Mt Graham - Part II

The day after our first adventure on Mt. Graham we went to another area that Joe had previously scouted. It was a decent sized rock that was visible from the road, not nearly as large as Faraway Faces but easier to get to. Joe calls it Roadhouse Rock because "I thought it would be bigger." As you may have guessed, that's a spin-off of a quote from the movie Roadhouse. Joe had spotted a few potential routes that looked like they would be worth climbing. I was glad to have the opportunity to be a part of the adventure.

The approach started out on a well traveled trail and then branched to a trail that had significantly less traffic. It took about 1 hour to get to the point where we had to leave the trail. From there it was about a 30 minute bushwack across and down very steep terrain to get to the rock.

Joe at branch in trail

Brian at branch in trail

The trail becomes faint

Roadhouse rock turned out to be good, solid granite and looked to be a little higher than what could be rappelled with a single rope. Fortunately, we had two 60 meter twin ropes so we were equipped to handle it. The largest portion of the rock faces North to Northwest. There are four or five lines that looked like they would be fun to climb.

Joe points out Roadhouse Rock

We picked a line that looked compelling and got down to the business of climbing it. We usually ro-sham-bo (rock-paper-scissors) to determine who gets to climb first but Joe gave me the honors this time.

First route on Roadhouse Rock

One minor inconvenience was that there were small black ants all over the place at the base of the rock. We had to be very careful where we stood because they would be crawling all over you if you stood in the wrong place for very long.

I started up the rock, following what appeared to be the most logical line. This particular line didn't have a major crack system low on the rock, so protection was sparse. I stopped to place the first piece of pro in a small flake. As soon as I put my fingers in the crack ants came swarming out. I didn't think too much of it at the time. I put a small cam in the crack and continued up. When my feet came in line with the first piece of pro I stopped to place another piece. Again ants came pouring out of the crack. The ants down by my feet soon found my ankles and a few of them decided they'd like a taste. I brushed off as many as I could and continued up the climb. Fortunately, these ants were not fire ants and their bite didn't really hurt. It was annoying though. Maybe that's a good name for this line..."Pain don't hurt." That's another famous quote from Roadhouse.

Each time I put my fingers in a crack ants would come pouring out. This made placing pro a little tricky. It had to be done rather quickly or get bitten by the ants. So far I had managed to keep them occupied with my extremities and away from my core, where it could get really uncomfortable.

The crux or most difficult part of the climb was moving from a left facing corner to a crack on the face. Above this was a small roof. It was tricky to protect this part of the climb and the feet were very thin. I really wanted some good pro at this point because a fall here would not be pleasant. This is where the ants got the best of me. It took awhile to place a piece that I felt good about and I really couldn't do much about the ants. I just had to grin and bear it while they were biting me. It could have been worse. Ants are preferable to bees any day. I finally got a piece in that I was satisfied with and moved through the crux. From there a nice hand sized crack led to the top of the rock.

The top of the rock was pretty narrow and there wasn't much to build an anchor with up there. However, there was a good sized ledge about 6 feet below. I built an anchor from the ledge and made ready to belay Joe up the route. I noticed that there were ants on the ledge too. Where's the Raid when you need it! I did my best to pick the spot with the fewest ants and called down to Joe "belay on."

Anchor

Belay ledge

Joe followed the route, cleaning the gear as he went. We enjoyed the summit for a few minutes but dark clouds had moved in and a few rain drops began to fall. The top of this rock is pretty exposed so it would be a bad place to be with lightning in the vicinity. We moved quickly to rappel down the route. We needed both of our twin 60 meter ropes to reach the ground. I would guess that the route is about 150 feet tall.

Joe following

I was pretty excited about the climb. This was a first for me, my first ground-up first ascent! It wasn't a difficult climb at all, maybe 5.8 or so, but it was mentally engaging. It's one thing to do a climb that has been done before, where the difficulty has been established. You know if it's within your ability and you usually know whether it is safe or not. It sure does feel different heading up a climb where you don't know how hard it is or if there is adequate protection. It gives one a great deal of respect for the old timers who put up many of the big routes in Yosemite, the desert towers, etc.

The rain began and came down pretty hard for awhile. We took cover under some trees and waited. This rain thing was getting old! After about 30 minutes the rain stopped. The sky was still dark and we weren't sure what it was going to do but at least we weren't taking on any more water. We stepped out from our shelter and began to examine some of the other route possibilities. My favorite was a steep finger crack about 10 feet tall that exited onto a slab.

Joe points out route possibilities

Steep finger crack

After 30 minutes with no rain the rock felt dry enough for us to continue our project. We had to leave the gear used for the anchor at the top of the rock in our haste to beat the rain. Our intention was to put in a fixed anchor (bolts). The route could also use a couple of bolts to protect areas where no other pro was available. We had a few bolts, a hand drill and a hammer with us so I climbed back up the route to place a few bolts where pro was sparse.

I'm new at this bolting thing and it took me quite a while to get the hang of it. I still can't say that I have the hang of it. Granite is hard stuff! It took me about 30 minutes to drill and place the first bolt and about 20 minutes for the second. What made it even more interesting was the ants. They were crawling around my feet and ankles and up my pant legs as I was hand drilling. I'd drill for a few minutes until the ants started to bite. Then I'd let go of the drill and hammer to brush the ants off my ankles. I had to maintain my balance during all of this because I was lead climbing the route. It was comical. I can see why some of the old school bottom-up routes had generous spacing between bolts. It's a lot of work! You're not going to place a bolt unless you really need it. I placed the second bolt and it started to rain again. I reluctantly lowered off and we packed up to leave.

Two bolts on the route

What a great day it had been! I was pretty excited to have the opportunity to put up a new route from the ground up. There is still some work to be done on the route; it might take one more bolt and the anchors still need to be placed. However, I feel pretty good about how it went. I'm interested to see how difficult the route feels with the bolts added. They'll take the edge off somewhat, I imagine.

We'll be back for more development at this crag. I learned a lot from this experience and look forward to another adventure here.

Stay tuned for the next adventure...a trip to Squamish, B.C.