TR: Scenic Cruise in Black Canyon
bwr...@aurum.com
Hi Climbers,
It has been a long time since I've posted a trip report to this newsgroup. I
sort of been out of touch, but I hope to read/post regularly again. This is a
rather long trip report on our (George Bell and I) climb in the Black Canyon.
This trip report can also be read at this amateur web-site:
http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Rapids/6383/Cruise.htm
That site also includes a topo of how we saw the route.
This is my first attempt to post a trip report using DejaNews (my only news
access these days), so we'll see what happens. I think it breaks it up into
smaller sections. I copied this straight out of Word so there isn't an extra
line between paragraphs. Sorry for the ugly appearance. I'll format future
reports better.
Comments are always welcome.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- Anything But A Cruise 15 hours in the Black Canyon
The Black Canyon of the Gunnison is the steepest canyon in the world. Over
2000 feet deep and only 1600 feet across at one point. It is also home to
Colorado's longest climbs. With a reputation for serious, scary, runout,
loose climbs, it doesn't attract hordes of climbers. The ubiquitous Layton
Kor was an early pioneer of routes here in the 1960's and put up perhaps his
best Black Canyon route in 1964 on the sheer face of North Chasm View Wall.
Kor compared the route with the Steck-Salathe on Sentinel Rock, an undisputed
Yosemite classic. In 1976 Earl Wiggins and Jimmy Dunn did the first free
ascent and renamed the route "The Cruise." The route went clean at 5.10+, but
involved 300 feet of fist and offwidth climbing. Ed Webster and Joe Kaelin
found the variation around this thuggish section in 1979 and called it "The
Scenic Cruise." This would become the most highly sought route in the Black
Canyon. Years later the irrepressible Derek Hersey would solo this route and
two others in under 7 hours. The Scenic Cruise had been on my hit list for a
long time. It had everything: length, cracks, face, adventure, tremendous
position, and, best of all for me, it was a Kor route. On my first trip to
the Black Canyon I went with Lord Slime and, having already climbed the
Scenic Cruise, had his sights set on Journey Home. Journey Home was rated 10c
and only 7 pitches long, but it took us quite awhile and was all I could
handle. This experience gave me second thoughts about handling the 15 pitch,
5.10d Scenic Cruise, but at least I knew where it was and how to reach it if
I ever got good enough and brave enough. My next trip to the Black Canyon was
with the indomitable Loobster. We had our sights set on smaller fish: the
Leisure Route. I wasn't ready to tackle the Scenic Cruise and I knew it. As
it happened snow fell that night and we didn't even venture down into the
forbidding ditch. We headed for home feeling actually more relieved than
disappointed. Then last Fall Wayne "Turkey Tet" Trzyna asked me to go climb
the Scenic Cruise with him. I really wanted this route and almost foolishly
agreed. I was way out of shape and the fall days were just too short. Instead
we did the Directissima on Chasm View Wall (no physical relation or close
geographical relation to North Chasm View Wall in the Black Canyon) on Longs
Peak. This mere 5 pitch, 5.10c beat me up badly and Wayne had to literally
drag me up it. I couldn't believe I had even contemplated doing the Scenic
Cruise. Thankfully I wasn't too stupid. But my troubles on this route proved
to be the motivation I needed. I vowed to be ready for the Scenic Cruise the
following spring. My regular climbing partner, the Trashman, and I joined the
Boulder Rock gym and trained two mornings a week throughout the winter. In
the early spring we took trips to Utah and Red Rocks to hone our skills on
cracks. We felt we were ready and made plans to attempt the Scenic Cruise on
Saturday, May 30th. I met the Trashman after work on Friday at the Morrison
Park-n-Ride and he drove us to the Canyon. This drive is one of the most
scenic in Colorado. We went west on I-70 to Glenwood Springs and then south
to Carbondale and over McClure Pass to Paonia, Hotchkiss and Crawford. After
a dinner stop we arrived at the rim around 11 p.m. Register for a campsite,
rack and pack for the morning, throw down the bags and get some sleep. I set
the alarm for 4:48 a.m. and we were up and hiking by 5:10 a.m. The descent
went smoothly and, as of this writing two days later, I still show no signs
of contact with poison ivy. The Cruise gully is very steep and even requires
a couple of rappels. We were delighted to find a fixed rope at the first
rappel and quickly zipped down the line. Shortly afterwards we had to uncoil
our own ropes for the second rappel. We got to the base of the Cruise at 6:15
a.m. to find another party on the first pitch. Rob, a friend of Trashman, was
leading and Monica was belaying. We figured that anyone doing this route in a
day would be better than us since we considered our skills to be the minimum
possible to do this route in a day. This turned out to be incredibly
prophetic. We noticed a fix rope hanging off the wall and two bivy sacks and
a bunch of gear on the flat, bivy rock near the base. We asked Rob and Monica
if that was their gear. "No," they responded. "We don't know where those guys
are." Soon after that the bivy bag started moving! There were two guys
inside. These guys had descended the Cruise Gully the previous day. They had
planned on climbing up the bivy ledge at the top of pitch 8 or 9. Apparently
they had so much trouble that they backed off to try again the next day. But
they let two parties jump in front of them. Curious. Watching these guys take
two hours to jug their fixed line, we knew they were in way over their heads.
I wonder if they were part of the new breed of sport climber that has no
problem with 5.11 in the gym, but doesn’t understand how a very long,
traditional route differs. Well, they were learning. I just hope they didn't
get into too much trouble. I kept expecting to see them start the slog back
up the gully, but never did. We were in hurry to get going. We thought we'd
have the gumbies trying to jug their lines to get ahead of us and we didn't
want to fall too far behind Rob and Monica since Monica had done the Cruise
before and would know the right way to go on the upper pitches. Because of
this I only had time to eat a single Poptart and drink some water before
starting up. Not exactly a high energy breakfast. The Trashman did a great
job finding the easy way up the first pitch. He started just left of the
large dihedral with a single 5.9 move before the climbing eased off to 5.7.
Monica and Rob did the very difficult direct start in the dihedral because
they didn't know any better. Trashy ran out all the rope to a crappy
semi-hanging belay in a flared dihedral. I did a poor job of securing the
mini-haulbag and halfway up the pitch one of the water bottles falls out of
the bag. It crashes to the ground and breaks open. Damn! We are down to less
than 3 liters of water with 14 pitches to go. I'm following with my freshly
re-soled Aces and find them to be a bit hard and slippery. It had me doubting
my footwork. I led the second pitch up to a good stance. This pitch is mostly
easy with a bit of 5.8 right off the belay. Trash leads the third pitch which
has the first bit of 5.10 and diverts us from the Cruise onto the Scenic
Cruise. The 4th pitch is solid 5.10 (probably 10a/b) and has me huffing and
puffing up to a small stance with a fixed belay only half a rope length
above. Rob and Monica are at a hanging belay another half rope length up and
I see no reason to climb up into that mess. The fifth pitch is significantly
harder with continuous 5.9+/5.10 climbing up the finger/hand crack. Trashman
wants to belay where Rob and Monica did, but I cajole him to continue further
up. I want to make sure we are high enough to do the tricky traverse back to
the Cruise. He balks, but then continues with a little bit of aid. I ask what
the trouble is and he responds, "Oh, I'm just tired." Following this pitch I
can see why. It is very hard and I reach the belay tired. The next pitch is
the infamous traverse pitch which is rated either 5.10- or 5.10+ depending
upon which guidebook you look at. I continued up the crack system until I
could reach around, blindly, to the left and clip a sling hanging
from…something. I felt around a little more and could get my left hand in a
crack around the corner, but it was a very tight hand jam and I had nothing
for either foot or my right hand. I should have attempted this move, but I
was a little afraid. I had no idea what the sling was attached to, but I
grabbed it and swung around the corner. From here I climbed down and further
left on a steep slab/ramp. Now I had to climb up and left on a rounded,
leaning edge. Liebacking seemed to be the only option, but protection was
psychological at best and the edge was extremely rounded and the wall
vertical. I could see a good hold a few moves up, but wasn't sure I could
make it. I fooled around for a long time trying to place gear in the seam and
trying to psyche myself up to do it. I had cut my cuticle and it was bleeding
quite a bit. This only concerned me because it made my hands more slippery.
Since I don't climb with chalk I had trouble getting my fingers dry with the
constantly bleeding coming from my finger. Eventually I had three camming
units in - all with only two cams touching. I wouldn't have stood on any of
these to aid, yet I placed them to protect a lead fall. Afraid, I finally
cranked the moves quickly, and slapped up the arete in a series of desperate
moves to safety and a belay. The Trashman followed quickly and easily, making
my desperate clutching seem foolish and fearful. The crux pitch was next and,
while it looked hard, it also looked doable. The Trashman surveyed it briefly
before saying, "You did so well on that last pitch, Bill, that I'm going to
let you have this one also." I have enough ego in me to want to be the "go to
guy", but on a climb this hard I can't always be that guy. Of course, up to
this point I had barely been doing my share of the work. This was my one
chance and I quickly accepted. As we re-racked I could already feel the
fatigue settling into my body. I realized that I hadn't eaten anything but a
Poptart all day. I was starting to feel weak. We agreed that after this pitch
we'd stop at the next ledge to rest and eat. I traversed ten feet left to the
corner that held the discontinuous crack and face holds that marked the crux.
I had to climb up another ten feet of 5.9 before I could place my first
piece. I noticed that this wall tilted just past vertical with no good rests.
A couple of pieces higher, I took my first of many hangs on the rope. The
climbing was very difficult and sustained and I didn't have the endurance to
lead it clean. I hung about five or six times before reaching the belay. Half
way up the crux pitch there is a short traverse right that is awkward and
gains a small stance. Above rises a hand crack in an obtuse corner. This
looked relatively easy from the belay, but proved to be quite challenging. I
hope this section is 5.10 also, because I had to hang again, but fear it is
only 5.9. I finally pulled onto the small belay stance completely drained. I
was at the base of a 5.8 offwidth crack and thought I could see a better
ledge twenty feet up. After regaining some composure I attempted to climb
further up to belay, but without a single piece that would fit the crack (I
had already placed our largest piece - a #3.5 Camalot), I backed off. In my
state I had to have that piece of protection. I set up a belay and the
Trashman came up. Once again the Trashman looked considerably stronger and
more composed than I did. He grabbed the gear and made short work of the 5.8
offwidth. Following this would be a considerable struggle for me. I was
frequently out of breath and felt weak. The Trashman ran out about half the
rope to a very good, flat ledge. When I joined him my throat was extremely
dry and I was quite weak. I slumped onto the ledge and removed my painful
shoes. It was a little before 2 p.m. and we took a 45 minute rest on this
ledge. My spirits and strength continually rose with the onslaught of food,
Gatorade, and rest. I downed a PowerBar and a couple of packets of Goo. We
talked about how Earl Wiggins did the second free ascent of the Cruise as an
unroped solo in an hour and a half. At this point in the climb that was a
mind blowing thought. We agreed that Wiggins wasn't just ten times better
than us, but 3,000 times better than us because, we reasoned, we've have to
be 3,000 times better to free solo this route. We had already done eight
pitches - five of them 5.10. This was a considerable climb in its own right,
but we were just over halfway to the rim. Thankfully, we didn't expect any
more 5.10. We were wrong. After some deliberation I started up the right most
crack off the ledge. The climbing here was hard and continuous and we agreed
it was more 5.9 than 5.8. Halfway up I had to pass a bothersome bush which
completely fills the crack. Above the bush the climbing got easier and I
tended to the left and finally, inobviously around a corner to a good ledge
just as I ran out the last bit of rope. The Trashman, having followed
quickly, led above the ledge on what appeared to be an easy pitch. But
nothing is easy on this route. Even this pitch had its trouble spots. The
first was a very awkward traverse to the left which almost involved falling
sideways. Next was a tight chimney section behind a monstrous flake. And
finally a difficult lieback/jam move off the top of the flake. We were now at
the first of three consecutive 5.9 pitches (or so we thought) which marked
the end of the hard climbing. The first involved a scary 5.7 traverse with
massive exposure. I inched across this section in a uncomfortable squat as I
tried to place gear under an overlap. The climbing wasn't hard, but the
squatting was. Once across this section I had to angle up and right past
three ancient quarter inch bolts. The first had a solid hanger on it and a
delicate 5.9 move to get past it. The next bolt protruded a half inch from
the rock and the hanger spun. The third bolt didn't have a hanger at all. No
nut either. Just a smooth shaft of steel protruding from the face. The crux
moves is protected by this dubious piece and is quite technical, albeit short
lived. Above this the climbing is relatively easy but runout. The next pitch
is tough. Right off the belay is an overhanging flare that you need to climb
into. The footwork is blind and the footholds are poor. The hand and finger
jams are buried deep in the flare and it is just a thuggish move. I consider
it the hardest single move on the climb. Trashman does a nice job on this and
then works his way up to a ledge where our topo says is a possible belay, but
that you should continue on up the poorly protected 5.9 face. The Trashman
pauses here and doesn't like the looks of things. He thinks it is 30 feet
before he can get gear. Soon I hear him call down off belay. "Why are you
stopping?" I ask. He wants me to come take a look at it. Translation: "You
come lead this one, Bill." I wasn't sure I was tough enough. I needed the
Trashman to take this one. I prodded him once again and he responded. He
cruised up the face and worked hard to get decent protection while doing
difficult moves. It was maybe his best lead on the climb. Pitch 13 was next.
Unlucky 13. The topo says to go straight up, which is what I did and saw
clear signs of previous passage (read: chalk), but the climbing got harder
and harder until I had to slump on a piece for rest. The next move proved too
much for me in my weakened state. I placed two pieces for aid and moved onto
a shelf. I thought I could see a good ledge 20 feet up and moved towards it.
Halfway there my rope became jammed in the crack below. I didn't want to
descend because there was no way to do it safe. I had only a single RP near
me. Would I want to untie from the lead rope and lower off that single RP? No
way! I could remain tied into the lead rope and just unclip it from gear as I
got lowered, but that would be risking a fall also. Plus I didn't want to re-
climb the section I had just led. It was too hard. The climbing to the ledge
didn't look that hard. I tugged hard on the lead rope and was able to pull up
another ten feet - enough to get me to the ledge and a good belay stance. I
found a piton here - more evidence that this direct finish had been done
before. But this pitch wasn't 5.9. I hauled the bag up and then dropped the
haul line back down so that I could belay the Trashman up on it. He followed
quickly and did the aid section so fast that I asked if he had freed it. "Are
you crazy?" He said. "I didn't even try. It looked ridiculously hard." At
this point speed was our highest priority and the Trashman was doing whatever
he felt was fastest. We were racing the sun to the rim. The winner got to
spend a night on flat ground. We had little more than an hour left until
darkness. The good news was that the rim looked very close. The Trashman
soared up the vertical corner above me and out of sight. He was on easy
ground. Following I thought this pitch was solid 5.8 - at least in turning
the lip at the top of the dihedral. This involved a powerful move on good
holds. Above this I was chagrined to find that we still weren't on top. One
last band barred the way. Thankfully this was only 5.6 and we were soon
slapping tired, thirsty high fives. It was just before 8 p.m. The route had
taken us almost 15 hours rim to rim. On the way home we were listening to
some horrible Prince song that I recorded in my unenlightened past when
Trashy corrected me: "This isn't a Prince song. It is a 'The Artist Formerly
Known As Prince' song." "He just calls himself 'The Artist' now", I said.
"Hmmm," mused the Trashman. "Then we can refer to him as 'The Artist',
formerly known as 'The Artist Formerly Known as Prince', formerly known as an
unpronounceable symbol known to nobody, formerly known as 'Prince'." To which
I replied, "And we can refer to you as the 'Formerly Thought to be Sane
Trashman.' "
-----== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==-----
http://www.dejanews.com/ Now offering spam-free web-based newsreading