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Wizard of Air, Sandias

Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2012 5:28 am
by skykilo
Florian and I climbed a stellar route in the Sandias today.

Wizard of Air follows the prow on the right side of Torreon.
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(The right-most sun-shade line on the formation.)

Before the climbing, let us wish Miranda well as she starts graduate school in Denver. We had a going away party.
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What gives? Florian and I actually left Los Alamos circa 6:15 am this morning. Ouch!

Florian leads the first pitch. He did a great job. I thought it was devious.
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The second pitch follows classic Sandias seams.
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Then it's the business. Florian leads the pumpy, overhanging third pitch through the bulges.
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The fourth pitch is the crux and climbs the most beautiful, exposed arete.
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Florian in a zone of steep, desperate crimps.
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The move to the arete here took me plenty of tries. Wizard of Air, indeed!
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The technical difficulties ease for the last two pitches, but caution and care are necessary. Florian begins to work his way up one of those special 9+ Sandias pitches.
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WARNING: MAXIMUM AMPERAGE EXCEEDED: FIRE HAZARD

Re: Wizard of Air, Sandias

Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2012 5:43 am
by naomig
Super sharp pictures! Looks like an awesome Sandia's climb. Glad you're having so much fun.

Re: Wizard of Air, Sandias

Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2012 11:42 pm
by ryanl
Cool looking pillar. Is it road side, or just a short hike?

Re: Wizard of Air, Sandias

Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2012 11:49 pm
by skykilo
It's about 45 minutes by a steep scramble down a gully with some 5th class steps, or an hour via a nice trail then a short bushwhack. I'm just pulling these numbers from my head so they're probably inaccurate.

Re: Wizard of Air, Sandias

Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 4:29 pm
by PeteH
Looks like it has all the elements of a rad climb. What does it go at?

Re: Wizard of Air, Sandias

Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 4:55 pm
by skykilo
The pitches are rated 11-,10-,11+,12-,9+, then one more rope-stretching pitch of unrated alpine funk, some 5.8 or 5.9 moves then lots of loose blocks. The 12- pitch was fully bolted but not in such a way to allow progress by A0 action, just gotta giv'er for 10-15 feet and enjoy the air time. I thought there might be some gear after the last bolt and carried a full rack. I didn't see any gear but I was psyched to hit the anchors only 15-20 feet later. It was stimulating to keep making difficult face moves without knowing the shape of things to come. The route was established ground-up in `05 and I would say the FA party made something beautiful. I get excited trying to imagine drilling bolts on that crux pitch hanging from hooks on crimpers.

Re: Wizard of Air, Sandias

Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 9:17 pm
by klar
skykilo wrote: 11-,10-,11+,12-,9+
so, uh, what grading system are we in here?

Re: Wizard of Air, Sandias

Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 10:12 pm
by skykilo
Yosemite Decimal.

Vous aimez la cotation francaise? Ca veut dire 6c, 6a, 7a, 7a+, 5c+, ou quelquechose comme ca.

Re: Wizard of Air, Sandias

Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 7:57 am
by klar
can you please stop by my local climbing gym sometime and loudly talk about how you climb uncertainly bolted 12- ?

Je prédis un grand succès, o algo así.

Re: Wizard of Air, Sandias

Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 4:35 pm
by skykilo
I steer clear of climbing gyms, klar. They scare me. I've climbed at one once, about ten years ago.

But I would love to ski in Austria one of these years!

Re: Wizard of Air, Sandias

Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 6:53 pm
by Diamond Dachshund
That granite looks way nice. Just a bunch of VII+ climbing. Come to the Alpz, you will soar.