Would be surprised to find out no one has ever climbed this before us. There were, however, no signs of traffic and a bit of crumbling rock in places.  

  Easy stemming up sugary rock to nicely varnished wideness. After reaching a comfy ledge you have 2 options; continue up the wide chasm on the right or go left up less than stellar rock.  

  Worth doing as the sugary parts are made up for by the nicely varnished ow.

Rock, Paper, Sugar

The Tipping Point

Cure for the Common Cold

Intestinal Flu

Pneumonia

Black Glass

Dust to Dust

This route is a linkup of the two harder variations of Intestinal Flu described in Jerry Handren's guidebook... plus a bit of (possibly?) new climbing at the start. Burly, excellent crack climbing! 

  I hope to not be presumptuous in giving this obvious linkup a name, but it creates a nearly independent line from Intestinal Flu at a harder grade and is of such quality that it should not be dismissed as mere “variation”. If anyone knows who climbed this terrain first (or if it has a name) let me know and I'll update the description. 

  In the meantime, this is how it goes: 

  P1 (70', 5.11-): Instead of heading up the sandy chimney of Intestinal Flu, climb up some flaky rock just down and left to gain a thin crack which can be followed through a bulge, then up the left wall of the chimney, and up to a stance below the chockstone. From here, turn the arete to the left and climb the "excellent splitter" described in the guidebook. Once through the difficulties at a stance below the wide crack of Intestinal Flu, place some gear and down climb 15' to the top of the chockstone and set up a belay. 

  P2 (40', 5.11+): Follow the intimidating undercling/hand crack up and right, underneath the massive roof, to the anchor of The Tipping Point which is just out of view around the corner. A patch of slick rock devoid of footholds creates a short-lived crux. 

  Descent: Rap 90'. Bring a pair of quicklinks and rings/biners/short lengths of chain to improve this anchor.

On the left side of the Sheep Skull Crags formation there is an orange pillar of sandstone. On the right side of this pillar is a wide chimney with a large chockstone wedged into place. Intestinal Flu climbs this chimney. There is an optional belay position (slings) at about fifty feet up, on top of the chockstone. Once past that position swing out left past a roof and up the offwidth crack. Belay at the top of the crack at some fixed slings. 

  Breaking the climb up into two pitches might be a good idea in order to avoid heinous rope drag. 

  Descend by rappelling from the slings with one 60 meter rope, or continue up with third class scrambling to the top of the cliff and walk off right.

Climbed half way up this line and bailed on a gear anchor. The point up to which I stopped was absolutely awesome. Double cracks, stemming, finger/hand jamming. Reasonable rock. Just below the stack of tat I decided it looked too loose and not protectable. Went back and rappelled the line, and I was happy I stopped when I did. The rest of the climb consists of one side hard varnish, one side complete garbage sugar stone. Pretty wild stemming for what is supposed to be 5.8 and jamming up an OW. Not many good placements for the last 60-80 ft of this climb, generally behind hollow blocks or half-sugary cracks. 

  To be clear, the R rating is for the second half of this climb.

Right of Intestinal Flu is a beautiful black, right facing dihedral - sweet climb ! !   Rap off w/2 ropes.

Work your way up the sandy chimney to access the tight dihedral on nice varnished rock. Climb the dihedral to a large ledge. Here, move left and climb a great finger to hand crack in a right facing corner for 25 feet (watch the rope drag). Pass a dead tree with lots of webbing and belay. 100 feet.  

  After this, low fifth class face climbing and progressively easier (but interesting) scrambling lead to the top. Walk off right.

Sheep Skull Crags feature five routes that were climbed by Joe Herbst and friends in the Spring of 1974. The crags consist of several stunning pillars and the routes all seem to include wide, offwidth cracks and chimneys. The cliff faces northeast so the only sunshine is limited to the morning. Descent usually involves rappelling a route or walking off right.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Sheep Skull Crags