If you found

Sunstar

to be a great route but wanted something harder more devious and with less protection and insecure belays, then this is a route for you. This route is rated 2 stars in this description. I am an individual that enjoys "adventure climbing," which is to say that I find unexpected difficulty, complex protection, and funky moves to be more exciting than disturbing, provided that is well below my maximum on-sight grade. If you can't deal with runouts, loose rock in spots, or some route-finding difficulty, then choose another route.

I did make the mistake of taking a less advanced follower on this line, which resulted in poor communication and some dangling in space.  Lucky for us, some folks walked by and "relayed" vocal messages between my second and I so that we did not have to resort to a prusik situation.  If you are said party, a deep and hearty thanks from us.

The description here is as we have climbed it and may not be the true original line. It is, however, nice, and generally true.  As described, the route is probably 5.10c but could be made easier by wandering left or right at key places as noted below.

Find the last substantial buttress of Redgarden Wall; this is the

Hot Spur

area. This is further up the Redgarden Wall trail, past The

Grand Course

,

Disappearing Act

, and

Silver Raven

, and just past Sunstar.  Near the center of the base of this buttress you will see a large pine growing atop a large boulder and in front of the wall.  Go just right of this to see a left-leaning, overhanging, hand-to-fist crack in junky [rock] about 40 feet up the wall.  Climb up to the right-hand edge of this and continue past it on the right through an acute corner (1" cam) to a ledge.  Wander up and right past a tree another 60' to a second tree on a slanted ledge full of death blocks below a substantial overhang.  There is one tree on this ledge at the very edge, which is not much good for a belay, but a good belay can be had from a few cams 2"-3" and just over from that a 0.4"-0.6" cam.  This is just below the only decently solid seat on the ledge.  From there, you can flick the rope to a notch just South of the little tree and North of a little horn such that it will not pull loose rocks down onto your belayer.

This pitch can be 5.7 or so, but it is pretty junky that way (bomb rating).  However, if the last 40 feet is done as described below, it can be serious fun.  In the last 40 feet below the belay there is a steep, open-book dihedral with a thin finger crack in it.  This lies just below and slightly right of the belay tree.  A yellow micro-Camalot can be placed in this along the way (decent pro) with a nut or two as well.  Climb up into this open book and directly up to the belay, avoiding the 100+ lb. puzzle-piece of rock that lies chocked into the wall on the left.  The crack disappears into a few solid sidepulls. The wall on the left has a lot of lichen- be careful of your stems and lie-backing footholds. I have cleaned the lichen off of the critical holds and this goes about 5.10c, "S-".  For more excitement still, climb to the yellow M.C. placement and then out left to the arete and up some edges and slopers on the arete to the ledge (5.10b, S). I downclimbed to remove the gear and reclimbed up in this spot, because it looked fun. This is about the only area of the first pitch worth of merit.

From this belay, the topo implies that you would take a route more left than the initial part of the route to be described here, but that looked looser and less direct...the way we took was steep, reasonably solid, sustained and fun! So, step just right of the tree and battle though an opening boulder problem to reach the wall above. You will pass a few perennial 'shrubs' which were just recently pruned of some annual growth so as to pass them with out needing stitches... and continue upward toward an acute red V-slot. The red V-slot above is climbed like a bomb-bay chimney due to its lack of feet at the start.  It is ~5.9 and easier for small people. The solid rock and surprisingly positive holds are great here. Reach up into the slot and get a good left-hand notch. Smear your feet under the overhang and move up to get your right foot out behind you to the right on a broken-looking hold. There is a great offset seam on the right-hand wall which also gives incredibly good edges and sidepulls. Get out of this after 30' of climbing and head up through this one of two V-slots above.  The topo implies that you will climb the left-most of these again, but again, climb to the right, just left of the face of

Sunstar

.  Both systems will dump you out just below the "crux" roof anyway....  Continue upward on decent rock, working up and left through cracks and corners until you can see the double roof out to your left.  Climb up and left on well-spaced, but adequate protection to reach a point perhaps 15' under the right hand edge of the roof. There is one slick spot with lichen that will be passed to get to the roof from here.

You can set a belay somewhere here (uncomfortable, less then perfect pro) or continue....

Continue up to the corner of the roof, placing a 1-1.5" cam under and to the left of the crack and perhaps a stopper just out further to back it up. Crank through the multi-tiered roof on fingerlocks and edges to a final jam just above the last roof. A passive brown tricam was perfect crux pro. Go over the roof and up to the left-facing dihedral system above.  Belay here or continue to the top of the wall with a few stoppers for pro, or medium cams if you've brought doubles.  I placed sparse pro and had left my hand sized cams at the belay.  As a result there was substantial runout, but no rope drag.

Belay from the top from a good slung boulder (1/2 buried) and a tree 30' back from the edge--provided you have cord or spare rope to do so.

To descend, walk West to the standard Redgarden walkoff by the Hypothermia area.

The Roof Wall

Sayat-Nova

Doris Gets Her Oats

Disappearing Act (aka Kryptonite)

Spur of the Moment

The Green Spur

The Great Zot Variation A.

Lost in Space

Silver Raven

Abracadabra

Green Slab-Original Route

Burning Chrome

Darkness 'til Dawn

Controlled Burn

Razors to Rubble

Chris Cross

Noodle Salad

The Great Zot

Unknown left of Darkness 'til Dawn

Cinders And Saints

Swanson Arete

Northumberland Crack

Hot Links

Rewritten

Paris Girl

Please Close Lid

West Chimney

Rebuffat's Arete

Waiting Room

The Zot Face

Dream Weaver

Tower Corner Exit

Direct Variation to Zot Face

Burning Desire

Culp-Raubach Finish

Warm and Fuzzy

Heddie La Rue

Green Slab Direct

Rabbits From Hats

Piece of the Sun

Fanning the Flame

The Grand Course

The Everybody Route

The Green Hornet

Alternate Erikson Start (Roof Wall)

The Hot Spur

Grandmother's Challenge

The Color of Pomegranates

Twist and Crawl (aka Slice of Time)

Maverick

Sunstar

Green Sleeves

This route has good and interesting climbing with a little poor rock down low. No less, it is pretty good climbing and certainly will not have anyone on it. This is the route for shorter climbers to suggest to taller partners for grins and giggles. Tall climbers, beware, and get ready to kiss your kneecaps!

The route starts up some "blah" rock on easy moves in a corner then reaches solid stone under a left-leaning roof with a hand and fist crack. Scrunch up under that roof, and head left for a body length or so, teetering on thin feet and reaching around the corner to move up past the lip and onto a ledge with a tree and fixed anchor.

This is a direct start into Christian Griffith's route "

The Color of Pomegranates

." It's not really a route you want to go ground up on. If you do, bring some small nuts and a few finger-sized cams. I added this direct start and two bolts to link this into the

Twist and Crawl

project, but I did not add any bolts to

The Color of Pomegranates

. I would suggest you climb

Darkness Till Dawn

and traverse over to the anchor. You can then hang your draws. I hang a 6 foot sling from the second to last bolt and a 7 foot sling from the 3rd to last bolt. I know, it's silly, but it's worth it!

The Color of Pomegranates

refers to a 1969 film about Sayat-Nova, an Armenian poet. The film was originally titled Sayat-Nova, but the communist party changed its name to

The Color of Pomegranates

in an attempt to censor it.

This is a fun route with good moves.   A #6 can be bumped up all the way through the fist half with other protection available, but none are as trustworthy as a giant cam.  After the wide crack (no off-width moves required), there is a tricky move leaving a ledge and launching onto some suspect flakes.  The rest of this crack seemed dirty and loose and had some scary blocks above, so I decided to top out on the right crack instead (recommended).  The right crack is the top of

Heddie La Rue

and is really fun.  Although not the crux of that route, this upper crack  may be the crux of this route.  Solid and steep rock with good protection and pretty big moves more than make up for the lichen.

This route lies beyond

Grandmother's Challenge

.  Darkness till Dawn is the obvious dihedral around the corner from

Grandmother's Challenge

.  Disappearing Act is uphill 20 yards, directly to the left of

Paris Girl

, a bolted .13a face left of Darkness.  The route begins with a finger crack reminiscent of

Chockstone

on the West Ridge, then enters a right-facing dihedral to a spot where one can step left to belay.  This climb is on excellent rock, the difficulty lies mainly in hanging on through thirty feet of sustained climbing, and placing pro.  From the top of the first pitch, one can step left and easily rap of a tree to the base.  The second pitch continues up an obvious thin crack next to the arete, then moves over into a left-facing dihedral, .10c I believe (we didn't do this pitch) an excellent climb.

P1: Start to the left of the fin/arete of

Grandmother's Challenge

. Start on a block and move around to the right side of the arete.  Stay on the arete passing a small roof and a bolt. Belay from a chockstone stance (.9+ R 80').

P2: Move left under a roof to the crux arete with two pins. Pull flakes onto a face, and then hit the original

Grandmother's Challenge

two bolt anchor clipping, but don't stop, and finish to the top (.11c PG13 130').

This is my favorite 5.9 route in Eldo. It is a great line up a cool dihedral and the  moves are very fun and interesting. The crux is thin-fingers liebacking or stemming in an interesting corner. The route begins in a corner about 20 feet to the right of

Grandmother's Challenge

. It is also about 50 feet left of the

West Chimney

.

P1. Start by climbing a short, 40-foot  pitch up an easy corner to a belay ledge.

P2. The next pitch is for real. Start by using two parallel cracks about three feet apart until the right crack becomes too thin to use. Climb the left crack  through a wide section until it becomes a smooth dihedral with thin fingers in the back. Climb the dihedral until you are just under the roof and then step across the face to the right onto a  blunt arete that leads to the top. After the lip at the top there is about 30 feet of easy runout to a large rappel bolt on the Red Ledge.

From here, climb the top half of

Rewritten

to the top, or make one double-rope rappel to the ground. It doesn't get any better.

Per

tooTALLtim

: If you continue above P2: from the P2 belay, move up and left along Red Ledge. Belay where

Grandmother's Challenge

ends, in the alcove next to the BIG boulder, by the tree.

P3: Climb up a large block to a short hand crack, towards the blocky roof. The exposure here is great. Hand traverse under the roof, and pull over on bomber finger locks (5.8).

P4: Continue up the beautiful corner to the top of Rebuffat's Arete. (5.8) You might see some people on the arete climbing

Rewritten

.

P5: Now join with

Rewritten's

face climbing to the top. (5.5)"

To get to this variation, follow the first four pitches of the Great Zot as Rossiter describes it and not as it is described here (from the left angling hand crack continue straight left to a big tree in a gully instead of cutting back right to the tree belay below Zot Face).  The variation is a different last pitch to this route, and is described well by Rossiter.

P5: From the big tree belay in the gully, climb up the gully a few feet past the tree until you spy above you on the face a crack-like weakness.  This is the route.  Rossiter illustrates it as being a double crack at the top, and indeed it is, but the features can hardly be called cracks.  The pitch passes a piton with a ring about half-height, and finishes just right of the large tower that rewritten finishes on.

I don't give this variation many stars because although it has exciting exposure differentiating from the traditional Great Zot finish and adds to the overall quality of airiness that the fourth pitch delivers, it is very very loose.  In the so-called cracks are flakes just waiting to be yarded on.  It is definitely a matter of opinion, and this pitch delivers its' full dose of adventure, but finding good placements can be interesting at times.  At one point there is an easy offwidth section within which lies a large loose block that would sever your rope at the very least.  Be careful, and have fun.

Don't do this route.

As a moderate lead, it fails on two distinct counts.  1)  Loose Rock, dangerous to both climber and belayer.  2) A runout third pitch, the last  pitch up the "huge dihedral."  I felt a 40+ foot fall was definitely possible.

The first pitch, as Rossiter says, ascends "indistinct terrain" and is characterized by loose rock.  We were  hoping for 3 solid pitches in the 5.7 dihedral.  Yes,  there were some good moves, especially on the bulges in the 2nd pitch, but the runout 3rd and the additional loose rock in the 4th pitch made this an unappealing climb.

Note that trees are everywhere, and you could wrap off this at any point with a single rope.

This excellent route is just to the right of

The Grand Course

on the West Ridge of Redgarden. It has two pitches, but it is better to do the first pitch of Silver Raven followed by the 11a pitch of

Grand Course

.

Climb up the chimney on the right for about twenty feet. Place nuts out left from an insecure position and then traverse into the crux. Fire that, then get ready for a burly, awkward section just afterward to a much appreciated stance. Easier finger jams lead to a belay ledge where you are required to build your own anchor.

Climb the arete just right of the final 40' of

Disappearing Act

.

Follow the description already given for the

Green Slab Direct

for the first 2 pitches. The small roof on P1 is surmounted via a thin crack near its right edge. If one doesn't surmount the roof from the right side, it's much more difficult. If one continues left a few feet from this roof, it's possible to climb an unprotected slab to the same final belay ledge, but this is 5.9. It is then possible to follow a distinct ledge to the prominent arete on the left. The next 2-3 leads (depending on rope length) follow the arete on very moderate climbing to the top of the wall. There are several lines possible, but the climbing is never more than 5.7 with good protection.

The descent is accomplished by following the ridge line North until some steep and dirty gullies lead back down to the scree.

This is a good line that is overlooked due to its proximity to more popular routes, like Rewritten and the Green Spur, which it sits between. Still, it is a good line that deserves more attention than it gets. It is a Journeyman's route, not a trade route, as it requires a steady mind and steady feet to ascend, on spicy protection.

Had I not had to go uphill and out of site to use the bathroom before doing Vertigo last week, I would not have seen this beauty.  D.t.D is just around the corner from Grandmother's Challenge in a shaded alcove.  This climb stays shaded a long time.  No one does the 2nd pitch and no one should want to do it.

Basically, start on big holds and a crack on the right side of the dihedral.  This climb throws it all at you.  I had fist jams, hand jams, thin hands, finger locks, side pulls, jugs, a couple of crimps, stems, feet in the crack and feet on small edges (don't worry, if I forgot something, this pitch probably has it).  The other really nice thing about this route is that it is fairly sustained and stays interesting.  The climb is nice and steep, especially the first section, and it may even stay dry in the rain.  If you can't tell by now, I enjoyed the heck out of this climb.

Begin between

The Hot Spur

and

Waiting Room

.

P1: Climb the lichen-covered dihedral to a pine tree, 100 feet (5.9 entry to access dihedral, then mostly 5.8).

P2: Climb to the loose ledge, aiming for the hanging dihedral system left of

Northumberland Cracks

crux pitch. Climb through bulge and the steep dihedral (5.10b/c R), then climb a slab angling slightly left near top on prominent 5.7 R jugs to a ledge, 110 feet.

P3: Climb obvious thin crack right of the

Hot Spurs

final pitch (5.10c, 35 feet).

The first half of the route is a steep slab with a veritable ladder of perfect crimps (the "razors").  The top has some loose flakes, cracks, and loose blocks (the "rubble").  The first half is super fun, but probably R rated.  The crux comes at about 20 feet.  The holds get really small for a section and you have to mantle and stand up on your handhold...  I used hooks with duct tape to protect this move.  There is also a red C3, but I don't know if it would hold.  After the crux you get good gear, a #5 cam.  One more big move and you get a #9 hex.  After mantling onto a ledge and moving to the highest point, there is one more tricky section.   A #2 C3 & a similar sized nut in a loose flake "protect" the move off the ledge.  A seam on your right will take a bomber #2 RP and a #1 ballnut.  A few moves later there is a nice hole that takes a perfect 2.5 tricam.  Angle left (watch out for a large loose flake) and follow broken cracks up to a tree with slings and rings....

Jump! Jump!  This pumpy line takes the bolt line to the right of

Darkness 'til Dawn

, then crisscrosses

The Color of Pomegranates

to join back into

Darkness 'til Dawn

above its crux. Shorter folks may have to Jump! Jump!

On the Dreamweaver Wall, begin at the end of the left-trending, diagonal crack. Climb the slab/ramp below up and left. At its end, move up and left on mostly positive pockets. Exit through a shallow trough just right of

Dream Weaver

and left of a pocketed bulge. Like most others on the wall, this climb is more overhanging than it first seems from the ground. It has great moves on solid rock and is good fun....

Dream Weaver Wall is generally sheltered from the wind, and though the approach involves some bushwhacking, it's worth the side trip if you're already in the Roof's Way area, or have some steam left after any Lumpe Tower summit route.

This is a fun, moderate route near

Rewritten

. The route starts about 12 feet to the left of the

West Chimney

. This route has some interesting and unique crack climbing on it that is not  to be missed.

P1. The first pitch goes up the crack in the middle of the face to the left of

West Chimney

. It opens up into a small cave and then jams out the top of the cave for a fun lead.

P2. The next pitch is not fun. It is and ugly, upward traverse right to the red ledge about the

West Chimney

.

P3. The third pitch is short and climbs a 5.7 crack and corners to the left of the gully until a stance at the bottom of an incredible hand traverse left.

P4. Pitch four is the best pitch of the climb and is airy and exhilarating. Follow the obvious hand crack the traverses diagonally left.  The crack is very reminiscent of a short section on Rewritten but is far longer. The exposure  here is great. The best way to go is about halfway along this crack reach a small stance and climb up and to the right to a ledge with a tree. Watch out for rope drag.

P5. From here climb the

Zot Face

to the top via one or two pitches. This part is runout but is an incredible place to be climbing.

Just left of the main

Darkness 'til Dawn

dihedral is a very obvious groove that continues past a small tree. This route is not in the guide, but I've eyed it more than once over the years. We finally climbed it, thinking it might be 10 or so, but since the gear looked to be good, so why not have a go? It turns out it's 9- or so with very good gear and very good climbing. What looks like the crux, moving left where

DtD

starts its real climbing, turns out to be easy. The actual crux is above the tree in the green corner. The corner eventually blanks out. Move up and right to get some decent holds. From here, the best choice is to continue right into upper

DtD

. We chose to move left around the arete into a left-facing corner and up to a questionable anchor. Chuck tried to continue up the corner to the

DtD

anchors, but it got hard, and he had little gear, so we ended up backing up the anchor in the corner and rapping from there. This anchor seems to exist for those who rap from the top of

Grandmother's Challenge

with a single rope.

Route details: start as for

Darkness 'til Dawn

or just left and climb up to where

DtD

enters the crack system on the right wall. Instead, move right and layback up to gain the groove. Moderate climbing leads to a small tree. You could move left here into the left facing corner, but instead, continue up the green corner above. Where it starts to blank out, make a move up and right to get some decent hand holds. Either move right to

DtD

or stem left to the arete and then left around the corner and up to the anchor.

Located on the north side of Lumpe Tower is a steep, hidden wall with several worthwhile routes, and it is described in Rossiter's Eldo guide on p.338.  Not to be confused with one of the quality routes on the wall, Cinders And Saints lies 10 feet left of

Fanning the Flame

, or about 25 feet left of Burning Desire.  It is the left-most route on the cliff.  Begin in a small right-facing corner with a crack, left of a pine tree.  Climb the overhanging corner on jug pockets for at least five feet of flaky fun, then grovel upward finishing in a lichenous crack and groove.

To descend, walk off left.

This is a beginner classic. This was named in memory of Jon Swanson who was killed descending Mt. Sir Donald in the Selkirks in 1968.

There are many ways to start this climb.

Option 1: Start as for

Rewritten

, but after P1, traverse up to the Red Ledge to the right. Find a tree to the right of the

West Chimney

and belay from here.  5.7 PG-13.

Option 2: Do the

West Chimney

passing a 2 bolt intermediate anchor and continue up to either the 2 bolt 2nd anchor (50m) or continue up to the tree (60m).  5.6.

Option 3: Do the 1st pitch of

Great Zot

, 5.8+.

P1. Follow the arete on the right side.  Note, the start is a bit loose in places.  There is a easier-than-it-looks slot with holds in the back (crux).  You can belay on the left side of the arete at a tree.

P2. Continue up to the right of the arete, passing a slot with a tree or along the arete (5.6 R).  Move up into a left-facing dihedral (crux) with a thin crack protectable with wires to a tree.

P3. Continue up on airy but blocky holds.  Skirt the roof to the right and finish up  the dihedral to the summit.

DESCENT (multiple options):

Option 1: Downclimb (S) to the notch in between Lumpe Tower and Tower One and make 3 double rope raps--or downclimb to the East side of Redgarden.

Option 2: Downclimb to the tree just below the summit.  Three 2 rope rappels off the tree, off another large tree with a rope (left of Dirty Deed), and another off a large tree on the Red Ledge gets you down.

Option 3: traverse off to the west along the ridge (lengthy and involves some exposed climbing/scrambling) to the gully descent near the top of Redgarden Wall.

If you've done

Sunstar

and

The Roof Wall

and want a little more adventure, check out Northumberland Crack.  The crack on the second pitch is challenging and exposed.  There's some loose rock and lichen, but also some high-quality climbing.

Start about 60' left of the

Sunstar

chimney. Look for a large block with two trees.  Scramble up the block from the right and belay just left of the highest tree.

P1. 5.7, 150'.  Climb straight up flakes and cracks aiming for a tree directly above. Watch for loose rock. Pass the tree on the left and climb to a rotten ramp. Traverse left on the ramp to a good belay spot about 30' left of the crack and roof on the second pitch.

P2. 5.9+, 100'.  Traverse 30' right on a 3'-wide ledge back towards the crack.  Climb up and right to a bolt about 10' below the roof.  This is not a good belay spot, so continue on.  Climb up to the roof and place a #4 Camalot in the wide crack.  You can slide this piece up or place a second #4 Camalot a little higher.  Make some strenuous moves to pass the lip of the roof (9+).

The fun isn't over: a few more wide-crack moves get you to a stance where you can finally rest.  I belayed here.If you still have a #4 Camalot, you can continue up a flared chimney and belay at a ledge with a tree about 40' higher.

P3. 5.7, 100'.  Climb the flared chimney (7; #4 Camalot for pro) to a ledge with a tree.  Pass the tree on the left and continue up a steep wall with jugs (6) to the top.

The views from the top are great:

Rewritten

and

The Yellow Spur

really stand out.

Descend via the same descent as for

Rewritten

,

The Green Spur

, etc.  Head north to a notch (follow cairns) and scramble down to the trail.

This climb is a variation on pitch 3 of

Hot Spur

and will link the

Hot Spur

route into the upper portions of

Northumberland Crack

.

It starts after stepping right and out of the hanging, left-facing corner on pitch 3 of

Hot Spur

(about 50' into the pitch). Traverse right and up on a *loose* and exposed ledge following the path of least resistance toward the route

Northumberland Crack

. A few 5.6 moves are encountered toward the end of the traverse. Belay at the end of pitch 2 of

Northumberland Crack

. The position here is fantastic. Continue with the last 2 pitches of

Northumberland Crack

.

This is another excellent classic on Redgarden. Six pitches takes you to the summit of the Middle Buttress via

Rebuffat's Arete

. Start at the base of the

West Chimney

below the Middle Buttress about 15 feet left of an alcove.

P1 is a steep start but only 5.6 up a nice crack (~110 feet). There are two cracks starting here. The thinner crack on the right is The

Great Zot

(8+) and is one of my favorite 5.8s in Eldo. Take your pick.

P2. Climb an easy pitch up to the Red Ledge arcing left. Look for a large eyebolt.

P3. Continue up the left-facing dihedral to a belay stance on the right (6).

P4. This is the crux and most exciting pitch. From the belay, traverse the hand crack left, pull around the arete, and continue up the steep and exposed hand crack. Belay on a ledge to the left of where previously existed a large, detached block or the right. Caution: this block fell down; this 6 foot high piece of rock used to rock back and forth if you pulled on it!

P5. Follow the crack to the R (5) or straight (8) up

Rebuffat's Arete

. The arete is recommended as it more spectacular. Belay at a tree in the large V on the left.

P6. Find a clean, 5.5 crack to the summit. This is a great short pitch also with a nice view and bomber gear.

Per

Doug Haller

: you can combine P5 & P7 with a 60 or 70m rope and save a belay, 140'.

Descent: downclimb a notch to the North back to the West side of Redgarden Wall. The notch is beyond several towers to the NW. If it doesn't look like easy 4th Class, keep going.

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Please Close Lid lurks across a 40-foot wide gully from The Recreant, the lowest sport route of The Enigmas. These are located near the summit of Lumpe Tower in a deep and shady cleft and offer that extra pitch or two after completing one of the myriad classics on the 'front side' of Redgarden Wall.  Ten feet right of a large pine tree opposite the sport routes is a short, attractive seam leading to a ledge with two bushes.  Begin in the seam with small hand and footholds climbing on its right side, until after just 20 feet of bliss the route yields to jugs and the ledge.  It's kind of fun while it lasts.

To descend, scramble easily up the crest of the rib above Please Close Lid until even with the highest sport route of The Enigmas, Lex Loci.  Downclimb 10 feet back into the gully beneath the routes.  This is likely the same downclimb that got you here in the first place.

The climbing on this pitch is surprisingly good.  It can be used as an alternate start to

Rewritten

,

Great Zot

,

Swanson Arete

, Dirty Deed, or

Icarus

. It's a good way to get to the Red Ledge if the first pitches of

Great Zot

and

Rewritten

are busy.

Start at the deep chimney about 10' right of

Great Zot

.  Climb the chimney, passing some fixed pins and an intermediate bolted rappel station, to a belay at a tree just below the Red Ledge (160 ft) or a tree at the base of

Swanson Arete

on the Red Ledge (205ft).

The upper pitches continue up the chimney/gully to the notch north of Lumpe Tower, but these are seldom climbed.  If you do go to the top, descend back to Red Ledge by rappelling from trees; be careful of loose rock.

The first pitch of this route is commonly used to descend from the Red Ledge.  There is a two-bolt anchor on the left wall of the chimney just below the Red Ledge (about 130' up), and a second two-bolt anchor about 70' up.  Two rappels with a 50m or 60m rope get you down.  It's possible to get down with one rappel with a 70m rope with a little bit of downclimbing at the end.

It's best to avoid climbing this route when parties are rappelling, unless you want to get brained by a tossed rope.

This is most popularly done as a variation to the fifth pitch of

Rewritten

.  From the dead tree belay of Rewritten, avoid the chossy gully and head straight out right on to the edge of the arete.  There is more protection than would first appear.  Have fun peeking over the edge and head right up to the top.  Then carefully downclimb 5-10 feet to the notch. It is 80'.

It can also be done from lower on Rewritten, right after the hand traverse and finger crack on pitch 4.  Instead of moving left, head straight up the arete.  It is 190', PG-13.

It can also be accessed from

Tower Corner Exit

.  Reach the arete by moving left up a ramp system, then follow to the top as above. It is  130'.

This is a good climb in an area of the wall that is known for bad rock and less than classic climbs.  The first 50' climbs somewhat suspect, lichen covered rock, but the upper finger and handcrack is as good as any in the canyon.  Start on top of the block with a juniper tree growing out of it.  Climb up and left to a concave groove on the arete that contains a thin crack.  Head straight up aiming for the right of two right-facing corners above. There is a ledge here for an optional belay, but it is only about 50' up and it is best to continue up the crack in the corner for about 120' to a belay stance shared with

Northumberland Crack

.  This crack is the best part of the route and has many nice finger locks and excellent gear.  This is a great pitch to access

Northumberland Crack

without having to do its grungy first pitch.

The better finish to the Great Zot.  Lots of tricky routefinding on this route, but I found that the description in Rossiter more or less matches the route very well.  There is a lot of runout 5.6 climbing but the "5.8+" traverse near the top looks well protected. See the comments for the Great Zot for a discussion of various routefinding issues on this route.

Start by following the first 3 and a half pitches of the Great Zot.  Before you start pitch 4, observe that your eventual goal is the obvious tree and ledge directly above you.  At the end of the cruxyness on the leftward traverse of pitch 4, look for a ramp-like weakness that leads up and right to the tree.  Belay here.

The next pitch is where the routefinding gets weird.  Traverse straight right to a dirty looking left facing dihedral capped by a licheny roof.  Climb the dihedral, pulling around to the face on the right before the licheny roof.  Once on the face, eye your eventual target: a small tree (the only one) on a ledge up and slightly left.  Climb straight up the face looking for a very thin crack that diagonals in from the left.Traverse left on this feature (crux) to a crack and corner system which leads up to the tree and ledge.  I thought that this section wasn't any harder than the pitch 4 traverse on the Great Zot.

The last pitch follows easy features to the top.

The rightmost crack on the Dream Weaver Wall, Dream Weaver shoots to the top using a combination of huecos and sharp jams.

Start directly below the crack and pull the steep starting moves on jugs to gain a ledge. Place some okay pro and climb up the widening crack. Throw in a bomber #4, push through the steep crux and then race the pump to the top and a large tree. Walk off.

This is a huge corner climb. It can be seen from

The Great Zot

.

This pitch links from the 2nd pitch of

The Great Zot

to the beginning of

Zot Face

.  From the 2nd belay of

The Great Zot

, move up the red ledge to the left-facing dihedral, and follow it up and trending slightly left to large roof (same strata as the roof on

The Great Zot's

3rd pitch. Pull over at the obvious break in the roof, and follow the crack up toward a small tree where you can belay (uncomfortable).  For a better belay, do a right rising traverse to just beyond a tree (30'?) where a decent ledge can be found (rope drag can be an issue).

There are a number of hollow flakes on the pitch, but all can be easily climbed around using solid hand and foot holds.  The beginning dihedral takes good stoppers.

This is a fun, steep route with some interesting moves at the crux. Clamber up easily to a ledge, and climb a pinch feature and pockets. When the pockets end, engage the crux to get to a hand crack. Continue with more of the same to a wide, low-angle groove that takes you to the belay tree. The gear is adequate, but you'll have to climb above it a bit at the crux.

There's a large tree at the top from which to belay. Walk off climber's left back down to the base.

This is the easiest way to top out from the large ledge at the base of the crux pitches of

Green Slab Direct

,

Green Sleeves

, etc. The route takes a groove just to the left of that face and tops out after two pitches.

Start at the left side of the ledge by a tree. Climb the groove and belay in a nice alcove (100 feet). Climb straight up out of the alcove, past some loose blocks and a bit of chossy rock (standard Eldo fare for less-traveled routes), and continue more or less straight up until you can bear left towards a large tree near the top (120 feet).

(The route name and first ascent information were obtained from Steve Levin's guidebook to the canyon.)

This is a fun little line.  It is worthy of a quick lap if you are walking by en route to the

Chockstone Chimney

raps or headed for the East Slabs.  I don't know if it's been climbed before, but it should be climbed some more....

Smear up the initial slab to a bulge where you can get a suspicious cam in a licheny slot.  Ten feet higher there is a cluster of huecos where you can stuff a #2 Camalot and some tricams if you have them.  Then move up left on a ramp that turns into a right-facing corner.  The higher you get, the better the gear.  When you hit the ridge, head up left to the top of the Lumpe Tower.

This route lies near the very top-end of Redgarden Wall. In fact, it is very near Crag X and the Hypothermia area, where Redgarden merges into the Rincon Area at the Potato Chip.

Approach via the Redgarden Wall trail going all of the way to the top at the LAST clear switchback. This is where the uppermost branch of the walkoff trail hits the ground. There is a small crag just NW of this point, with a few left leaning crack systems running up from its right hand side to the summit.  At the lowest right hand edge of this crag is a ~4" diameter Juniper tree, and 8' left of that is a ~10" short-needled pine. A thin crack rises from the ground ~3' left of the tree, in spots this opens to 2" and in spots is is barely a seam.

Climb up the leaning crack towards the top- the crux is after perhaps 20' and over a decent #1 Camalot. Footwork on small holds and finger strength for key sidepulls and pinches are the keys to making this route go. As you go upward beyond 30 feet, the route gets easier. Perhaps 5 feet from the top the crack gets nasty- step left 5' to the next line and ride it for an additional 15 feet to the top of the crag.  Walk back a ways from the edge and set an anchor and place your rope so as not to knock off anything loose (this was done on a #3 Camalot and a huge stopper on the FA).

To descend, walk up and to the climber's left past some death blocks and under the low branches of a few trees to reach the Redgarden walk-off trail again. (3 min)

I'll place some pictures up when I get my slides developed and scanned in.

A fun route with some damn longs leads.  We're not 100 percent sure we did the route correct, so take this discussion with a grain of salt.

P1:  Start in a nice crack system near the left edge of the alcove containing

Darkness 'Til Dawn

- about 20 left of that route.  Ascend easy climbing up crack systems, aiming for the roof about 80 feet off the ground.  There's a pin just underneath the left corner of the roof; clip and power over (5.8).  Continue up, angling slightly right and then back left.  Hit the rotten band and move up and a bit left and belay just left of a small tree growing out of the band.  You will be even with the anchors of

Darkness 'til Dawn

140', 5.8+.

P2:  Go straight up easy crack systems on the face.  Avoid getting pulled left to the big trees.  Right up the face to a nice big ledge.  Belay at the low point of the ledge, right in the middle fo the face and below the obvious crack you will be climbing next.  90', 5.5.

P3:  Here's where it gets interesting.  On the middle part of the ramp, a steep crack system gets gradually more difficult (5.7 then 5.8+ then 5.9).  You will notice a fixed pix 10' to the left after about 50', which is not on this route.  Continue straight up as it gets more strenuous (there's a small brass stopper that is now probably fixed pro thanks to my first 15-foot whipper at this point).  The crack eventually turns to small fingers.  At this point, going straight up is 10d R.  Going left is 5.9+R, though only for a short section.  Going right is 5.9PG, where you aim for the large ramp system about 10 feet away.  In any case, all options converge on the ramp which you follow for about 40 more feet of easy climbing. Belay at a decent stance in the right-facing dihedral in the middle of the face.  5.9, 140'.

P4:  Follow the dihedral up and out to a dead tree.  Then, we continued up and slightly left, finishing in a V-dihedral.  However, we believe the correct route actual is to move up and angle right (5.6) past a tree, to finish.

Descent:  Follow the trail running on the east side of the ridge north for about 150 yards.  Look for several cairns, and follow them up to a notch and then down class 3 scrambling to the west and north.  Rejoin the main Redgarden trail, grab your bags, and go get a beer.

Climb directly up the finger crack start for

Disappearing Act

.  At the rest on

DA

before the crux moves into the dihedral, layback up and left to an obvious #3-3.5 Friend placement. Climb & layback up the corner for a few moves to a horizontal out left. Get fail safe cams here. Climb up until you are standing on the horizontal and place a good nut and RPs.  Continue straight up, clipping a fixed pin along the way, to reach the top of the first half of

Disappearing Act

. Continue up the second half of

DA

.

This is located right of

The Hot Spurs

pitch 3 and left of

Controlled Burns

pitch 2.

P1: Climb a roof crack and progressively easier crack system above to ramp/ledge, 5.11d, 70 feet.

P2: Continue up crack on the left face of the dihedral to top of buttress, 5.6, 40 feet.

"Fanning the Flame" is located on a small, steep cliff 80 feet downhill from the North Side of Lumpe Tower (see Rossiter's guide p.338).  The logical approach to this cliff is to climb one of several three-star routes on Lumpe Tower, like "

Swanson Arete

", 5.5, or "

The Ytrid Deed

", 5.6, or on Tower One, like "

The Yellow Spur

", 5.9.  If you still crave another pitch or two after one of these routes, this wall is worth a visit.

Located 15 feet left of "Burning Desire" 10d, "Fanning the Flame" 5.8 is a gently overhanging, right-leaning crack that parallels an incipient crack a few feet to its left.  The climbing is characterized by juggy face holds on good rock, a few crack moves and a tricky finish.

First, let me state that I am amazed how many routes in the Eldo data base have 3 stars.  Don't let this 2 star rating dissuade you - I'm keeping things in perspective.  This route is as good as most of the "3 star" routes in the vicinity.

P1. For the first pitch (10-), you need to be adept at crack climbing.  It has a section of wide hands and fists.  Also, this short pitch is rather polished, so watch your foot placements carefully.  There are a couple of choices for establishing a belay at the end of the first pitch.  Take the one that suits you best.  We opted to stay low at the first large ledge to avoid the fumes of bird excrement.

P2. Move up into what can best be described as a twin crack system.  Take this upward and move right into a right-facing dihedral. This dihedral is mostly thin, but as I mentioned earlier, a #3.5 Friend (or 2) may have worked.  I also managed a #1 Camalot, but a #2.5 Friend may have worked a little better. I got a wobbly, but decent nut at a weird block in the crack near the crux.  Anyway, you will know when you get to the business.  It looked like persons taller than myself may have moved slightly right at the crux.  I pretty much had to go straight-up.

My best advice for someone considering this climb is to 1) be able to crack climb; 2) have good footwork, including stemming; and 3) be comfortable doing cruxes a little above your gear.

There is a 5.9 variation, where you stay left/straight above the first pitch.  I only glanced at it and it looked good and may protect better than the 11- pitch.  A couple parties that did it earlier and did the climb in one pitch.

Erickson's book rated P1 5.9 and P2 10-!

This route is on the North side of Lumpe Tower, about 100 feet downhill from a route called "One Night Stand." Climb a steep, left-leaning crack system past loose rock and lichen to a belay on the slab above. The crux is at the start and it's pretty hard.

Climb the shallow corner/seam until it bends left and join the arete. Make a key placement and balance up to clip the first bolt. The crux is in this vicinity.

One more bolt and the #4 Camalot will take you to the rubbly ledge at the dead tree.

Pitch 2 steps left and up arete into corner. Aim for the upper arete, clipping the final bolt to get there. Climb straight up the arete, protecting in horizontals.

If you can find it, you can climb it.  This one is way up on Redgarden; keep hiking.  If you make it to the 3rd class walkoff you've gone just a bit too far.  Seriously, pass by

Rewritten

,

Grand Course

, and

Sunstar

(first pitch chimney is easy to spot).  Just as the trail starts to switch back to the left (away from the wall) look back to the wall and find the best path to get there.  This area is pretty steep and seems to be prone to erosion.  From this point on, we constantly wondered if we were on route.  I think we got close but corrections or clarifications are certainly invited. That said...we found the start of the route by locating what Rossiter describes as a large fallen block.  The block angles against the rock and opens uphill with a small pine on top.  It makes a nice spot to shoe up as the hillside is steep and loose.  This spot is also in the shade of trees which is nice when it's 90.

P1 - Just a bit uphill from there a crack diagonals up and to the left with a small pine just a few moves away.  Climb straight up  (awkward but easy) to gain a second crack and follow this a bit left then up. Supposedly, there is a chimney in the area but we never spotted one.  The closest being a wedge-shaped corner.  Just to the left a 12'-15' vertical crack provided a couple fun (5.7?) moves up to a ledge and the belay.  It is probably 100' of 5.5-5.6 overall.

P2 - This pitch started with another short vertical section followed by 3rd/4th class for another 150' up a loose and rocky ramp.  This gully is so loose it is impossible not to launch a rock or two.  Be certain to position your belay with this in mind.  In addition, try setting some occasional high pro to keep the rope up. As you reach the top of the gully the rock firms up and rises in a series of aretes.  Set the belay as soon as the rock will take it.

P3 - The last pitch is described by Rossiter as "a slightly overhanging, left facing corner".  Pick your way to the top. Although the rock is still questionable, there are some interesting lines. We chose a broken crack up a less than vertical face.  The rock got bad and my leader dropped into the gully to finish the lead (5.5 into 4th). Seconding, I cleaned the first half then climbed back down and onto the arete-vaguely reminiscent of

Icarus

/

Yellow Spur

.

Grandmother's Challenge begins 20 yards left of the nasty chimney that is the start to

Swanson's Arete

. It lies directly left of the

Green Spur

. It is the really obvious overhanging offwidth left of the crux on

Green Spur

.

P1. The first pitch is fun and 5.8. Lead directly up to beneath the intimidating offwidth that splits the overhang.

P2. The second pitch is the crux, this thing looks really hard from the ground, but once you are underneath it  doesn't look quite as bad. Place your #4 Camalot in the offwidth, and do a burly lieback up it to a good jam underneath the roof. Get a good stem to rest a tad, place good pro, and do a .10a lieback around the right side of the flake that forms the roof. This whole section is quite sustained and definitely warrants a .10c rating. Once above the roof continue on 70' of good 5.7 face climbing to a large tree.

From here, either continue up to the top of the wall on

Green Slab Direct

or

Green Spur

, or make a double rope rappel to the west off the tree. This is one of the best (and most awkward) .10s in Eldo.

Begin as for

Darkness 'Till Dawn

. Very early on, move right underclinging to two thin cracks then right to a bolt. Straight above the bolt, grapple with the crux and latch better holds gaining the arete. Then stay on the arete.

This route was first bolted by Chris Hill in the 1980s and was attempted by a few of the local legends.  It didn't have an anchor and was approached as a second pitch to

Darkness Till Dawn

. A flaky,unprotected traverse brought you to the start of the climb.

Over the years, it has seen some interest from well known climbers, but because of the bolting ban, it sat untouched.

This climb now has a two bolt anchor and a direct start. You can climb this route from the ground in one monster, mouth watering, 40 meter pitch! Mega!

It's 14 bolts, but you might want to hang a 6 and 7 foot sling from two of the bolts down low. Don't expect any respect from Christian if you do.  If you can climb 5.14, you should be able to climb 12d/13a R.  You should also untie and solo off when you get to the anchor.

All of the bolts up high were once ring bolts but have since been replaced with fat glue-ins.

This is probably the hardest line in the park.

This pitch has some pretty nice climbing on it, but it is marred rather frequently by bushes or loose rock. An experienced adventure climber will not mind, but it is not a route for tentative leaders.

The crux is probably the first 3 meters of climbing and involves a massive but precarious looking flake.  While I was comfortable climbing on that and jamming it, the thought of placing gear behind it was rather unattractive, and so there was a runout there.

It's surprising that this multi-pitch 5.9 hasn't been added to the site yet.  Perhaps it's the long walk up to the route.... regardless, this route sees very little traffic, and has a definite alpine flavor to it (it did rain/hail on us a couple of times during the route, which added to that feeling). Loose rock on most of the pitches, routefinding challenges, and some curious gear opportunities give this route an 's' rating.

About 50 yards past the

Darkness 'til Dawn

dihedral and just before a rotten band (home of choss-fest Outer Space) lies an obvious chimney/slot with two large chockstones 40 and 70 feet up. Immediately right of this chimney is a well-chalked crack that is

Disappearing Act

.

P1. Ascend the chimney, awkward 5.6. There is an optional belay on top of the second chockstone. It's better, however, to continue up the dihedral to it's exit, 150 feet high, to a tree with slings. Be careful for loose rocks on exit from the dihedral.

P2. Scramble up the easy dihedral for about 60 feet to another tree with slings and belay just under a bulge with a hand-sized chockstone.

P3. Here's where it got interesting. Our clear target is the ledge 20 feet to the right of the enormous tree on the face above you; however, chossy rock is between you and that belay ledge. We turned the bulge, hand-traversed out the wide crack, and then gingerly climbed up large, loose, licheny blocks before a final traverse back right to the ledge. Continuing up the dihedral from the belay and then coming back left *might* be a better strategy, but that looked pretty loose too. 50 feet.

P4. Ascend the fingers-size crack in a small ramp/right-facing dihedral that curls back to the right for 60 feet, before turning a roof. Again, this is where it got interesting, as above this roof the route and pro becomes indistinct. Kreighton Bieger was heard whining that he would "give his first-born for a good piece of pro" on lead in this area. Supposedly follow the line of least resistence; we moved left and up, back and right to sling a horn, and then traversed left on an airy and exciting ramp before heading up more loose rock for 25 feet to finish. 150 feet.

We're still unsure if we went the correct way; no chalk marks anywhere gave us hints. Regardless, this is a little-climbed route that probably deserves more ascents.

Green Sleeves is on Steve Levin's obscure tour and is well worth seeking out.  The variation to

The Green Spur

is worth doing once but is not the same quality as the regular route. The 5.10 finger crack on the crux pitch is amazing, though. Starting this route with

Grandmother's Challenge

or

The Green Spur

would be a great outing.

P1/2: follow

The Green Spur

up to the crux dihedral. Break out left, and follow discontinuous cracks to the Red Ledge (5.9+, 195 feet).

P3: scramble along the ledge and around the corner to the left and belay on the ledge below the start of

Green Slab Direct's

3rd pitch. Watch out for loose rock (5.3, 120 feet).

P4: angle left to the arete and follow face/cracks to a new bolt (2015). This bolt protects the face moves to the right. Gain an amazing finger crack with great locks and a few tricky moves to the

Green Slab Direct's

belay stance (5.10c, 150 feet).

P5: pick an easy crack system to the top. There are two variations to choose from (5.6, 150 feet).

Description

Protection

Routes in Redgarden - Lumpe to the top