This is a fun and adventurous romp up a ramp to an arete! Scramble up a ramp at the far left of the crag, and begin below a very large hueco. You can clip the first bolt of

Skimbleshanks

if you like, then continue up the ramp towards an arete and a small chimney. After the chimney, stay on the arete until you get to a big ledge with lots of loose rocks. Head right towards the anchors of

Skimbleshanks

.

Rapppelling with a 70m rope is recommended.

Reno Rampage

Mungajerry

Rum Tum Tugger

Catlong

Overflow Direct

Mr. Mistoffeles

Jellicle Cats

Lesser of Two Evils

MacCavity

Skimbleshanks

The Pussy

Kitty's Back

Thinning the Herd

Nasty Kat

Grizabella

Gumby Cat

Crystal Cat

Old Deuteronomy

Rumple Teaser

Summer Fling

Unknown

This is a cool, little trad (?) route at Catslab. It is worth doing, maybe, if you're bored of all those bolt routes. There are various starts to an obvious, clean, left-facing corner with occasional shrubbery ~60' left of

Skimbleshanks

. Beware of rubble on the ledge below last 10' step. It has pretty clean rock and bomber gear. More cleaning and it'd be a great beginner trad lead?

This is the 3rd route from the left side of the Catslab between "

Old...

" and "

Rumple Teaser

".

The route follows the left side of a black streak up the slab. The climbing is very enjoyable on this route. At the 5th/6th bolt, stick to the bolt line, don't head about 6 feet left or you will skip the best moves on the route, small crimps with small feet. I think the original line goes left to the quartz block. This variation may be 5.10b?

This is very enjoyable, like many of the routes at the Catslab. Enjoy!

Reach the anchors atop

Grizabella

(5.7 - 95 feet - Route 9 on the topo), the farthest right route on the Catslab proper. Climb up and right along a ledge clipping two bolts with longer draws before climbing up and back left across an arete. Don't panic after the second bolt, your X-ray vision or a judicious glance around the arete will turn up the easy to clip third bolt. The route finally attacks the upper roof in a corner off of sidepulls and jugs. The belayer will be able to hear but not see the climber between the third and eighth bolts. Interesting moves around the arete and roof and fortunately well protected for the not so perfect rock quality - somewhat scaly and brittle in places. Yet, all of the critical holds were solid.

Catlong is another newish, 13-, roof climb jug bash on the Cat Wall roof. Climb

Grizabella

using all the tricks to keep rope drag to a minimum (slings, back clean, skip bolts). At the anchor, continue straight on easy but slowly steepening ground to the first bolt on the extension. A sling is nice on this first bolt. From here, it is 10+ / 11- climbing on slightly terrifying choss up to the roof. At the roof, begin with a tricky sequence off a bad fingerlock to reach a good jug. Clip and enter the crux with another fingerlock and some powerful moves up to a good jug. From here, powerful moves on good crimps lead to the anchors.

Grade: it is probably hard 13a or low 13b, probably like a V5 to V6 to 12- outro.

Rope: I was able to get down from the top anchors with an 80m rope with about 15' of easy downclimbing. Use caution, and TIE A KNOT.

Beta from Mark:

rockclimberstrainingmanual.…

.

This is not my route, but Kevin put these up to take some pressure off Catslab on busy days. This was interesting/awkward for me to get into, but then I did and interesting positions continued (but that may just me). So I'd say it is the hardest of the 3.

Mr. Mistoffeles lies to the right of '

Rumple Teaser

' and left of '

Gumby Cat

'. The climbing is classic slab climbing. The bolting is very generous and the route is very enjoyable. The 5.9 moves will come at the 6th-10th bolt following the seam just right. A great route for the aspiring leader. Cheers !!

The longest line on Catslab and my personal favorite, Jellicle Cats fires up the middle in either one long pitch or in two. Start with the Gumby Cat and keep on going. 5.10 cruxes arise right off the Gumby anchor and again in three more places. The harder of the cruxes is in getting out of a thin tips-only crack, and this an airy, committing move that relies on precise foot-work. Good stone, fun moves, and a wee bit bold all add up to three stars.

This is not my route, but these 3 climbs comprise the "Overflow area" were put up by Kevin Capps to give the overflow crowd something to do, and

That's

good.

Kevin thinks this will be a good beginner lead.

MacCavity is located on the far right side of the Catslab, 2nd route from the right side of the bottom section of the slab. This is an enjoyable long pitch (120 feet) with great climbing throughout. The line goes through the right side of a little roof. (Left side of roof is

Gumby Cat

.) Climb past 8 more bolts with perhaps a move of 9+/10 climbing. A splendid line, which will be enjoyed by all.

Scramble up a ramp at the far left of the crag and begin below a very large pocket. Friction and jug haul up this well-protected route on amazing quartz crystals and finish on a comfy ledge. Drag a rope for the rappel or use a 60m rope for lowering, have your belayer tie a stopper knot to prevent you from falling past the starting ledge should your rope not reach. 14 bolts to a 2-bolt anchor, 105'.

Start on the steep slab just left of

Unknown

, 5.6. Sharp crimps lead you through the first couple clips straight into the roof and up to the overhanging arete. Fight the pump physically and mentally, DON'T bail right! Pull an exciting mantel over the lip, and finish on easy slab to the top. Right as you start to feel a little runout, there should be a piton to clip before the anchors.

Kitty's Back is a new, 13a, jug bash, roof climb... if only you didn't have to climb a 125' slab to get to it. The rock was a bit more solid, and the logistics not quite so difficult.

Climb

MacCavity

, 10a (or 5.9 according to the Mountain Project slab aficionados) to its anchor using all the tricks to keep rope drag to a minimum, back cleaning, lots of slings. From the anchor, make a hard right, and climb across 5.6 choss (passing the corner that "Top Cat" starts out of) to a ledge and a good stance. Stickclip the first bolt. A sling is nice for rope drag but adds to the risk of decking back on the ledge. Maybe some gear could be used here for protection while stickclipping the bolt. If you somehow fell, it wouldn't be good. A bolt would be pretty nice here even if you'd need to backclean it.

Alternatively you can use the first bolt on the 14a to the left to access the first bolt on this route.  Clip and go in direct on the first bolt of the 14a, then transfer the rope over to the first bolt of this route.  Lower back to the ledge and send.

After the logistics are straightened out, pull a challenging move to get established on the roof, then jug bash up creaking flakes and disintegrating footholds up to the top of the flake system. From here, the the angle lessens, the rock quality improves, and the crux hits a big move between good holds. After this, the climbing eases to the anchors.

Grade: it felt pretty low end 13a, basically a 3 bolt 12- up to a V5/6 boulder problem - probably somewhere between 12c - 13a.

Rope: I was able to get down from the top anchors with an 80m rope with about 15' of easy downclimbing. Use caution, and TIE A KNOT.

Beta from Mark:

https://rockclimberstrainingmanual.com/2017/06/27/kittys-back-in-clear-creek/

.

This is not my route, but this is the rightmost of the these 3 routes that Kevin put up to ease the lines on Catslab.

This looks like a fairly new line to the right and downhill from the start of

Grizabella

.

The start is slightly overhanging and still a bit dirty, but the holds seem fairly solid. Pull straight up the first three bolts on a combination of jugs and crimps to a good rest, clip another bolt, and pull a small bulge. After that, it's pretty easy to the anchor.

Once it cleaned up, it may be a fun little route that's different from all the slabby stuff at Catslab. It just needs more traffic. Bring a brush and help clean this thing!

(95 feet) 9 bolts to a 2-bolt anchor. Begin at the far right of the Catslab below a large dirt-covered ledge. Have fun frictioning and hauling up this well-protected route with just a couple of points of  7. Scramble from the last bolt to a large belay ledge that is covered with loose pebbles.  To descend, one can rappel with a single, standard rope angling right onto a brushy ledge. Down-climb easy terrain for 10 feet. Remember to tie stopper knots to prevent rapping off the ends.

This climb is 60 feet long and has 5 bolts to a 2-bolt anchor. Begin in front of the large tree and climb up several ledges to the 2-bolt anchor. Rig to lower or rappel. It is an easy first lead.

This is a great new climb for one of the most classic walls in the canyon. This route goes up the small, right-facing corner on the left side of the mini-roof about halfway up the wall.

This has a fun start and an average and long finish.  Turn the roof (look for a large jug up and to the left), then continue up the slab.

This route starts as a piece of cake, with easy 5.7 slab moves, but stiffens as you approach the top.  I felt the crux was at the very top of the climb, between the last bolt and the anchors.  Just follow the bolts.

To reach the base of Gus, go to the far right side of the catslab and scramble up the 3rd class corner to reach a ledge with a 2 bolt anchor. From here the climbing heads straight up an overhanging face above. The rock is not as clean as the rest of the catslab, due to lack of traffic, unlike the rest of the routes here. Don't let this discourage you. The climbing is steeper than it looks and is fairly continuous once the harder moves start. A great break from the rest of the slabby routes at the crag, great to mix it up. There may be some loose blocks on the way up the scramble so be careful for people below. Enjoy.

Start up the ramp after a short scramble on a flat dirt-covered ledge. Start just below the sloping ledge and to the right of

Skimbleshanks

. Trend right and up into the dihedral, and pull out just right of the roof. Head back left of a small bush, and continue up past four more bolts to a two-bolt anchor.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in The Catslab