This route was super-chossy at the bottom.  Cres pounded off a couple of hundred pounds of crap and I did some reinforcing, and now it's a lot of fun.  Still gravelly, but getting better.  

  Bolts are close together so you don't pay too high a price if something breaks while clipping. 

  Nice air for such a short route.

Demolition Derby

Pregnant Pause

The Crossing

Tony's Route

Mr. Clean

Ain't My First Rodeo

Danny Likes Men

Freeloader

Dwarf Toss

Critical Mass

No Climb For Old Men

Brain Bucket

The Adventures of Nad and Huck

El Torito

Up the slab and across the roof. Was very dirty at the bottom before Cres cleaned it up.Another route name from Cormac McCarthy.Tightly bolted at start to prevent swinging impacts if you come off. I was going to add a bolt above the lip but Miles said "Let 'em take the whipper... it's safe".

A decent warmup maybe. 5.9ish.  Fuzzy rock at the start diagonals left up to a fun mantel and nice rock at the top. 

  You can climb past the anchor to the top (and another 2 bolt anchor), and do a walk-off if you like. 

  FSMPTRA = First seven month pregnant toprope ascent.

Very good route with an exciting finish. Starts just left of Mr. Clean, shares 3 bolts with Critical Mass then veers right. 2nd route from right on vertical NW face. 

  Named for Tony Lusk who may have drilled the first anchors at this crag... I'm not sure.

The rock looks nasty for the first 20 feet but it's been pried and hammered to the point where it is climbable. By the time you get to the little roof 20 feet up the route is good. Another roof/bulge awaits 30 feet higher.

Turns the roof/bulge on the left side of crag onto slab above.  Starts right of Brain Bucket and left of Danny.  

  Name was a reply from Eric when some guy from Wyoming tried to tell him how to drill the route.  We laughed and it stuck.

A very good route and a good warmup.  EFR drilled it omitting the last bolt which added a nice bit of spice to the lead.  But quite a few folks complained about the runout, so I finally relented and added a bolt before the anchor. 

  The name is in honor of Nad Sacul (and taken from the refrain "Daddy likes men" from "We're a Happy Family" by The Ramones).

From near the El Torito anchors you can see a line of letter-boxes, slopers and rails heading straight right out the 20+ foot ceiling to the center of the roof.  When I realized it might go I was amazed. This extension was dubbed "Chain Gang" by EFR and that has stuck.   

  If you start on Dwarf Toss and finish on Chain Gang, you have done one long, hard line that is completely independent of El Torito and the other cave routes... Freeloader. 

  Vince came up with the name to underscore the fact that I did all the drilling, cleaning and reinforcement, but he bagged the FA.  He's a funny man. 

  The route has about a dozen overhead heel-hooks and foot-cams, and is totally insane.  The crux is at the end (as it should be) with a 10 foot V5 boulder problem along the rail to turn the lip of the cave.

Steep and powerful... lots of action and a cool finish.  Originally visualized by Miles and Joe, and bolted by me, Joe and Cres.  Named for Joe's method of doing the lower crux.  This route was "assigned" to Joe, but he found other interests at other crags so it sat dormant.  

  Freeloader climbs 90% of Dwarf Toss before heading out the Chain Gang ceiling.  So when Vince sent Freeloader he pretty much made the FA of this route academic, but to my knowledge Ian Evans did the first red-point of Dwarf Toss that actually finished at the El Torito anchor (April 2010). 

  There are 2 ways of doing the lower crux.  The left-hand way (Vince's beta) has a chaindraw on the hanger.  There is also a hanger (but no chaindraw) to protect the Dwarf beta if you like that better. 

  Height is a definite help on this route.

The 3rd route from the right on the vertical NW face is identified by a start bolt tucked below an arching flake. It joins Tony's Route for 3 cruxy bolts before heading straight up where Tony's Route goes right. Two more stiff cruxes high up are both preceded by good rests.

El Torito start + Chain Gang extension.  On May 18, I saw 7 climbers try the route this way versus 0 doing the Dwarf Toss start, so I figured this version should be posted up.  It's a bit confusing, but rock this steep is rare, so it's worth it to detail the options IMO.

The vertical NW face has a pronounced roof/bulge down low.  This is the right-most route that turns the roof/bulge and it's pretty good.  2nd route from the left, starts to right of Nad/Huck.

Slab to steep section to slab.  Good fun for the grade, often done as a warmup.

Left side of cave.  Short but steep.  About as action packed as 35 feet can be. 

  There are two belay bolts at the left side of the ledge in the cave.  Don't fall off traversing over to them ! 

  After climbing on Frog Prince in Datil (7 May 2011) I realized that this climb is as good as any of the 3 star routes there, so.... 3 stars from me on this one too.

A fun little crag with some unusual routes.  Mt Lemmons's answer to the Frog Prince area at Datil. 

  Easy to see as you drive up the Mt Lemmon Highway.  It looks like a helmet sitting up on the slope in front of you as you drive past Col. Birdseye. 

  Morning shade. 

  The crag is west-facing with a vertical face on the left, and a shallow cave on the right. 

  It's a good idea to check the nuts on chain-draw hangers frequently.  Let me know if any are loose. 

  Not a big deal in our dry climate, but FWIW this crag is totally stainless steel. 

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  There is some confusion (my fault) about route naming in the cave: 

  Chain Gang - the name EFR gave to the roof chains. 

  No Climb For Old Men = El Torito start + Chain Gang   Freeloader = Dwarf Toss start + Chain Gang

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in The Helmet