Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Guidebook: Gunks - Gelsa (5.4), Three Pines (5.3), Sixish (5.5), Squiggles (5.5), Son of Easy O (5.8),

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Three Pines (5.3) - Two / Three pitches - Trad - Tree / Bolted anchors

- Approach
: Take the third trail after the East Trapps Connector Trail that goes down to the road on the right. Head left at the top toward a right-facing corner that is across from a left-facing flake / corner / cave with two trees in between the two.

- Pitch One (5.3) - Trad - Tree Anchor - 75 Feet: Climb the face to the eventual left-facing corner, and continue to climb that straight up to the large ledge with the tree. While that is certainly not a bad belay option, a 60m rope easily allows one to climb straight past this to the bolted anchors at the GT Ledge at the top of the second pitch. If you can do this, it is recommended. A few long slings will help with drag.

- Pitch Two (5.3) - Trad - Bolted Anchor - 60 Feet: Continue climbing straight up to the ledge on the path of least resistance (mostly in the corner)

- Pitch Three (5.3) - Trad - Bolted Anchor - 70 Feet: Walk 30 feet along the ledge to the right to the large roof and left-facing corner. Climb up the corner to above the jutting block and traverse right to the blocky ledge that would be above the lower, large roof. Find a corner to the right and climb that to the next ledge. Fade left and climb left of the white rock up an easy slab to the bolted anchors.

- Descent: Rap to each bolted anchor with one rope or do two raps with two 60m ropes (either rapping to the GT Ledge and then to the bottom (<- recommended) or bypassing the GT Ledge to the lower bolts and then to the bottom).


Gelsa (5.4) - Three Pitches - Trad - Gear anchor

- Approach
: Take the Nears path to a tree growing out of boulders about eight feet up. There is a crack that is about four feet up from the base of the tree. The tree looks as if it growing out of a series of small boulders.

- Pitch One (5.4) - Trad - Gear anchor - 50 feet: Climb up the blocks to the awkward "open" area and begin to head up and left. Traverse left until you come to a ledge that makes a good belay stance. The Williams guidebook suggests linking the first two pitches together, but I don't think this is a good idea. The second pitch continues to traverse up and left another 20 feet, and that would essentially mean 20 feet up, 25 feet left, 10 feet up, 15 feet left, and 25 feet up of rope out. It just doesn't make much sense without long runners and double ropes.

- Pitch Two (5.4) - Trad - Gear anchor - 50 feet: Sorry about a lack of a beta photo here (photo that is noted is one of the belay at the start of the third pitch, not the start of the pitch), but basically you climb up left through the overhang and step left into a traverse straight out to the nose. From there, either decide to smear up the face along the ridge or step left again around the corner to the crack. Climb up to the base of the massive, right-facing corner for a good belay stance, avoiding the second left-hand crack below the stance.

- Pitch Three (5.4) - Trad - Gear anchor - 90 feet: Climb the corner to the top.

- Descent: Either walk off (5 min) along the path to the right, or walk 20 feet to the right to a tree anchor. This rap station requires two 60m ropes to get down the very airy rappel.


Sixish (5.5) - Three pitches - Trad - Gear anchors

- Approach
: Take the fourth marked trail up to the left and find the large, blocky, right-facing corner to the right (on top of boulders).

- Pitch One (5.4+) - Trad - Gear anchor - 75 feet: Climb the right-facing corner to the juggy flakes, then step left and pull up to the face on the left where there is a piton anchor (this should be backed up).

- Pitch Two (5.3) - Trad - Gear anchor - 90 feet: Start to the left of the anchor and move up over-hanging rock. Step right toward the crack and climb that and the face straight up to the GT Ledge.

- Pitch Three (5.4) - Trad - Gear anchor - 50 feet: Climb the arrete and face that leads up to the second roof (the one above the large roof to the right of the face). Traverse right under the second roof and over the first one about 15 feet to a notch. Climb through the notch and head straight up to the top.

- Descent: Walk right along the path until you see rap anchors on a tree that is far back from the edge of the cliff. Rap once to GT Ledge and once to the ground with two 60m ropes. Or rap three times with the final one coming off an intermediate tree with slings.


Squiggles (5.5) - One pitch - Trad - Gear anchor

- Approach
: Walk along the Carriage trail and to the Uberfall area. Squiggles is a short dihedral capped by a tree and has a large roof to the right of the tree. There is also a roof system down low to the ground immediately to the left of the dihedral. The route is before the walkoff if you're heading toward the outhouse.

- Pitch One (5.5) - Trad - Gear anchor - feet: Climb the crack to a good stance about 10 feet below the roof. Step right under the roof and continue to traverse up and right to the face on the right of the roof. Find path of least resistance to the top.

- Descent: Walk right about 25 feet to the obvious scramble back down to the carriage trail.


Son of Easy O (5.8) - One / Two pitches - Trad - Gear anchor

- Approach
: Take the first path after the rescue box and fade right where it splits. At the top, head to the farthest left of the ledge and find the start about 10 feet to the right of the dropoff.

- Pitch One (5.8) - Trad - Gear anchor - 80 feet: Climb the thin face across and to the left of the tree up to the crack. Move up right to the small roof and left-facing corner (crux). Follow the crack up to the left, using the larger holds as you get closer to the top of the pitch. Either set an anchor on good ledges about 20 feet below the overhang, set an anchor on a large ledge higher up and to the left (about 15 feet left of the overhang), or continue through the overhang to the anchor (making this a one-pitch climb).

- Pitch Two (5.8) - Trad - Gear anchor - 80 feet: If anchoring to the left, traverse right on pumpy jugs to the base of the overhang, clip the pin and head straight up, exiting right onto the face that leads to the top. If climbing from below, then simply climb straight up through the overhang and step right as noted above (easier than the traversing option). Follow the path of least resistance up and left to the piton anchor about 20 feet below the top of the cliff. You may want to determine if you like this anchor as a rappel opportunity. If not, continue to the top (anchor situation is unclear at the top, but there are other rappel opportunities around).

- Descent: Rap all the way to the ground with two 60m ropes. One rope should make it, but I've never done it and can't say for sure if this would work. An option with one rope is to top out on the ledge and use one of the other raps stations on nearby climbs.

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