SkiSickness

This is another banner route from Fifty Favorite Climbs and I've been wanting to do it for a while now.

Canyonlands National Park is stunning. The sunrise views from our camp made a strong first impression as I stumbled to the toilets first thing in the morning.


After six miles of rocky road and washes, then some serious gear sorting, Naomi hikes toward Moses.


Five hundred fabulous fetish-laden feet


The scenery is majestic in every direction.


The first pitch sports a funky 11+ boulder problem off the ground. I linked it with the second pitch up the beautiful crack through the changing corner above me.


Naomi follows where the corner changes on the second pitch part of the first pitch.


Naomi nears the traverse after a hand crack through a roof and killer fingers through a bulge.


The fourth pitch is as good as anything I've climbed in the desert. Splitter fingers through a roof, then sustained vertical hands to #4 Camalot size through a big roof.


Naomi follows the wide end of pitch four.


Naomi leads the fifth pitch with the dreaded Ear waiting for us, guarding the top.


The Ear is megaclassic. Overhanging offwidth/squeeze chimney to layback to 7" vertical offwidth exit.

What is that look!? Naomi heads for the top.


I rate this route as many stars as possibe.

I wanted to take a rest on the last 5.8 pitch but Sky wouldn't have any of that, so I gruntingly climb to the top. This has no reflection on how I felt about Primrose Dihedral though. It was one of the funnest routes I ever climbed and I got worked!

DARRRRR!!! So bummed I missed this one! Looks SO GOOD! Nice work you two!

fantastic. way to send you two. i've wanted to climb that route and striking tower for as long as i can remember. looks soooo good.

Awesome. Super sick radness. How was the pro on the ear pitch? I've heard there are two bolts missing.

Layton told me it was crucial, so we hauled the 9" Valley Giant up there and the missing bolts were not an issue in any way for us. There were only four points of fixed protection on the Ear, one or two being drilled angle pitons, so someone expecting six bolts would definitely find two bolts to be missing.

With neither the bolts nor the colossal cam, one would face about 10 ft of unprotectable 5.10 offwidth before a celebrated smaller crack inside the 7" crack should allow the placement of a 0.75" cam (as reported on Mountain Project and in the SuperTaco). I had not looked into it much before going there, so I can neither confirm nor deny this smaller crack in the bigger crack and its saving graces. I had no need to look for smaller pro because I had bomber big gear. Not sure what I would do next time. The big cam was nice and the offwidth moves were difficult but not desperate. But I might not feel that way about it without the big cam. This route is one of the best I've done and I'd do it again. I guess it would just depend on my mood whether I'd take the big cam again.

The whipper would be into clean space and the last bolt seemed fine!

A funny aside: I noticed after the fact that the Fifty Favorites book recommends doubles to 3" as a rack - WTF!? Seriously, I used a new-school #5 Camalot to protect the 11+ crux off the ground and there is no way a #3 would have worked there. I tried a new school #4-equivalent Metolius and the thing ripped from the flaring placement with a jerk of the hand. And I felt proud to on-sight the fourth pitch with no less than three #3s in my possession. So Caveat Lector! (BTW, we did not take triples in general but was happy to have triple treys.)

Since I've taken the time to write all of this, here's more beta: for the 11+ start, it can be fully protected and fairly bomber with a #3, then a small offset nut, then a fourth-generation #5 Camalot (an older #4 would probably also do it).