Sport Climbing at Shelf Road
February 12/13, 2000
I don't think I had ever been on a sport climbing road trip
before. I've certainly done quite a bit of sport climbing at Pinnacles National
Monument, Golden Cliffs, Boulder Canyon, and even a route or two at Red Rocks,
but I had never taken a multi-day road trip with the express purpose of sport
climbing. Ah, how the not so mighty have fallen...
My new friends, Mark and Alli, are expert 5.13 sport
climbers and they were convinced that I'd like Shelf Road. I wasn't so sure.
Shelf Road offers short, steep, bolted, technical limestone climbs and the
grades start around 5.9 - that didn't leave a lot of room for my meager
abilities. But Mark and Alli are such fun and I agreed to go anyway. At the
very least I'd spend time with new friends, hike around, and see a new part of
Colorado. My friend Magoo agreed to come for Saturday and good friends and
frequently climbing partners, Hardly and Judy, came for the entire weekend.
Once planned, we almost cancelled the trip due to cold
weather. I had been assured that the Canon City area of Colorado was unusually
warm during the winter, but the projected highs were in the 40's and 50's.
Nevertheless, we went for it. We left my house at Saturday morning at 8 a.m. in
my RV. It was 8 degrees out as I packed the RV that morning and snow covered
the ground in Colorado Springs. It didn't look good.
On the drive down I ventured onto dangerous ground by
discussing pinkpointing/redpointing, but felt confident things wouldn't get too
emotional. Sport climbers have been known to bristle with anger at this topic.
I must clearly make the point that this discussion is a language issue and not
a climbing issue. I could care less how people climb (within reason).
Pinkpointing is a very specific term which makes
communication more accurate and succinct. Redpointing used to be the same way,
but now redpointing means pinkpointing for almost all of the sport climbing
community. If you want to describe a real redpoint you must say:
"redpointing while placing all the gear/draws." This is such a big
mouthful. Why did the sport climbing community do this? Clearly because
it was already accepted that you are "done" with a route once you
have redpointed it. So, instead of convincing the world that you are really
"done" with a route after you pinkpoint it, they decided to redefine
redpointing as pinkpointing. This is fine, except for the clumsy language
necessary for describing a real redpoint. Maybe we could call a real redpoint a
purplepoint or something? The magazines are probably as much to blame as anyone
for this corruption of terms. In the latest issue Yuji Hirayama onsighted a
14a/b route (hardest route every onsighted) and the magazines went to great
pains to explicitly say that he hung all the draws while leading this route,
since they know saying Yuji "redpointed" the route would mislead the
readers into thinking he really pinkpointed it.
I must now state the obvious because frequently sport
climbers retreat to the fallacy that there is no difference between
pinkpointing and redpointing. Of course, Alli and Mark, being reasonable
people, don't agree with this. It is utter nonsense of course. Redpointing is
always harder and frequently MUCH harder. When Alli was trying Sparkle in the
Rain (12c) later this weekend at Shelf Road, she would say to me, "Now,
Bill, there is no way I would do this route placing the draws. It would be so
much harder." I'll say it again. On an overhanging route, redpointing is
always much harder than pinkpointing. If you don't believe this you are not
rational and reading further is a waste of your time.
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BTO Bockmann's thoughts on this topic:
I would *mostly*
agree with this. On most routes, it is noticeably harder to redpoint than
pinkpoint. On some, it's MUCH harder. But there are routes where it doesn't
make all that much of a difference. For example, we returned to Shelf a week
later and I redpointed (yes, a real redpoint, no stick clips or yo yos or
anything ;-) Sparkle in the Rain. Because the clips are all from good holds,
hanging the draws did not seem noticeably more difficult to me than doing it
with preplaced draws.
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Sport climbers seem to have a way of defining down success.
Initially, you had to redpoint the route. Now you only have to pinkpoint the
route. Now with the advent of stick-clips, it is standard practice to clip the
first draw from the ground. And this counts also. But it has gotten even worse.
When Boone Speed climbed Ice Cream in Hell (5.14c) he did a yo-yo ascent with
the rope already clipped through the first three quickdraws. The magazine
validated this ascent as being "done" even though Boone admitted that
the crux of the route was clipping the third draw (let alone placing the third
draw - no one would even consider climbing it like that!) So, now you not only
don't need to place the draws, but you don't even have to clip them. Alli says
this is because sport climbing is all about the movement and pushing the
absolute limits of what you can climb. The obvious question then is why isn't a
toprope ascent considered "doing" the route. I asked this of Alli and
she said it has to do with conquering the fear of leading. Good point, but it
is certainly becoming closer and closer to toproping and further and further
away from a real redpoint. Enough of the Mr. Language Person Sport Climbing
Ethics. On to the climbing.
We met Magoo at the Wal-Mart in Canon City and he rode with
us up to the Sand Gulch campground. We paid the exorbitant fee of $4 and
proceeded to get our packs together. Hardly and Judy had arrived a few minutes
earlier and soon we were hiking toward The Gallery. I was adamant about warming
up on the easier routes, of which there weren't many. Shelf Road has about 500
routes, but no routes easier than 5.7 and only four 5.7 routes, maybe 10-12 5.8
routes and less than 20 5.9 routes. Initially Mark thought I would be fine
warming up on 5.10. I didn't think warming up on my top grade was a good idea
and Alli concurred. We headed for the California Ethics Pinnacle - site of two
5.7 routes.
Hardly led first and cruised up his 5.7. I led up what we
thought was the other 5.7 and I had considerable trouble. I almost fell off the
route and found it very sustained and tricky. From the ground, before even
starting up, I had said, "Now that looks more like 5.9 to me, but I guess
there are some hidden holds up there." Nope. I would later decide that
this route was more like 5.10-. Not a good warm-up and very disheartening since
I thought it was a 5.7 route. I felt "what I am doing here? I can barely
do 5.7. I'll probably fall off 5.8." I wondered if the ratings were just
really hard or that I was a really suck-y limestone climber. Judy went up my
route next and had to hang on it. Judy and I climb about the same level so I
was actually quite relieved by this. At least it wasn't just me. Hardly went next
and just said in his understating manner, "Yes, that's a bit harder than
the 5.7 I did." We zipped up Hardly's 5.7 without any trouble and I
started to feel better.
Next we did the only three star 5.8 at Shelf: Menses. Hardly
led first and Judy and I led it also. We all agreed that it was much easier
than my first 5.7. We worked through the grades from there. Next up was a
5.9+/10a which had a significant overhang, but wasn't nearly as sustained as
the mystery 5.7. Then we did a 10b/c, another 5.8, and then a 10d. I barely got
the onsight on this last one and was quite desperate getting established above
the crux moves. All the routes we did this day with the exception of the
5.9+/10- were either vertical or a bit less and might include a slight overhanging
bulge. So, they weren't that steep compared to gym routes, but the holds were
much smaller in general. Next we did a 10c/d and I continued to onsight.
Towards the end of the day, Hardly barely got the onsight of
a 10d route. Seeing his troubles, I was intimidated. I fought hard to clip all
the bolts (besides the anchor) before falling off. Desperate stuff. I hung and
then completed the route and clipped a draw into the anchor. I pulled up the
rope and held it in my teeth, but just before I could clip I fell again. Damn!
This time it was a pretty good ride because of the slack I pulled up.
Then we did a 10c with a single finger pocket move. I hated
this move as it felt like it would injury my finger. I pulled it off though. We
finally tired Judy out as she said she had enough. Hardly and I finished with a
10b/c route that involved a crack climbing crux. This route seemed very soft
compared to the others. Maybe because most people at Shelf don't climb cracks
much. Or maybe the crack was "off".
At this point Alli and Mark returned from some heinous
project further up the canyon. We hadn't seen much of them today as their much
tougher routes weren't next to our more moderate routes. Alli called my
attention to some bolts on the backside of the California Ethics Pinnacle. I
looked up and saw the telltale bush from the topo in the book. This was the
other 5.7 route! Our first route was an undocumented route. We all breezed up
the short route for fun.
Magoo had already hiked back to the RV as he was getting
cold sitting around so much. We couldn't convince the out of shape Baron Von
Goo to rope in. The day had been pretty cold and we usually put on down jackets
and gloves while belaying. Now it was time to hike out and go eat dinner. We
went into Canon City and ate a small, family-run Mexican place. Afterwards
Magoo headed home and we headed back to sleep. Everyone piled into the RV and
were quickly asleep.
The next morning after a
sufficiently lazy morning, we headed for an area called the Bank. This involved
a two mile drive up a steep dirt road. We weren't sure how the RV would do and
since we brought mountain bikes, decided to ride up to the trailhead. Mark,
Alli, and I rode up there while Hardly and Judy drove their truck with all of
our backpacks. Soon we were starting the grueling ten minute approach hike.
Since Hardly had led first on
Saturday, it was my turn today. We started on BC, a 5.9. I found it a
challenging warm-up in the cold temperatures. Next, Judy followed it, then
Hardly, Alli, and Mark all led it. Mark and Alli did a second lap on it to
warm-up. In the meantime, I led a 5.8 just twenty feet around the corner called
Concentrated Weirdness. Judy led this route immediately after me and then
Hardly. I hiked down the wall a ways looking for easier routes and on my way
back, I found Hardly struggling to onsight Mighty Mouse, an intense, short,
tweaky 10c route. He pulled it off, of course. I didn't. The route was short,
but very sustained and required three extremely hard moves in a row. I only
managed two of them. I hung and then completed the route. Judy then cleaned up
the route. Judy's performance usually tracks my performance very closely,
though she doesn't lead as often. Hardly's performance is far above mine, but
he doesn't push his limits as much. He onsighted everything this weekend. No
falls.
I wanted to try a 5.11 and went to the easiest one I could
find: Once Upon A Time (5.11a). This was a cool looking route that started up a
dihedral, then turned a small roof by traversing right and then up to an
overhanging bulge - the crux. The route was still in the shade and quite cold,
but I was not to be deterred. If I didn't do it, Hardly would. I clipped ten
draws - eight for the route, two for the anchor - on my harness, and started
up. I milked stems greedily on the lower section trying to save my arms for the
onslaught above. I got to the jugs on the bulge, which are just below the crux
moves. My first time up, I pawed around on the rock rejecting every hold as
insufficient for the angle. I was starting to tire and downclimbed a bit to
hang from the biggest jugs. The terrain was still overhanging here so I didn't
have long to rest. My second time up the same thing occurred. Finally, Hardly
broke me from my desperation, "Better go for something quick." He was
right. Better to fall off trying a hard move than to fall off from fatigue
while hanging on a big hold. I selected a left hand Gaston move and cranked
hard while trying to stand up on a tiny edge. Shaking with effort and
forgetting to breathe (as usual), I barely pressed out this move. I still had
to clip and do a couple more moves before a rest was possible and I was gone,
but the motivation was high now. I knew I had done the crux move. I would have
the onsight if I could just hold it together. I struggled up to the rest and
surveyed the ground above. It was steep and probably tough, but I wouldn't let
myself fall off now. I completed this enjoyable climb for my tenth 5.11
onsight. Breaking into this grade has been very hard for me and I have a long
way to go, but I am beginning to develop some confidence. I now know I can do
all the moves on a 5.11a route and expect a solid chance at the onsight.
Previously, I would just hang when things got tough - assuming that I could
never string the moves together. Now I assume that if things are desperate, a
rest must be close and push for it.
Hardly made my desperate struggles look silly and breezed
through with the onsight. While Judy climbed the route, I moved down to watch
Alli and Mark on Ice Cream Hangover (11b/c). This route was a bit contrived and
not that sustained with a complete rest halfway up it. I queried Alli about my
chances and she responded that it would be good for me to try. With full beta
and instruction, I moved through the lower section to the rest. Here I stepped
up to a powerful undercling move to a big hold. The feet were horrible here and
I barely made the clip despite having a huge hold. I pumped out just looking at
the crux move to come and hung on the rope. With beta, I executed the backstep
to reach a right hand two finger pocket, got my left foot on a tiny hold and
deadpointed for a big pocket with my left hand. The route was complete. I
lowered down and did the sequence again, but leading it would be a different
story because of placing and clipping the draw. Of course, a pinkpoint ascent
would make things easier, but I couldn't lower myself after all the discussion.
Blah, blah, blah - Hardly flashed it.
My turn to do some work. I got comfortable while Alli geared
up to lead Sparkle in the Rain, a tweaky 12c route. Alli had been on it before,
but couldn't do the crux move on the overhanging slab above the roof. Mark
would have think that the roof was the crux, but that was due to his height and
even greater reach advantage. Alli, though tall for a woman at 5'7",
frequently encounters reach problems. She doesn't get down because of this and
just views it has an interesting problem to solve.
Alli moved up to and over the big roof, but fell on the next
move (the crux for Mark) and took a good ride into nothing but air. She pulled
back up and rested. From here on there were lots of sport climbing tricks to
clip the draws so that she could work on freeing the moves without such
unnecessary distractions. Alli complained about a single finger pocket
(mono-doight?) and I cringed while remembering my experience with those on the
previous day. These things just seem like an injury waiting to happen.
Eventually, Alli clipped the anchors and lowered back to the ground.
Inspired by Alli's effort and antsy from belaying for so
long, I impetuously declared that I would attempt the 11c Staying Power. What
was I smoking? I bouldered out the start before Judy arrived back from Hardly's
onsight of Ice Cream Hangover and her successful ascent and agreed to belay me.
After executing the opening moves like someone who had previously bouldered out
the start, I began to flail and slap my way up the arete. I had trouble
stabilizing myself enough to clip the bolts. After clipping the third bolt, I
was faced with a very tricky section. The next bolt was quite a ways up, but
Mark, who was working Sparkle in the Rain, assured me that jugs were just
ahead. The next move was probably the technical crux of the route. It involved
a desperate pinch with the right hand while reaching for a two finger pocket
with the left. I called down for Judy to watch me and grunted through this move
at my absolute limit. Now committed, I moved upwards to the intimidating roof
and the promised jugs. While the holds were much bigger, I still had trouble
letting go and clipping the bolt - this is the story of my sport climbing life.
I managed the clip and was now faced with severely overhanging terrain.
Mark was hanging on his route so had ample opportunity and
desire to encourage me to push my limits. I reached up for a big jug and
matched. Stretching massively, I could make the next clip. This probably wasted
some energy but on a 5.11c route I assume that the next move will stop me and
hence clip as soon as I can. The clip wasted me and I didn't think I could
continue. I could reach left and get my fingers in a sharp V-slot by a flake. I
had to pull hard on this hold and was worried that a fall might take off my
finger. I cranked hard, hyperventilating, and placed my foot high, then punched
for a better flake. Surely I would fall off now, I thought. I hung on and tried
to shake out my arms. The terrain was still overhanging and I was fading fast,
but the encouragement was still too great to disappoint. I threw a big
deadpoint up and right to a good hold. From here I could clip the next bolt by
hanging from one hand. I clipped the draw, but that was it. I grabbed it,
clipped in the rope, and slumped on it totally exhausted. It was the last bolt
before the anchors and I only had a few more moves, but nothing in the tank. I
rested a bit and then barely made the clip at the top of the route. Thoroughly
beaten, I was lowered to the ground. Hardly immediately on-sighted the route.
He paused a long time at the technical crux, but moved smoothly through the
power moves up high. He claimed he was pumped, but I think he was just trying
to make me feel better. He looked rock solid.
I was pretty much done for the
day, but we walked down towards where Alli was onsighting a 12b (placing the
draws, too! Actually, skipping the crux clip and deadpointing from a
mono...impressive!) and did Primal Scream (5.9). This route finished me off.
The top of the holds on this route were like a cheese grater. My fingers had
had enough. Mark gave Sparkle in the Rain a second try, but fell at the crux.
From there he made the anchors and should be able to get this route next try.
Alli warmed down on an 11a and we then hiked out. It had been a fun, productive
weekend. I had done 19 routes, eight of which were 5.10 and three 5.11's. Shelf
is a fun place. Especially when you have the area to yourselves like we did.
I'll be back.