After
a short day spent at Children's Crag, we climb "Birdland" and "The
Big Horn", both really excellent routes with a short approach (30 min).
Good new bolted anchors at every belay and nice belay ledges. Consistently
fun climbing and appealing lines. "Birdland" may be one of the very
best multipitch 5.7 at Red Rocks.
"The
Big Horn" shares the first two pitches of "Birdland". To round
up your day after climbing "Birdland", a good option is to rap back
to the huge ledge atop pitch 2, and from there, climb the last (and best)
two pitches of "The Big Horn".
We start
early because the route is in the sun all day. We are also worried about crowds...
it is Sunday. We drive the loop as soon as it opens. When we arrive at the
Pine Creek parking lot, there is noone else in sight. The approach is very
quick on a good trail. As we rack up at the base of the route, we see a couple
of other parties on the trail, but no, they keep going toward Solar Slab and
we have the climb for ourselves.
Today
is my turn to lead and I get to lead all the pitches. The first pitch warms
you up gently. It is typical Red Rock face climbing with a good crack for
protection. The crux of the pitch is to turn a small overhang.
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Birdland
and Big Horn .
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Pretty
flowers are everywhere.
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The
routes are shown in red..
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Lucie
starting pitch 1 (5.6).
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Passing
the overhang is the crux on the first pitch..
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The 2nd
pitch (5.7) is a bit harder and steeper. It follows the right crack in the
main chimney system.
Next comes
the traverse. The traverse itself is easy and very well protected (bolt).
The crux of this pitch comes when you step into the steep crack after traversing
left.
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Pitch
2 follows the right crack in the main chimney system.
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Starting
the traverse on pitch 3.
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Getting
into the steep crack above the traverse.
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Views.
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Pitch
4 is easy. The pro is all there but is a bit trickier than on
the other pitches
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The 4th
pitch is easy and follows discontinuous crack and seams, trending right toward
the small pink overhang. The pro is all there, but it is a bit less obvious
and more spaced than on the other pitches. The bolted belay station is below
and left of the small overhang.
The last
pitch is the crux. From the belay, start climbing up and right, but stay left
of the pink overhang. Soon enough, you'll see the incredible finger crack
that splits the gorgeous chocolate-brown face. The last move to the get to
the anchor is the trickiest.
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Starting
the crux pitch (5.7+).
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At
the belay above the sweet finger crack.
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Another
shot of the way-too-short finger crack.
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We rap
the route to the huge ledge atop pitch 2. We take a break, then decide to
go climb "The Big Horn". When I was on "Birdland", I saw
the incredible looking crack and did not know what it was. We check the guidebook;
it's 5.8, looks a bit wide but it looks like that there are plenty of face
holds so not much offwidth technique would be required.
I make
a short approach pitch (5.3) to the base of the crack (no anchor, you have
to build your own) and bring Eric up. The next pitch is incredible. The crack
is pretty wide at first, but narrows to good hands when it turns a small overhang.
Lost of face holds on the inital section, so no offwidth move whatsoever.
The crux is to turn the small overhang, but good pro and postive jams make
it relatively easy. I bring Eric up... he regrets not having lead the pitch
himself.
We rap
back down (two ropes required) to the base of the wide crack from a beefy
bolted anchor, then downclimb (belaying each other) to the comfy ledge atop
pitch 2. Two more raps bring us back to terra firma.
A great
day. Two highly recommended routes with quick approach and descent!
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No
offwith technique is required to climb the inital wide section;
plenty of face holds.
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Looking
toward "Birdland" and another party on the crux pitch.
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Turning
the small overhang is the crux of "The Big Horn".
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Rapping
down.
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