Despite a reputation for soft grades and comfortable climbing, more often than not, the routes in Red Rock can bit a little heady, and sometimes downright bold. Of course, the previous sentence is not referring to Urioste clip-ups (many of which I really enjoy). Some of the original Yosemite "stone masters" such as Richard Harrison, Paul Van Betten and Sal Mamusia (aka the Adventure Punks) put up some unequivocally bold routes in the canyon. Among them (though certainly not the zenith) is
Adventure Punks 5.10d X? R? PG13? 5 pitches. Jared and I reunited for some proverbial slam-dancing on the highly underrated, Adventure Punks.
About 20 ft off the deck on Adventure Punks two thoughts occurred to me: First, "I'm 20 ft up, pulling a 5.9 move and think I might fall and break my ankles," Second, "even if I make this move I haven't placed a cam in almost a year." The route gets most of its fearful status from the X/R/PG-13 rated start of the first pitch. The climbing is actually a lot easier after that... but not that easy. Every pitch has intricate gear placements and delicate climbing for the grade. Jared and I agreed that the 10a/b rated fourth pitch seemed headier and more difficult than the guidebook crux fifth pitch off-width. In its current state, the fifth pitch has two new bolts placed long after the first ascent. Without these bolts some extra wide-gear might be required, but with a little trickery (pushing the big cams along as you climb) it shouldn't affect the way the pitch climbs or protects. Regardless, this fifth pitch must have been the climbing equivalent of a banzai charge before the advent of wide cams. Plan accordingly and embrace technology!
Approach: ~1 hour. Walk past the Mescalito and follow cairns up and left toward Adventure Punks.
Rack: Offset Stoppers, Single Set Cams to #6 (extra #5 and #6 if bolts chopped), Offset Cams in tips/fingers (optional but nice). 2 ropes to rappel. We heard that a single 80 m rope would work for raps but cannot confirm.
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Jared following the first pitch. He is roughly where the
first decent protection is found... a long way from the haul bag. |
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| Stellar climbing on the third pitch... |
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Heady climbing on the fourth pitch. The route climbs left through
the steep head wall on a flaring crack with thin face climbing above... |
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| Jared leading out on the second pitch... |
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| View down the third pitch... |
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| Another view of the third pitch... |
