rested, we snapped some more pictures of Konstantin leading the 12a pitch.  The 12a pitch pretty much got everyone to bonk and team K2 finally had trouble with a pitch.  Konstantin was a champion onsighting every pitch up til then, but that pitch took the crazy Russian down.  Swapping leads, Kostas had also been onsighting pitches up into the 11s, but this pitch gave him trouble as well.  However, both our teams were trying routes that were at the farthest reaches of our limits, and loving it!

Eventually, as Konstantin neared, I had to set off to clear out little hanging belay at least a little.  I worked my way up and under the bizarre underclinging crux, and quickly discounted the slopers above as “sucker holds.”  I set off into the short 6-8′ traverse of strangely enjoyable underclinging, and worked my way left toward an obvious jug.  As I neared, I realized I was in a position difficult to get out of and decided to pop for the hold.  As my arm shot out, my feet cut, but I managed to catch myself last second on the hold.  I let out a “Whooooo!”  I had onsighted the final 5.12b pitch, freeing the whole route except the crux pitch (I knew I had the last pitch in the bag).

Roberto fell once here suckered into the slopers above, but quickly dispatched this funky section 2nd try.  Soon he joined me at the belay, grabbed some gear and headed off.  Roberto quickly lead the final 5.10 pitch with a funky roof and I followed him to the summit!  We were done!

We ate, drank, and rested for a while.  We looked for the summit register, but it appeared to be missing, and then we set up our ropes and started rappeling.  Using 2 60m ropes, we quickly rapped the route, and Roberto and I were on the ground before dark!  We waited for K2 for a while, but we had to meet someone in Vegas and they were rapping with a single 60m rope so eventually headed down without Konstantin and his entertaining music…

Sometimes it’s enjoyable to have an easy day moving fast on quality terrain.  Others it’s fun to onsight near your limit.  Our day on the Rainbow Wall was about pushing limits and having a blast.  All four of us fell, and hung, at various points on our ascents, but we pushed ourselves and it was awesome!  We laughed our way up the wall, and kept a good attitude on the way up encouraging each other.  None of us “sent” but sometimes that just doesn’t matter.  Find a partner willing to get in over their head with a smile (safely, hopefully) and I guarantee you’ll have a great day on the rock!  One man’s failure is another man’s success!

(Note: For gear and logistical beta click here)