Also on tap were some adventures in the Sandias. Ross wanted to double dip on his first day, starting with an under the radar classic on Torreon right next to Mountain Momma. Classic aside from a bit of loose rock and one section of copious bird shit, that is.
Ross leads the first pitch of Mountain Momma
Bitch's Brew splits from Mountain Momma after the good part of the second pitch, then heads up a steep corner. I let Ross lead the first two pitches to get his Sandias vibe going through two pitches of very classic 5.10a; he was primed by the time he got to the 5.10+ chossy bit that finished the second pitch. That left me with the weird pitch: choss, to strenuous lieback and bulge into birdshit central, to a stimulating finish face climbing above a micro nut and a small brassy.
Ross "in the shit"
The face climbing finish
The third pitch of Bitch's Brew starts with strenuous 5.11 through a roof directly off the belay. A fun route and I even got my own page on Mountain Project! (Here it is.)
Then we did one rappel, scrambled to the bottom of Torreon again and started up Voodoo Child. I got all kinds of lost into a world of dangerous choss on the first pitch. Not a great start. Then I sent Ross up the epic second pitch. A ~35 m pitch with two 5.11+ cruxes and lots of heady terrain in between. Sorry my beta was not as good as it should have been! Here Ross got a "real" taste of that special Sandia love.
Ross climbs the first pitch of Voodoo Child.
It was getting dark We made a rappel, had an adventurous hike to the top, then had tasty pizza and beers at the Lazy Lizard.
The next day we attempted to climb an obscure crag Ross noticed in the book. The whole International Balloon Fiesta thing put a cramp in our style. But riding the tram for the first time was still cool. The mystery climbs did not come to fruition, but we still tagged a couple very classic pitches on Yucca Flower Tower.
Ross follows Where Eagles Dare, a brilliant and heady 5.11c.
He's past the money part but the climbing is great to the top.
Then we enjoyed beers while we watched the sunset from the deck at High Finance, the restaurant and bar at the top of the tram. Hard to beat the access and amenities!
Thanks for the visit, Ross. See you next week in Moab!
