Grotto Mountain
• 17 bolts • 5 pitches
Approach: Park at the rats nest cave parking area(51.0520425, -115.2559865), Follow the trail for Rat's Nest Cave to a fork on the left that leads to a powerline. Follow the powerline west down to where a trail turns right into the forest. Follow this trail and an old road until you reach the drainage below the canyon. Follow the trail to apocalypse until you reach the drainage for the third time, from here continue up the drainage to the back of the canyon. At the back of the canyon a ramp angles up and to the left. follow the ramp all the way around the corner until you find the approach pitch just right of a small gully. After climbing the approach pitch or scrambling up the gully head left and up a small step to the base of the climb. Approach pitch 5.5: 6 bolts Climb past several small ledges to an anchor to the right of a small tree. Pitch 1 5.10a: 13 bolts Climb up a small right facing corner then trend right through slabby terrain to a ledge and anchor. Pitch 2 5.10b: 9 bolts Traverse straight right from the anchor then trend right through a groove and eventually over a small roof ending at a ledge and anchor. Pitch 3 5.10a: 10 bolts Head above the anchor trending slightly to the left and up to a large ledge and anchor. Pitch 4 5.11b: 17 bolts From the ledge head up great rock starting left of the anchor and through the crux at a steep bulge ending at a small ledge just below the lip of the wall. Descent: Rap the route with a single 70 a 60 might just be long enough. To reverse the traverse on pitch three clip draws on the traverse and pull the second to the anchor. Rapping the approach pitch is highly recommended
• 4 pitches • FA: Miles Adamson and Zach Watson
Boatswain 2 (5.13c / R) climbs the huge overhang to the left of the original Boatswain roof. Three of the four pitches are steep and long, all with memorably great sections. But. the route hits a nasty band of rock at the end of pitch 2, which creates run outs on both pitch 2 and 3. Overall I think the route is fantastic, but will probably be considered an adventure route due to that. Gear 14 draws and 6 alpine draws Two 70m ropes Pitch 1 - 5.7 6 bolts, 12m The route starts directly under the extremely blank overhang, which pitch 2 stays left of. Climb to the ledge in the cave. Pitch 2 - 13c/R, A0 20 bolts, 35m Aid a very short bolt ladder to the 3rd bolt of the pitch. This section has been freed, but is a chossy V11 that no one needs to do again. From the 3rd bolt, climb a fantastic boulder problem out of the remainder of the cave, with big moves on tufa-like features. After a couple more bolts, the pitch goes left and requires 2-3 alpine draws here. After a huge rest, pumpy climbing leads to another steep crux. After this, the last 3 bolts to anchor is total choss. The rock didn't always support bolts, and is therefore quite run out. These bolts absolutely must be extended to prevent your rope from running over edges, and for rope drag. The more draws you extend on this pitch, the better. Pitch 3 - 13a/R 14 bolts, 35m From the anchor ledge, the choss continues until the first bolt of this route. The first bolt is quite far from the anchor, gained from climbing a short step of bad rock (5.😎. After, a crux boulder gains you a prow of black limestone with some fantastic exposure. Climb it until a huge ledge, but then climb another short step to the right to get to the next ledge where the anchor is. Pitch 4 - 12c 16 bolts, 35m Climb easily up to a crux revolving around a ledge-like hold. Continue up and right to a bright blue section with tufa-like runnels and big pockets. Rest up for a huge move off of pockets on the overhang to a large block. The final roof has quite a few bucket jugs and edges, making it much easier than other steep sections of the route. The anchor is on top. Descent Rappel the last pitch to the 3rd anchor. This rap is almost exactly 35m. We did this with 1 rope and left the second at pitch 3's anchor. The rappel from anchor 3 to 2 is very steep, and the anchor is really far left. You will need to clip back in to the bolts to direct yourself to the anchor, lest be left hanging in free space. The second cleans these, and needs to be pulled into the anchor ledge by their brake ropes. Prusiks are a must here. When rappelling from anchor 2 to the ground, we do not use knots in the end of the rope. The canyon is so windy here that your ropes will blow sideways so far that they will hit the blocky low-angle section of the wall to the side. With knots, our ropes got really stuck one time. Without, you can more easily free them from the blocks.
• 7 pitches • FA: Miles Adamson and Zach Watson
Approach: Park at the rats nest cave parking area, Follow the trail for Ratsnest Cave for approximately to a fork on the left that leads to a powerline. Follow the powerline west down to where a trail turns right into the forest. Follow this trail and an old road until you reach the drainage below the canyon. Follow the drainage until you reach the route near the base of a ramp angling up and to the right and find the climb front and center at the back of the canyon. Pitch 1: 11c 12bolts Climb through several slabs and bulge crux trending left to a roof and another crux and run out to the anchor. Pitch 2: 13a 12bolts Climb the massive flake to the first bolt and continue straight up through amazing rock and a shouldery crux to some tricky sequences through a corner and the anchor. Pitch 3: 12c 19bolts Climb up and right then immediately left through some cryptic climbing to a beautiful corner that leads to a difficult slab crux and a hanging belay perfect for boatswains. Pitch 4: 12b 13 bolts Traverse up and right from the anchor eventually reaching a corner where you continue right to a layback flake eventually returning bake left to the corner and a bolt where easy climbing leads to a nice ledge and an anchor. Walk along the ledge to the left to move the belay to an anchor further left before climbing the next pitch. Pitch 5: 12b 9 bolts Traverse straight left past a giant block and continue straight up through a short boulder problem that leads to a corner and mantle to the next anchor. Pitch 6: 12a 10 bolts Climb straight up from the anchor through deceivingly good holds to a small ledge and belay just below the imposing roof. Pitch 7: 14c? 16 bolts (open project) Traverse left to a steep prow and continue up to a steep hanging corner staying in the corner to reach a tufa jug then continue up and left through steep and tough climbing. Descent To rap the route you need two 70m ropes and from the top of the 5th pitch rap all the way to the top of the 3rd
Grotto Mountain Ice
• 13 pitches • 400m (1312ft) • FA: Nick Baggaley and Greg Barrett
M6+ WI3
(See note about rockfall below)
It’s located at the very back of the canyon past The Playground. It starts with two pitches of thin ice up a water-worn groove, followed by 11 pitches of generally sustained climbing in the M5/M6 range. The climbing line is on generally solid rock (by mixed standards), with the notable exception of some stretches on P4/P5. We thoroughly enjoyed the climbing - and it gets better and better the higher you get on the route. Pitch 10 in particular has a pretty unique sequence where you cut both feet to pull a roof with a couple hundreds meters of air beneath you.
The route is protected on a mix of trad gear and bolts, and all anchors are bolted. The quantity of bolts per pitch varies, but the majority of the protection is on gear. Our general rule was to place bolts when traditional protection was unavailable or of dubious integrity, similar to ‘modern mixed’ style rock routes. In some cases, we led pitches on gear and returned to place a bolt or two. Our goal was to make a sufficiently safe route that people will actually want to climb it, and maybe have a fighting chance of getting through 13 pitches in one push. As each climber may have a different standard for bolts, our bolting standard may not match precisely with everyone’s preferences but we stand by our approach on this route.
We certainly didn’t get through the 13 pitches in one push, and I’m not sure we could without some projecting. The route was established ground up (with the exception of a recon rappel day) over 14 days, making extensive use of fixed ropes and cached gear in a manner much closer to big wall climbing than alpine climbing. All of the individual pitches were freed, generally on the second go after a mix of free and aid climbing to clean rock and place needed bolts.
This route has more overhead rockfall hazard than a lot of others like it. For more info on that, and a high level description of the route and pitches, see the guidebook excerpt PDF. We’ve also attached a more verbose pitch by pitch breakdown in a second PDF.
It’s our intention to establish a dry variation on the first two pitches this fall, so that the route goes without needing the ephemeral ice. If anyone is super keen, the first two pitches probably climb fine in rock shoes, but give us a heads up so we don’t end up there at the same time.
Alcatraz
Party at the Penitentiary
Solitary Confinement
Repeat Offender
Life Sentence
Al Capone
Al Capone Scarface Link Up
Scarface
Kabukimono
The Playground
http://www.peakstratagem.com/the-playground-drytooling
The routes at The Playground are described from left to right. It can be divided into 5 areas: Upper Cave, Playground Left, Swiss Cheese Cave, Rat’s Nest Wall, Mutt Wall, and Recess Wall.
Upper Cave: This cave is located left and above The Playground proper. There is only one route here at this time.
Just The Tip D7 This route climbs vertical terrain to the right of a large cave. FA: Michelle Kadatz, Steve Kovalenko
Playground Left: The wall left of the Swiss Cheese cave has 3 longer vertical routes.
Mountaineers Route D5 This is the furthest left route at The Playground. Climb broken terrain to gain a right facing corner up to an anchor. FA: Patrick Delaney.
U Crazy Roundeye! D7- Climb slabs right of Mountaineers Route. Long reaches, mantels and slabby climbing lead to the anchor. FA: Patrick Delaney.
Trumpsters D7+ Connect corners and stein pulls up the vertical terrain left of the Single Malt seam. FA: Amanda Bischke
Swiss Cheese Cave: This large cave is the home to the steepest climbing at The Playground.
Single Malt D8- Steep blocky climbing leads to the arching crack. Step left and continue up to the anchor. FA: Eric Dumerac.
Amrut D8+ Thin and steep moves lead up the left facing corner immediately right of Single Malt. FA: James Madden
Shropshire Blue D9 Long and thin moves lead up the face inside the cave right of Amrut. FA: Erik Schnack
Swiss Cheese D9- A rib leads up out of the cave. Follow the fixed draws through the huge overhang. FA: Simon Anthamatten
Rat’s Nest Wall: The lower angled wall below Swiss Cheese is home to the original crag warm-ups.
Rat’s Nest Route D4 This route climbs the short wall immediately right of Swiss Cheese. Not recommended if there is a party on Swiss Cheese. FA: Patrick Delaney
Baptism D5+ Climb the right facing corner to the right of Rat’s Nest Route. At a roof, step left and continue up to an anchor under the roof. The original route traversed right to finish on Prowler. FA: Patrick Delaney
Prowler D6 Steep moves lead to the arête. FA: Patrick Delaney
Mutt Wall: From the Prowler arête to the Pride cave, the routes are short but steep, or finish with vertical slabs.
Mutt D6+ Short and steep, just right of the arête. FA: Patrick Delaney
Jeff D8- Start in the corner below Glenfiddich. Traverse left to cracks that lead to a perfect steinpull and the anchor. FA: Patrick Delaney
Glenfiddich D7+ Climb the overhanging right facing corner to a vertical slab with a single crack. FA: Patrick Delaney
Wild Turkey D8- Climb the overhanging right facing corner right of Glenfiddich to a vertical slab finish. FA: Patrick Delaney
Triple Sec D8+ Climb the left facing corner left of the Pride cave to a slab finish. FA: Patrick Delaney
Nothing but Pride D7 Stem in 3d out of the small cave to an overhanging reachy finish. FA: Patrick Delaney
Recess Wall: To the right of the Pride cave is a slabby wall that descends to the approach trail. There are a couple of short challenging overhangs along it.
No Prejudice D4 Climb the slab up a shallow right facing corner to gain an anchor right of Nothing but Pride. FA: Brent Peters
Dodgeball D4 Climb the slab up a shallow groove right of No Prejudice. FA: Brent Peters
Red Rover D4 Climb the shallow groove right of Dodgeball. FA: James Madden
The Monitor D5 Climb the mossy right facing corner left of the Bully roof. FA: Brent Peters
The Bully D6- Climb the slab to the roof. Traverse right across the roof and up the slab above. FA: Brent Peters
Patchouli Oil D6+ About 25m down from The Bully. Climb the left side of the overhang. FA: James Madden
Dreadlocks D6 Climb the right side of the overhang, avoiding the broken lose rock on the right. FA: James Madden