I was just thinking how delighted I would be to climb 1000+ feet of 5.3 in a day. I know I am lame because I would even be interested in something like this. I accept that. No need to comment on it. Any ideas for this? that doesn't involve flying outside of the boundaries of the US and doesn't involved two days of approach?

I was thinking the CMC Route on Mount Moran would probably approximate it.

Any other ideas?

You should be able to find something on the Flatirons or RMNP.

One example in the park:

http://www.mountainproject.com/v/colorado/alpine_rock/rmnp__rock/105760698

Some stuff in the Sierra's, maybe Bear Creek Spire ? I'd need to check the Kroft guide to jog my memory. Perhaps others with more experience in the Sierra's have some suggestions.

Tim S

East Face of Teewinot, Owen Spaulding route on the Grand (one well-protected 5.4 move) are a couple. Though the CMC Route is a great choice, because the bivy setting is awesome, the approach way cool (via canoe), the sheer size of Moran is awe-inspiring, and the crowds are low. Heading back to Moran (and other Tetons objectives) myself in July if all goes well!

Bugaboos
West Ridge of Pigeon Spire

Perhaps the ultimate Dillquest: the long friction routes of the Flatirons above Boulder. Perhaps the most renowned (and longest) of these is the East Face of the Third Flatiron, but some of the shorter, less traveled ones like Seal Rock are great, too.

No Question hands down super easy super long rock routes in the 5.2 -5.6 range = High Sierra

(some of the 5.5 and 5.6 climbs only have 1 or 2 pitches of climbing at that grade and the rest all 5.4 and under, and besides its alpine 5.6 which is like what? 5.1??? )

Of course you might know the details if I were to return your High Sierra guide book sitting on my s"h"elf…

You really think he wants it after it's been sitting there for so long...? ewww...!

So, I greatly appreciate the specific route ideas. That's what I'm really looking for.

I haven't done that route myself, but it sounds like mostly scrambling with a short bit of technical climbing. This would be one to do because one wants to climb Long's, more than because one wants 1000 feet of 5.3. The fact that it's preceded by a fairly long hike in might also take it out of the running. I think the standard route of the First Flatiron is definitely a good route for the "1000 ft of 5.3" purpose, although the 1st pitch is generally called 5.6, more for the lack of gear than the difficulty of the climbing. The 3rd Flatiron is closed so many months of the year, I actually haven't got on it yet (closed Feb through Aug). The other thing going for the Flatirons is that they're near lots of other "harder" climbing that doesn't necessarily require a huge walk-in to get to it, or on the flip side, lots of cool backcountry (but still easy) routes that do require big hikes.

Also, I think 1000 ft of 5.3 is a perfectly noble goal. It's nice to climb when you can just go without worrying about scaring yourself to death, and can enjoy the scenery!

-Carissa

Bear Creek Spire:
http://www.supertopo.com/rockclimbing/route.html?r=hibeneri

North East Gully:
http://www.supertopo.com/rockclimbing/route.html?r=hilanegu

Southeast Buttress:
http://www.supertopo.com/rockclimbing/route.html?r=tucasout

West Ridge
http://www.supertopo.com/rockclimbing/route.html?r=tucowest

Northwest Buttress
http://www.supertopo.com/rockclimbing/route.html?r=tutenort

North Ridge
http://www.supertopo.com/rockclimbing/route.html?r=tuconort

Again don’t count out the climbs in the 5.5-5.6 range as most have a few moves or short sections of 5.6 with all the rest 5.0-5.4 ish

You can borrow my supertopo guide if you want and get your High Sierra Guide back..

Nothing lame about the question. It makes perfect sense, and you have lots of good suggestions here. Have fun!

In Salt Lake, Mt Olympus is nice.

West Slabs

Geurt's Ridge

Otherwise, hard to beat the Flatirons above Boulder. I've been able to do up to 4000' of 5.5 and under slab in a day there.

An adventurous option would be the San Rafael Reef out in the desert.

Thousand Feet of Fun

1000 feet of 5.3 climbing is my idea of fun -- a couple of climbs i've always wanted to do in the sierras are the east face of whitney and the north ridge of lone pine peak. not exactly 5.3, but close.

I have no route suggestions for ya but pick me if you want a partner! I'd love to do a 1,000 ft of 5.3 unless, of course, you still don't want to climb with me...

You wouldn't want me to violate my only rule of climbing, now, would you?

You still have a 1000 ft of 5.2 to do with me before you head out west or anywhere else for your elusive 5.3!

What's up with that?

Don't get all up in a hizzy Coriander. I'm shooting my vacation wad in June when I go to Peru. And on top of that, when I get back, I'm going to get two dental implants which is going to put me on the injured (and poor) list for a while.

Dill is not Coriander!

Tastes all the same to me...

Smike, you either have a highly underdeveloped sense of taste... which would explain why you drink the nasty left-over beer sometimes

Or... You don't know what coriander is...

More concerning- do Molly and Mary know that Smike knows how you taste?

ummm...I only know what coriander umm cilantro tastes like out of all that thank you.

I would say the exum ridge on the grand. Much more sustained technical climbing than the owen spaulding; a lot of scrambling mixed with roped pitches. It's 5.4, but a gunks climber would probably call it 5.3. Big crowds (guided parties, etc.) but not much rockfall danger til the descent.

The east face of teewinot is close to as much fun as I've ever had in a day, but it's all scrambling. Haven't done the CMC yet but look forward to it as a great adventure (canoe portage might be the crux ...)

I'd second the Exum Ridge reccomendation, but it's a VERY long hike in. I've done it twice now and swore to myself I wouldn't do it again unless I was gonna stay for a few days and do a couple other climbs as well.

Also, the 3rd Flat Iron is phenomenal. I've probably done it more than 8 times in the last 2 years, and I'm going to do it again tomorrow morning with 2 beginners. Excellent climbing, terrific scenery, and easy access. If you are going to come out here and do that, then you may as well also do the 1st flat iron (a lot longer and a little harder) and maybe something up in the Park too.

If anyone wants to come out and do the 3rd (or first or whatever) feel free to contact me for beta and/or a place to stay.

Another fun thing about the 3rd Flat Iron is that you can do it at night if there is a big moon out. I haven't done that yet, but I'm hoping to do it this week if my plan comes together.

The 2nd flat is nice outing as well - can be anywhere from 4th class to easy 5th and is a nice 'free solo'.

Nice way to spend a couple hours. Gonna be out there in August!!!

The hike into the Grand is about 7 miles uphill. Its long but not too bad, and can easily be done in a day (two years ago I did 4 routesin 4 days but I had to be back before dinner on each of the days. They are long days but no big deal).

It's only 7 miles or so, but to the top of the lower saddle (still below the first pitches of the upper exum or owen spalding) it's 5000 vertical feet, over half of which you gain in the last couple of miles, and much of which is on rocks ... everything from scree to boulders.

Anyone can do it, but unless you're really well trained for this kind of thing the approach by itself is a big day.

And for me, the crux of anything on the grand is the descent. A thousand feet of downclimbing the O.S. route, followed by 6000 vertical feet of hiking and scrambling, much of it pounding down those rocks ...

I'll back up the approaches to anything in the Tetons, and especially the Grand, are big and can be huge.

What he said. Don't think of the Tetons as an alpine rock climbing area. Instead, any climbing in the Tetons means basically a huge ass hike and/or backpack/bivi with some climbing thrown in during the middle portion. IOW, the Tetons is mountaineering, not rock climbing.If you want alpine rock climbing, go to RMNP.

the first thing i did when getting to the lower saddle was to throw up.

I guess it depends on the definitions you use, but for me the tetons are alpine rock climbing in the purest sense ... big mountains with a mix of hiking scrambling, snow, ice, great rock, and bad rock.

And there are routes with a much higher climb/grovel ratio than the easy routes on the grand--the durrance ridge and the s.w. ridge on symmetry, baxters pinnacle, the guides wall, etc. etc.

That's precisely my point: mountaineering with the objective of a summit (the Tetons) as opposed to a much higher climbing to bullshit ratio in an alpine environment (RMNP). One is not necessarily better than the other, it's more a matter of understanding expectations. Overall, you get more pure rock climbing for a given amount of effort in places like RMNP or the Sierra than in the Tetons.

I guess I'm comparing to other alpine climbing areas in the world ... Patagonia, Alaska, Canada, the Alps ...

With the exception of the parts of the alps where routes start at the base of the Telepherique, most of the great alpine ranges have longer approaches and much worse climbing to bullshit ratios than the tetons. RMNP is closer to cragging in an mountain setting in comparison! So I wouldn't use it as an example of the 'real' alpine climbing.

Despite appearances to the contrary, I pretty much agree with you - it's just that I would call it mountaineering (as in Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills) rather than alpine rock climbing, since all those areas do involve so much more than just rock climbing. My main point was that someone going to the Tetons expecting alpine cragging ('cause so many folks on net discussion fora rave about the rock climbing in the Tetons) without consideration of the mountaineering aspects will likely be disappointed.

I've definitely experienced that before ... going to the tetons with someone who loves rock climbing but not so much the mountains. Baffles them why anyone would spend so much time and energy and scraped skin to get to 8 pitches of rock "that isn't even as nice as Eldo."

People in the tetons specifically into alpine cragging, if anyone calls it that, head for Death Canyon. The approach is under an hour, all on trail, and there are no pretentious summits to contend with. I've never climbed there, because the classic routes are over my head. but the quality is supposed to be superb.

Just did the standard route on the 3rd Flatiron in Boulder yesterday. What a blast! We had a great time, easy climbing the whole way, 1000+ feet, 8 pitches. Despite hearing about run-out slab climbing, we found lots of gear placements between the giant eye-bolts, and any run-outs weren't scary because the climbing was so easy. The hardest part of the day was just the uphill slog to the climb (I think it was about 2 miles) on a really hot day. Once we were on the climb, it was breezy and eventually shady, so the heat wasn't as bad as I feared. Definitely worth it, and tons of fun.

Jannette

If you have time, go hit the 5th flatiron. I like it better than the 3rd because its a bit more out of the way, and the climbing is just as good though a touch harder and more runout.

Well, now I sort of regret the decision I made to fly into denver, drive up to wyoming, shoot prairie dogs for two days, drive back to denver and fly back instead of tacking on an extra day to climb the third flatiron. Well, next year.

You didn't really travel all the way to Wyoming just to shoot some prairie dogs, did you?

You could have done that well within sight of the 3rd flat iron.

And what exactly is the point of shooting prairie dogs? Can you eat them or something?

I haven't yet, but I will in September. If you have to ask what the point is, you will never understand...

Prairie dogs??!!? For god's sake go do something useful with your time and take out the evil marmots that lurk at the popular bivi sites on Longs, below Spearhead, etc. Prairie dogs are just confused rodents (and kinda cute!) - marmots are the hell-spawn of satan.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=_hZgbbIERNY

Our ranch does not come with a banjo player or a boys choir, sadly, although it boasts plenty of prairie dogs to shoot!

I did the Third Flatiron when I was in high school and barely knew how to climb. It's been done in roller skates. Fun, but more like 1000' of fourth class.

i believe the 3rd has been done on a mountain bike.
and strat, you had every opportunity to book your flight out later and climb the 3rd with mr iphone, you chose not to take it.

Yes, I did, but the notion of managing the luggage on this trip didn't excite me. I will have two long range rifles and a shotgun. I don't want to have to carry a helmet, harness, shoes, etc as well. Nonetheless, I have a mild amount of regret.

I like the ones with the spring action. Is this a result of how you hit them, or the size of the slug that gets tossed into them that causes this?

It's mostly the amount of energy in the projectile that determines that. So, in these videos it is mostly range-to-target. The one that really sprang was only 40 yards away. But, it also matters what part of the body you hit.

The banjo is only mildly annoying, but the f_cking idiotic boys cheering squad makes me think they should have been substituted for the prairie dogs.

I can loan you all that stuff except for the shoes (unless you wear size 8). You could easily do it in the AM on your way down to the Denver Airport. Seriously, I'd be happy to do it.