Post date: Sep 20, 2009 2:51:42 AM
Spring 2002- My partner and I followed a gut call for adventure and went for a LONG day of uncertain climbing. We went in to Red Dome, my first time to the base of the formation and one of many trips for him. We descended the 4th class route, including two rappels, pretty quickly. From the base of the mountain we had a line sighted, not typical for a low altitude low grade granite climb because it traversed the mountain most of the way. Almost every pitch traversed left 30 to 100 feet, partly to follow the lines that emerged, partly just to stay on 5th class terrain and not get on top of the dome. And our traversing route ended up being a full day of climbing- 9 pitches of 5.5-5.6 climbing, although there were some sketchy protection placements and belay stations. This is a route for building trad climbing skills well below your climbing ability and dealing with anchors, belay stations, routefinding, swapping leads and efficiency in climbing, etc. The climbing is not technically hard, but all the other skills ARE difficult.
Bum Wrap first ascent Spring 2002 Bob and Tim.