The West-facing wall of the Alligator Lounge has a distinct panel of supreme gator skin. Lator Gator climbs the right side of the wall following a crack system that wanders up the featured face. The protection gets trickier the higher you go, but fortunately the moves get easier, too.

Lator Gator

Good and Plenty

Lola and the Magic Closet

Let's Do It Again, Daddy

Optical Illusion

Wave Goodbye

Evil Genius

Urge Overkill

Altered State

Slather

Wild Thing

Big Rhonda

The Slot

Spank Me

Heels over Head

Feel the Void

Gates of Karakum

Lounge Lizard

The route's name comes from the Haas book on

South Platte Climbing: Thunder Ridge and Turkey Rock

edition.

Start with a bulging #2 crack right above the bush on the ledge. After pulling the first block, moved right up a zig-zagging, right-angled crack into brief 4th Class. Then, moved into the slab that got increasingly more sparse and difficult. I was happy to have offset nuts and alpine draws.

This has the same start as

Daddy

- then step right into corner.  Be wary of wasps at mid height.

Our dog Lola knows where to find all of her treats...in the Magic Closet!

Start on the rotten start of

Lounge Lizard

(the only detraction of the climb), and climb past the first two bolts to a good stance. Place an optional hand-sized piece, and step right to the first bolt of Lola and the Magic Closet. Make delicate moves past this bolt, then charge up the steep face above past a few more bolts supplemented with some smaller cams in horizontals. Angle left after the last bolt (6th), and continue up easier terrain to the anchor on the ledge.

Daddy climbs the AWESOME gator skin face 15 feet left of the large dihedral.

Optical starts off easy (

Good and Plenty

start) then heads to the prow  where the business starts.  Steep, exciting climbing all the way to the chains.

The left end of the Lounge has a section of wall that looks just like a huge wave about to break. Here is Wave Goodbye.  Hard technical balance and power combined make this route a brute.  Unrepeated at this writing.

I enjoyed this surprisingly steep route as much as anything else I've done at TR, though the start is marred by some crumbly rock.  Seemed tough for the grade e.g. harder than

Bury the Bone

.  Goes into the shade earlier than most of the other routes on the east side of the Alligator Lounge.

P1. (10+, 60') The first 3m is the crux.  A shallow 3/4" piece such as a red Alien or an orange TCU provides the only pro that would keep you off the deck.  After the crux, move up on easier though not perfectly protected ground to a roof, pull this then blast up a thin hand crack to a ledge and a belay.

P2. (10, 60') Some gator skin face climbing leads to a crack which starts thin but widens wider than fists at the end.  The angle eases off at the end so I didn't feel like I needed anything bigger than a blue Camalot.  After topping out of the crack you can go left or right to anchors; neither choice is ideal.  We went up and right to the top of the pinnacle where we established a gear belay from which we had to do a mini pitch to get down to the anchors.

We had a 70m rope each strand of which had about 3m remaining after rapping to the ground.  I'm not sure if a 60m rope would make it to the ground and the rock overhangs enough that it would be a pain if it didn't.

Pumpy and steep!

Start with the first two bolts of

Evil Genius

, turn the overhang, and make a couple moves up the crack. Head straight right on a finger traverse, and reach up and clip a bolt. Continue up to the midway ledge, then follow bolts up the steep wall and over the roof to chains.

Climb up and left to an undercling. Move up into a crack. This was originally ascended on gear. The two bolts were added later by the first ascentionists.

This route starts on top of the ledge midway above

Evil Genius

. Climb awesome gator skin past bolts on the steep headwall.

Start in a rotten band a few feet left of

Lounge Lizard

, and follow bolts up the multi-cruxed prow with the occasional cam in a horizontal. Finish on a wild, exposed headwall.

Note that there is a large flake to the right of the line near the last bolt.  It's probably best to avoid kicking it....

This is one of those hidden gems of Thunder Ridge. Doesn't look like much from the ground but has excellent steep 5.9 climbing. The route wanders around and has a couple of ways to go. Start 10' right of

Evil Genius

at a right-leaning ramp with a bolt. Climb through the crumbly section and onto a ledge with a good crack on the right side. Follow this left-facing dihedral for about 10' and look for an inobvious leftward traverse move that will take you back towards the main chimney system. Continue up using jugs and the awesome "pinky hold" to the right of the main wide crack. Big holds along a crack system lead back right and up to the anchors.

Variation: After leaving the ledge and heading up the left-facing dihedral - climb another 10' past the standard traverse and then go left.

This is a "sporty" route that tackles the face/arête to the right of the small gully. A single bolt protects the face, and decent gear can be found higher to the left in the gully.  One more bolt near the top protects the overhanging crux, after which the steepness keeps increasing.  The top is juggy, but pumpy, and some of the rock is dubious...a fall here could have serious consequences.

Climb a wide crack through a roof, right of the

Wave

.

Climb the face to first bolt, then go left to another, and head for the roof section to Feel the Void.

Gates of Karakum shares the same start with

The Slot

, angling rightwards up a crack/ramp feature past one bolt and a few gear placements. In the same manner as

The Slot

, the initial rock is a bit grainy and detracts from the overall experience but is not an indicator for the climbing above. The rest of the route follows classic Thunder patina, starting with 3 bolts that chase a steep arete to a small roof. Pull right of the roof on natural gear (long slings are advised to minimize drag), and traverse right on a series of large but steep jugs. 2 more bolts protect a steep face before being able to pull up onto a rest ledge. Clip one more bolt above the ledge, and launch into the overhanging crux. Good gear (large hands followed by small fingers pieces) can be had through this sequence but is difficult to place due to the overhanging nature of the rock. An attentive belay and calm nerves are recommended due to the ledge below. After pulling the crux, easier but fun patina pulling deposits you at the anchors.

Appx. 20 feet right of the main dihedral, this route starts in front of a boulder sitting at the base of the wall. Two bolts get you through an obvoius chunky band of rock. Continue up the steep, featured wall to the anchors at the ledge.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in The Alligator Lounge