TR: Chimney climbing at Lumpy Ridge, Colorado
bwr...@aurum.com
Ridge, above Estes Park, Colorado. The route climbed was Organ Pipes
(5.6-5.9) to the Central Chimney (5.7-5.8+).
Enjoy,
Bill
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Splitting the Owls
Seeking shade at Lumpy Ridge
The day after our big BBQ party six of us headed to Lumpy Ridge in search of
cool (i.e. not hot) climbing. We arranged ourselves into three teams of two:
English Bob and his compatriot, Paul; Ken and Cynthia (a.k.a. Steph), and
Johnny "He's a Homie" Bobo and myself. I suggested doing Organ Pipes (3
pitches, 5.6) on the Twin Owls formation. This route ends on the Roosting
Ramp where we could follow the Central Chimney (3 pitches, 5.7+) route to the
summit. I picked these routes because they were recommended in the guidebook,
but also because they were out of the sun. No one else seemed too excited
about these choices, but relented since they didn't know the area and did
want to stay out of blazing heat.
We pulled into the small parking lot around 8 a.m. and soon headed up the
trail. And immediately took a wrong turn. Who's leading this group anyway?!
We corrected course and soon arrived at the base of the route. A route that
English Bob thought he could ski if it was snow covered. I thought it was
steeper than that, but certainly not as steep as the route looked from the
parking lot. Organ Pipes follows deep runnels on a southwest facing wall, but
a huge dihedral on the right blocked the sun and we were able to climb in the
cool shade.
I took off up the easiest line and English Bob started leading a 5.9 variation
further left. I thought the climbing was fairly challenging and a bit runout,
but fun. Mostly crack climbing with some good holds, flares, some smears,
laybacks, whatever it took to make upward progress. I finished the pitch at a
fixed rappel anchor and brought Bobo up. Ken started leading up after him.
The character of the climbing changes dramatically halfway through the second
pitch. The rock turns from gray, grainy rock to hard, smooth, brown granite
reminiscent of Yosemite. A beautiful hand crack splits the upper wall and we
estimated the difficulty at 5.8+/5.9-. This crack could easily be avoided, but
we sought it out. It provided the best climbing of the day.
This was Johnny Bobo's first experience at Lumpy Ridge and he is a relatively
new climber so I handled all the leading chores. Johnny nearly got the final
crack clean, but needs a touch more work on his jamming technique. We arrived
at the top of the Roosting Ramp well ahead of the other two teams so we
decided to climb the first pitch of West Owl Direct (5.12a s/vs) which
fortunately has a nice 5.9 first pitch. I found this pitch to be more
challenging than the ledge-y flake appeared from the comfort of the ledge.
Good rest stances eased the tension, but the moves were challenging. The
crack forms the left side of this triangle shaped flake in a huge dihedral. I
lowered off from the rappel slings and top-roped the right side, which is
rated 5.11d. I fell off the lower crux and swung to the left. I then climbed
up the left side until I was high enough to get around that section and then
swung back. I climbed from here to the top, but it definitely was a team
effort as Johnny provided a lot of the upward momentum. I had to rest on the
rope a number of times. This pitch is very technical and very continuous and
it would be an extremely serious lead. The guidebook lists it only as a
top-rope. English Bob would later give it a try and nearly flash it on TR,
only coming off 15 feet below the top.
Once Ken cleaned my gear out of the West Owl Direct crack, we headed down to
the Central Chimney, a hundred feet down the ramp. The air blowing out of
this chimney felt air-conditioned. We all crowded into the base of the route
and luxuriated in the coolness. English Bob headed up the first pitch (5.2 in
the guidebook, but more like 5.6 and unprotected) and then started up the
crux "5.7+ ooze" section. English is a very accomplished chimney climber and
when we started hearing the grunts and heavy breathing and cussing, we knew
to be afraid. Cynthia decided against climbing this route. She said she
doesn't like chimneys anyway. Ken joined Johnny and I to make a team of
three.
When Bob finished the squeeze section he set up a belay. This is actually in
the middle of the second pitch as described by the guidebook. Paul followed
and had even more trouble. I led up to the top of the first pitch and had a
great view of the struggles. "Keep the rope tight, Bob," Paul starts then
continues, "Tension. Pull!" Profanities ensue. "Keep the rope tight," he
repeats. "I've got about 200 pounds of tension in the line," responds Bob.
Eventually Paul reaches the belay exhausted and complimentary about Bob's
lead. "I never could have led that," he says. "I couldn't even top-rope it!"
Yet he isn't too exhausted since he grabs the rack and races up the next
steep pitch.
My turn. I'm no expert climber, not by a long shot, but I have done my share
of chimneys and this one reminded me of Yosemite squeeze chimneys. Some very
good chimney climbers including English Bob himself have schooled me and I
was able to move steadily up this chimney. Paul says that this is a pitch
only I could enjoy. It is true that I like the groveling, grunting nature of
such climbs. It seems to play to my strength of thrashing around without any
clear indication of any technique. Plus my ample belly comes in handy as I
can jam it in the crack to rest. I also had the enormous benefit of the
hard-earned beta obtained by Bob and Paul. The beta is to start this chimney
left side in and climb most of the way up it until you reach a fixed pin. The
key is to turn right side in when this pin is at chest height. This isn't
easy to do, but it is essential to getting out of the squeeze at the top. I
was soon at the belay, breathing heavy and a bit scraped up, but none the
worse for wear. This is a very tight chimney and makes heavy use of the needs
via "frogging" and knee bars.
Johnny was next and moved easily up to the base of the squeeze. Now the
huffing and puffing started in earnest. I've been there before. It seems like
I'm always breathing like a freight train whenever I finish a pitch led by
Dr. Offwidth or Eric Winkleman. At times I was in such oxygen debt that it
was fully five minutes before I could talk. Hence, I took great joy in
heckling Johnny.
Though relatively inexperienced, Johnny has already made significant advances
in climbing technique. He's already recognized as the undisputed master of
the ass-lock. He's taken the standard butt-bar and elevated to an art form
similar to what Randy Leavitt did to offwidth technique when he refined hand
stacks into Leavittation. John's must impressive maneuver is the admittedly
poser shot of getting a bomber ass-lock on the underside of a horizontal roof
and then dangling all four limbs. Of course, it is particularly embarrassing
if he suddenly loses his sphincter seal.
Back in our squeeze chimney, Johnny is ass-locking and butt-barring his way
up the slot. He actually did quite well for his first squeeze chimney
experience. Johnny came off a couple of times, but didn't weight the rope for
long and consequently didn't get much rest and subsequently couldn't talk
when he arrived at the belay. I told him not to try and clipped him in. Ken
was halfway up the pitch before Johnny could say anything. His first words:
"That wasn't so bad."
Ken is a very experienced climber and formerly a 5.11 leader. He has climbed
numerous routes in Yosemite and I expected him to make short work of this
chimney. His mistake was ignoring the advice to switch sides. Actually he
tried to switch and didn't think he could do it so he persevered with the
left side in. After many minutes of extremely strenuous but ultimately futile
effort, he collapsed on the rope and switched sides. Once that was done he
was soon at the belay.
Since Ken was still recovering from the chimney I took advantage of the
opportunity and led the next pitch. This is a very steep, aesthetic pitch,
albeit a bit grainy. I rained particles down on my companions as I chimneyed
(back-feet), stemmed, and jammed up to and under a chockstone to a belay.
Here there are two ancient bolts protruding from the wall. I placed a couple
of cams instead. Johnny and Ken quickly followed. Ken then led the variation
5.8 finish up a crack on the left wall. At the top of the wall he looked down
and said, "There isn't a 5.8 move on that pitch." It did seem to be much
easier than the "5.7+" chimney below.
We summitted and descended the "Bowels of the Owls" which is an intimidating
chimney in itself. This downclimb is rated 4th class, but seems like lower
5th class. I scrambled down first since I had done it a couple of times
before. Waiting at the bottom, I hear Ken call out, "If you fell from here,
you could hurt yourself." Then, later, "Bill, this sucks." He carefully
completed the descent. Where was Johnny? "Oh, he's trying to get the perfect
coil on his rope," said Ken. After three attempts at coiling, Johnny is
satisfied and joins us. We complete the descent and traverse back to the
Roosting Ramp. English Bob and Paul have left on their long drive back to
Utah, but Cynthia is waiting for us in the last bit of remaining shade and we
hike back to the car together.
I'd recommend the Central Chimney route, but I like chimneys. The climb is
steep, challenging, and shaded. Plus you'll find out how hard 5.7 can be.
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