Alley Cat climbs a water polished slab via bolts and gear.

Alley Cat

With Teeth

Boodalicious Baby

First First

Furry Fruit Loop

Social Distancing

84.1% Eclipse of the Heart (The Eclipse Route)

Paw Prints

The Persistence of Loss

Black Bunny Rabbit

Dolphin Girl

Newb Nation

Rudimentary Extraction

Monk Sandals

Soul Steeler

Paw Prints is a 4 pitch mixed route that wanders up the face and cracks 20 feet left of

Dolphin Girl

.

Pitch 1: climb up the center of a pyramid-shaped slab following 4 bolts and discontinuous cracks to a 2 bolt anchor, gear to 3”, 4 QDs, 70 feet, 5.9+.

Pitch 2: climb straight up above the anchor, and begin trending left towards some obvious blocks. Follow the bolt line on the right side of the blocks/flakes, and gingerly climb over the final, semi-scary block, and follow a slab up and left to a 2 bolt anchor.  I tried to trundle the blocks out of this section, and they would not move, still tread lightly, gear to 1.5”, 7 QDs, 100 feet, 5.8.

Pitch 3: begin up a flared seam clipping a couple bolts. Follow the bolt line left and up into a cryptic sequence with some good exposure (crux).  The bolt line leads into an airy, 5.9 stemming corner with just enough gear to keep you comfortable and deposits you at a 2 bolt anchor left of a big tree, gear to 2.5”, 7 QDs, 100 feet, 5.11.

Pitch 4: traverse right, and set sail up the slab towards the roof above. The roof is split by a 5” crack, but no OW technique is required as face holds abound. Pass the roof, and follow a 4” crack for 20 feet where the climbing eases. At this point, there will be a hand crack above you that leads nowhere. Instead of climbing the hand crack, follow the left crack system up and left on easy terrain 20 feet to a 2 bolt anchor, gear to a #4 Camalot, 130 feet, 5.8+.

Walk off left and down the gully on a decent trail or rap the route. A double rope rap from the top of pitch 2 will put you on the ground.

This is a pretty unique crack climb for Unaweep with some great jams, painful locks, and a punchy crux. Begin up a finger crack on a block right of the obvious, left-leaning crack. Transfer into the left-angling crack, and jam through the pain of the namesake calcite teeth (tape highly recommended). Once the crack turns vertical, a couple more punchy moves get you to some mellower climbing. There is a hollow pillar in the easy section that seems ok right now.

Pitch 1: Climb up the crack in a right-facing dihedral to a two bolt anchor. The crux is low, but this stays pretty consistent 5.10 for most of the pitch. The dihedral leans right, so your feet are rarely in the crack if ever. Two bolts down low but protects with gear the rest of the way.

Pitch 2: Continue up the dihedral on the left to a ledge then traverse the ledge left to the corner and head up to another ledge and a two bolt anchor. The rock quality in the corner was pretty bad so I place a few bolts for pro.

Pitch 3: Head up the chimney to the right with thin pro, mostly .4 and smaller cams, ballnutz are helpful but not necessary. Fun .10+ move through the overhanging blocks then it eases up again. The top of the pitch turns into a squeeze that Robert fit through but I didn't, for those of us that are a little bigger you can continue up and over but it's a bit more airy.

Pitch 4: Climb up the crack in the left facing dihedral to a two bolt anchor. This is the crux pitch and probably the best pitch of the climb.

Pitch 5: This pitch has two options, on the right is a crack that is a little harder (5.10ish) but has better pro and on the left is a 5.8ish corner with some pro. Either way you go you want to head up the small chimney on the left to top out and don't follow the crack on the right to a large and loose block. Anchor on the big tree at the top.

Descent: Hike west (left) to a big drainage that takes you back down then follow the cliff back to the base of the climb. I don't recommend rappelling the route from the top, your rope is very likely to get stuck, a lot.

RSG has 9 bolts with a three bolt anchor, and it is 5.8 until the last lead bolt. The last few moves get harder and slightly more awkward, but they are fun. From the second to last bolt, you can bail left onto

Black Bunny Rabbit

, but you don't want to miss the end.

Edit: I added a new bolt near the bottom after a block fell off making a new crux just after the first bolt. This new lower crux is a thin, balancy .10b/c as you work from the first bolt to the third. The second bolt is the one that was added to help alleviate groundfall potential in this new crux.

First First is a trad route with one bolt at the crux where the crack turns to crap. This bolt as well as the original three bolt anchor were placed on lead with a hand drill. The route now has it's own anchor several feet below the original anchor. This route protects well with gear, but almost no crack technique is required as it's mostly face climbing and easy chimney. Watch out for the cactus.

Furry Fruit Loop climbs about as well as the name suggests. Begin on the left side of a pyramid-shaped blob of granite, and follow a crack system up a low-angle, left-facing corner. This shares an anchor with pitch 1 of

Paw Prints

.

Climb engaging and sequential face passing 5 bolts to a sloping ramp that leads to a fun stemming corner that protects with gear.

Be mindful of a detached pillar 10 feet right of the final stemming corner.

84.1% Eclipse of the Heart (The Eclipse Route) is shorter with only 5 bolts. I was going to take it higher, but the rock quality degrades above the anchor. The crux is at the 3rd bolt where you can either move left of the bolt or right, moving right is easier but more exposed. Stay right after the last bolt to avoid loose rock. The 2012 solar eclipse happened as I hand drilled the anchor after my battery went dead, hence the name.

There is a direct start variation to this route that goes at around 5.9. It can be done on toprope after leading the route. It starts in the corner below the third bolt. I did both starts on toprope before bolting the route and ultimately decided on the other start, because I felt it opened up both options better. I like to clip the chains, then lower, then toprope the direct start up to the third bolt and lower back off. This makes the route a little longer. It’s a fun variation with fun movement, definitely worth doing.

This is a full value link-up of “

With Teeth

” into “

Paw Prints

;.

Pitch 1: climb the wild left-leaning crack of

With Teeth

to the anchor and clip a runner to the chains. At this point, you can carry on up the dirty crack above and traverse to the

Paw Prints'

pitch 2 anchor or traverse right and up on 25 feet of 5.5 R to reach the anchor.

Pitches 2 and 3: continue up the final 2 pitches of

Paw Prints

.

Rap the route.

All but the last lead bolt were drilled by hand before I got a power drill. The start has a bad landing if you blow it before the first clip. You will either land on cactus or a fin of rock that sticks out of the ground, but the moves are relatively easy, you can stick clip if you don't like it. It's really close to

First First

in several places, but it stays right and follows the bolts till the end. If it looks like the bolt is too far right, you are too far left. Watch out for the cactus.

P1. There are two starts, the one on the left stems in a shallow chimney and is harder to protect. The one on the right starts directly above the tree. Climb up through a right-facing dihedral with a few ledges to good ledge with a bolted anchor.

P2. This goes at around 5.8/5.9 and has not been cleaned. There is a bolted anchor with rap ring, but other than that, it has no bolts but probably needs them. The second pitch is adventure climbing, don't do it unless you know what you're doing.

P3? A third pitch may go, but it would be significantly harder.

This route climbs a mellow, low-angle arete.  It is pretty fun for the grade.

Follow the crack up the face into a right-facing dihedral. Climb up using the crack in the corner and ledges on the face to a giant ledge with a bolted anchor. Watch for loose rock on the ledge.

Face climb up and right through two bolts up to a crack. The gear is tricky at the beginning of the crack, but it gets better. Follow the crack up through a chimney to a ledge then another ledge with a bolted anchor. Be mindful of loose rock.

Climb up an offwidth 10 feet to a ledge. From the ledge, climb to the left of the fist two bolts then go right of the third. Follow the bolts to a big ledge with a bolted anchor.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Other Mothers