Carnage 5.13d - Second Ascent

By: Urs Moosmuller

I started working Carnage back in November. The route was one of the few lines that caught my attention and the only route that I have spent more than 10 tries on. I remember starting the project and feeling the excitement of figuring out the moves and starting a long term project for the first time. The first weekend I started piecing sections together and started dialing moves down. I broke it down in to three sections: 5.11+ to a big flake on the arete, an 11 move v10 on micro crimps that all seemed to face the wrong way, and a 12+ bulge to the top. Both the first and third sections went really quickly, but the middle section was still a puzzle. The second weekend on it I started to hit a wall. All the moves had gone free except for one move where my left foot kept popping off over and over again when ever I weighted the hold. It seemed like the move was impossible. The next few weekends were spent trying the moves over and over again. Each time finding some little detail that got me closer to sending. Beta was reassessed and by weekend six it seemed like I was so close to sending. Though I kept falling off. Everything had to be perfect. The crux holds on this route are so tiny that the only reason you can hang on is, because the sharp texture of the holds creates just enough friction to hold on. This created a whole new problem. Each weekend I could only put in three tries before my tips would start cutting open and bleed. The seventh weekend came and I started to doubt if Carnage would ever go. I had been falling off the same move for so many weekends now that I needed to take a break from Shelf and focus on other routes. I started on a new project in Clear Creek Canyon and left for my Red Rocks trip. This trip gave me a month break from the redundant falling on Carnage and I came back with a new perspective. I came back to Shelf Road this last weekend set on sending. I knew it was all mental now and I just needed to push through the pain and succeed. The first attempt of the weekend I fell again on the same move. Frustrated, I pulled up and did the move statically with no problem. I quickly lowered off and went for it again and for some reason couldn’t do it again. Hanging there I realized setting up into the move was the reason why I kept missing the hold. I quickly memorized the best way to transition into the crux holds and lowered off. At the base, I realized that 5 of my finger tips were shredded pink with white blistered parts starting to form. The next hour was focused on resting and deciding whether I should get on some other routes or wait until the next day when my tips would be some what better. In the end I decided to wait until the next day. 

The next morning things looked grim. My whole body was soar and my tips were extremely painful. Hiking in I decided to warm-up and see if I was able to climb at all. Both warm-ups went ok and lowering off it looked as If I would waste my time trying Carnage again. After an hour of hanging out at the base I decided to give it another go. I had convinced myself that I had spent way to much time on this route and I needed to send it now. I started the climb grimacing at every hold until I reached the base of the crux sequence. I shook out and went for it. The first five moves where extremely painful, but by the time I reached the crux my adrenaline had kicked in and my tips were numb. I set up perfectly and stuck the crux. When I reached the horizontal right before the 12+ section I was relieved it finally had gone! I focused on the last hard bulge and found myself clipping the chains finally. My first long term project has been completed and the second ascent of one of Shelf Road’s hardest routes.

Homeward Bound

By: Urs Moosmuller

After spending a few days in Reno, I departed early saturday morning for the long and lonely drive to Las Vegas, NV. The drive down to Vegas is barren. Rolling hills, empty valleys, and sagebrush cover almost all the state. For seven an a half hours you drive through an inhabitable desert. At any point during the drive you can fall asleep for 3 hrs and wake up to the same scenery as when you fell asleep. When you start getting close to Vegas you can start to see the glow of civilization illuminate the skyline. Before you realize it you enter one of the craziest cities in the U.S. 

I arrived in the campsite late that night and found over 40 people had showed up from the alpine club. Everyone had smiles on their faces and the energy was very high for climbing the next day. I met up with my good friend Emma that night and decided to climb Prince of Darkness 5.10c the next day. 

This route is one of the most popular multi pitch outings, because it is a sport climb for seven pitches on one of the most spectacular walls in Red Rocks. Hiking into Black Velvet Canyon is always a treat. You start off at your car in the middle of a barren desert with the massive sandstone walls looming over you. After hiking over little hills you drop into a drainage full of water, boulders, and if your lucky frogs! As you hike through this drainage you enter the mouth of the canyon and suddenly you are surrounded my massive thousand foot walls on both sides. The farther in you hike the bushes become very dense and you feel like your in a forest. The bushes open up after a while and you see the massive wall where Prince of Darkness ascends. 1,000 ft of climbing through black patina edges and water marks with very few natural weaknesses. Starting up the climb it seems as if the whole wall is absent of holds or features. After a quick 5.7 approach pitch you start up the endless face climbing and edging of one of the hardest pitches on the route. Its only 10b, but by the end your calfs are screaming from the technical less than vertical climbing. The next 10a pitch is another exciting pitch with some questionable small flakes and a fun short crack section. At the top of this pitch the weather turned for the worst and winds started picking up. 40 mph gusts quickly hit us and temperatures dropped. Two five nine pitches later I was starting to shiver uncontrollably. The wind seemed to get worse and worse. By the time we hit the top of the wall I was starting to turn pail and ghost like. Waiting for the other two people in our group was one of the coldest and longest moments of my life. Luckily we had one of the best views and a nice ledge to hang out on. Finally the descent started and quickly the hanging belays we experienced coming up turned out to be quite the inconvenience. Four people crammed on a hanging belay for four rappels was a nightmare and on the last pitch somehow our rope blew into the cracks on Dream of Wild Turkeys and got stuck. After trying to whip the rope out of the crack for about fifteen minutes, a party rapping off of Dream of Wild Turkeys helped us out and unstuck the ropes. The last rappel to the ground was a relieve and at the base we ate lunch and warmed up. The route had been quite an adventure and for our first day in Red Rocks it was a good awakening to how serious some of the easy multi pitches can be. 

The next day we slept in and woke up to the warmth of the sun. We headed to Calico hills to enjoy the low committing sport routes and the all day sun exposure. Driving through Calico Hills we decided to explore The Stratocraster area were we did one of my favorite single pitch routes. Running Man 11d. 

The day ended and back at camp plans for the next day began. I grabbed my good friend and climbing partner Keith Earley and we committed to climbing The Cloud Tower.

 Attached is a video that Keith put together and edited of our ascent. http://vimeo.com/40703937 After completing the Cloud Tower we decided to start our long drive back to Boulder. We broke the drive down into several days and stopped in a few of the most popular climbing areas in Utah and Colorado. The first day we stopped in St. George and checked out The Cathedral and Wailing Wall. Second day was spent bouldering in Joes Valley and on the last two days we climbed in Rifle. The trip was a lot of fun and I am excited to head back to Red Rocks soon.