This is a good warm-up.  If it feels harder than 5.10, it's because you are missing the blind reach.  Feel around - it gets better.

Drill at Will

Crystal Cruise aka Crystal Corner

The Gastonian

New Beginning

Man Chowder

Dressed to Drill

Begin Again

Blonde Ambition

Crystal Cascade

No Turning Back

Little Secrets

Starting Blocks

Cornered Rats

Metamorphosis

The Imposed

Outta The Chute

New Beginning starts immediately to the right of

NTB

. The route launches up in a right-leaning almost horizontal seam with 5.12 moves right off the deck. Head for the right end of the seam, and then zig back left for a complex series of finger crimps to very (!) long reaches. This comprises at least three or four back to back 5.12 moves.  However, once you get stood up above the finger crimps, the climbing backs off to 5.11+. New Beginning ticks in a tad less difficult than

NTB

, but only by a hair.

This route is one of my personal favorites on the RED Wall, if only because I tried so hard to grab the FFA, only to watch it fall to the Great Defoliator himself. Great continuous climbing on excellent rock.

I think this is Crystal Cruise. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Short crux between the first and second bolt. Mostly slab leads up to less quality rock up higher. Good for a beginning leader.

This very good and easily overlooked route makes a great finish to the day.  Begin up a South Platte slab on crystal nubs past 3 bolts to a ramp/ledge.  The Gastonian branches to the right here (the left hand route is a 10a).

Look upward and contemplate a lack of features.  Launch into it, and surprise yourself that you are not falling off of the aforementioned lack of features.  I thought the climbing here was really satisfying.

Continue upward on easier, yet still fun climbing to a set of bolted anchors.

Man Chowder is almost the easiest route off the ledge, and a full on classic. Scramble down left on some large blocks to a belay shared by Man Chowder and

Cornered Rats

(also great). The route is steeper than it looks. However, with some of the best incut holds on the wall, the pulls are never harder than 5.11+. The two cruxes come pulling over the little overlaps on smallish but very positive edges. The face climbing above the last crux takes a little mental control getting to the anchors. Named following a particularly feisty night by The Great Defoliator.

This is a cool campus-style route. Scramble up the gully to the right of the red wall.  Look at the rock for a ledge - a big tree grows out of the ledge about 15 feet off the deck.  You will get horrible feet and good positive handholds at the overhanging crux. Burl on through if you can.

When you face the Red Wall, you will notice two distinct tiers - a lower panel and an upper panel.  The majority of the routes are on the upper panel.  There is an easy way to get up there off to the right side (5.2 with a couple of bolts), or you can take one of three lines on the lower panel to get up there.

When you look at the lower panel, you will see three routes. Begin Again is the leftmost of the three.  It is an ok route - it has a cool roof, but suffers from the crux holds also being quite sharp.

Starting off the ledge on the main wall and nearly directly above the approach pitch "Outta The Chute", Blonde Ambition may be the best route on the wall. Blonde Ambition shares a start with "Metamorphosis" but hangs a bit right heading for a large corner and block at the top. Alligator edges, handlebar incut flakes, and roof/corner distinguish the Blonde Ambition. A must do line on beautiful rock.

Low angled, easier climbing for 45' leads to a steeper section with large crystals (crux) just before the anchor next to a tree.

Off the ledge and the second route to the right of the

Blonde Ambition

, No Turning Back (NTB) is marked by a series of small right-facing corners that are mastered by liebacks and tricky feet that start right off the deck. The corners look deceptively easy, but don't be fooled. This route starts to slap immediately and remains relentlessly continuous right to the end. The only rest crops up after 40-45 feet of powerful pulling, and it's a lousy rest at that. Above the small horizontal band at 50 feet, the climbing eases back to moderate 5.11 on small, sometimes incut edges.

Tod Anderson copped the FFA after a week of training with 16 oz curls and some serious tanning time.

Start off the ledge and in its middle. Here a shallow corner system leads to a shallow overlap - the climbing is actually left of both. After crossing the overlap on its left, pull back right with a series of moves to gain the center of the formation with cracks on the left and on the right. Little Secrets is cruxy right off the bat, but it settles down to exquisite 5.11 edge climbing for much of its distance, actually until just approaching the anchors. Things get real thin and crisp on the over-hanging section 15 feet below the anchor. The gear is largely well-placed, nonetheless, one still has to suck it up getting to the anchor and the last 15 feet are tweaky, fingery, and a bit spooky. NB: the upper crux has a high clip making the move almost from a TR stance.

This is easily worth three stars for the excellent stone, very high continuity, and the cool position. It has thin, fingery climbing most of the way. The FFA goes to Tod Anderson.

This is an extraordinarily good line that moves up overhanging stone on big slopers.  Several big moves take you over a roof, where the grade eases off, but there is more 5.11 above to keep you engaged.

This route is probably a bit stiff for 12a.  Welcome to the Red Wall.

Great, airy line with a spectacular position and exciting moves.  This lines goes out onto a cool planar face and then over an intimidating-looking roof.  When I did this route, it gave me a sense that there was an ass-kicking waiting to happen.  Only after I reached the anchors did I sit back and tell myself it really was 11b.

This is the left most route on the upper tier of the Red Wall.

Scramble up the easy ledge system on the right or take one of the superb approach pitches.

Chase the corner up to back-to-back shallow roofs and pull out onto thin edgy face climbing. Finish on a cruxy bulge that is followed by a delicate run-out to the anchors.

Metamorphosis has not been given three stars in the "Devil" guide; however, I found it hard to knock off points for any reason. Excellent climbing, good stone, continuous movement at the 5.11+/5.12a level, and overall excellent pro are really worth the three stars. Highly recommended.

Located between the Gastonian and

Cornered Rats

, The Imposed ascends a shallow, right-facing dihedral to a ledgy area.  This is the lower portion of the same ledge used by

Cornered Rats

and

Man Chowder

.  Either stop at the 2 bolt station & break this into two pitches or continue up the left leaning seam & on through the bulge.  This adds another way to access the ledge system on the Red Wall and another more moderate route to this wall.

This is a fun route.  The hardest move is the first move, but there is more fun above on good stone.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in The Red Wall