Sport route in the middle of the south side of the Holiday Block.  Thin climbing up high leads to a committing move out a roof.  This route has been mislabeled in both editions of the Dixie Craggers Atlas as Oyster.

Rabies

My Dog Has Fleas

Launchitude

Fat Tuesday

They Call Me Cruiser

Pigs in Zen (Tuesday's Gone)

Cruise This

Mark's Menace

Cinco de Mayo

Pump Handles

Walking the Dog

Tales From the Hard Side

That Eight (aka Kennel Club)

Oyster

Gravy Train

Never Believe

Plush

Chimney Approach

Sandrewf

Bird in Hand

Climb the crack system, passing bulges and small overhangs on positive holds, to the top.

A fine moderate sport route with some slopers to deal with toward the top.  Also known as "The Nine." 

  Starting at an overhang, pull the roofy opening moves on good holds, then follow a fairly steep but well-featured face to the top.

Starts with a short overhanging face with good holds and works up and slightly right into the wide groove for some fun stemming.

This route has some of the best 5.12 climbing in the park! cryptic to decipher, but delightful once you get moving! 

  Begin near the start of "Pigs in Zen." Move left on a jug rail, then fire straight up through long pulls on crisp edges and a two-finger pocket. Make a long throw over the roof from a small crimp (crux), then trend up and left on more moderate terrain passing a few rusted bolts to finish at a corroded anchor. 

  Build your own anchor with cams in the alcove below the bolts if you want to work the route on TR, for cleaning it is safest to walk over the top and fix your line from anchors on top of Holiday Block (near the finish for "Standard Route") and perform a single-rope rappel. Afterward it is relatively straightforward to scramble to the top to retrieve your fixed line. whatever you do, just don't trust the rusted hangers at the top of this line.

A short jamcrack packs some punch on this short but fun Sand Rock trad line. 

  Pull through a slight overhang on the nice chickenheads that are so common in this section of the Holiday Block, then move up to a shallow ledge below a short blank face.  Puzzle your way up the face to a nice incut horizontal, then hand traverse left until you can pull up onto a prominent "plank" feature near the left end of the traverse.  After getting a nice rest on the plank, move right to gain a slanting finger crack that widens to a hand/fist crack above (crux).  Jam your way up this crack, then cruise to the top on easier ground.

Sport route located on the south side (left end) of the Holiday Block, almost at the arete.

Crux at the bulge.  Just like a v5 boulder problem. Don't forget the right heel hook at the bulge, otherwise it's probably a 13.

Climb up the overhanging wall on insane jugs. As you round the bulge, holds get smaller. The Dixie Cragger's Atlas has the route trending right to finish in the chimney. We went up and vaguely to the left instead, because it looked cooler. 

  Kind of like My Dog Has Fleas, only steeper and trad!

10b atop the boulder and 10c from the ground.  Move into a sidepull sloper on the 2nd bolt and go to a huge pocket just right of the 3rd bolt.  Reposition your feet and turn that pocket into an undercling, roll your body up and over the first shelf and you can rest on the ledge before making the final moves.  The top is very juggy but becomes reachy with good feet all the way to the shuts.

Follow an obvious corner system, right of Rabies, up through cracks to horns at the top.  Also known as..."them holds be as big as pump handles."

This is a fantastic steep and bouldery route with two distinct cruxes, one after the second bolt and one just below the top. Gym rats and boulderers will love this one.  Sequence through the first couple bolts is important to minimize the number of moves and to be clipping off the right holds.  

  Steepish climbing on jugs and edges lead to the second bolt where a wild balancy sequence starts involving a sloping sidepull and a huge right hand move to a full-hand flat edge. Easier climbing on medium to small edges gets you to the second crux just below the juggy horizontals a body length below the top. Either use a crimp on the right  to gain the jugs, or use a bad shallow pinch on the left and make a big dyno right/up for the jug rail. Either way, latch the jugs, clip the last bolt and romp up 5-easy for a bodylength to the top.  

  Although this was originally rated 12b, a foothold broke sometime after I last climbed it (mid/late 90s), yielding a better foot, and consensus is that it's now quite a bit easier, with the grade settling around 11d. Also sounds like it has been re-bolted with the bolts in different places, which seems odd, as the route was safe enough before.

As the DCA says, Kennel Club is great for a warmup or a novice sport lead, but don't take it for granted -- this nice moderate face climb has a few spicy moves to get through before you reach the top.  A popular route, so be ready to wait in line.

The intimidation factor on this nice sport route is the big roof near the top.  If you're smart, you'll use the spacious ledge about half-way up to regain some energy for the pumpy finish. 

  Climb the steep face on good holds past three bolts to a ledge.  Trend left, following the bolted line, then move right to a roof.  A well-placed bolt protects the final moves to pull the roof on nice jugs. 

  NOTE:  Oyster is the subject of some confusion with neighboring routes on the south side of Holiday block.  In the Dixie Cragger's Atlas, the listing for Gravy Train actually describes Oyster, while the listing for Oyster should be labeled as Rabies (5.11a).  Some consider Oyster a retrobolt of the trad line Gravy Train, but the two climbs, while close in proximity, are separate routes with distinctly different climbing character.

Gravy Train starts in Alabama - climbing conglomerated flakes and pockets, but transports you to the Gunks - climbing great horizontals before finishing at a big horn.

Start up steep face through a difficult move to arrive at a roof.  Pull roof on good holds (wingspan helps) and continue to move up and left on jugs to shared shuts with Plush. Some good heel hooks and no-hand rests available (if you want them).  Felt harder than the 11a rating from the DCA. Definitely gets your pump on.

Cool route that starts off as thin tricky vertical face climbing(crux). After crux it turns into steep jug hauling to the top.

Easy slab climbing to the top of holiday block.  Follow a crack that zig zags right then left and up into a chimney.  There is nice stemming to be had at the top of the route.  A very good trad lead for beginners.

Be ready to fire on this one! Start on the steep face and cruise to a sloping horizontal. Place some gear, then do a long move utilizing either some sidepulls to the right or an edge straight above. Reach a thin horizontal seam and plug some very small cams. Now, crank one more desperate move into the roof, reach the lip, and breathe again. Clip a manky old pin (or not), and keep swimming up on the biggest jugs sand rock has to offer. Sling the big horn atop as an anchor and rappel down.

Located to the right of Cruise This and the left of My Dog has Fleas. Climb up steep bulgy terrain to a bolt. Continue up the face past more gear, horizontals and a bolt to anchors at the top.

The Holiday Block is another free-standing rock formation, just north of the Pinnacle.  As with the Pinnacle, there's a good mix of sport and trad lines on all sides of the Holiday Block, and many can be set up as topropes.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Holiday Block