Cypress new climbs.

[rolfr]

Cypress Falls New Routes

Tombstone Tower.

Take exit #4 off Hwy. 1,turn right, follow Woodgreen Drive to top. Park at Cypress Trails Park. Follow main trail past black metal gate , turn right 100 meters past gate, go east towards river. At top of river bank, head uphill for 100 meters. Just before black Fence look for trail on right. About 7 minutes from car. Fixed 4th class hand line to base of crag.

Knuckle Head.

At base of Tombstone, boulder hop, North, through creek to base of Knuckle Head. 200- 300 meters. Alternately, from Cypress Trails Park, follow main trail to gravel road. Right on gravel road to wooden bridge, immediately after bridge follow trail on right to top of Knuckle Head. 14 minutes from car. Rap chains behind tree on top of crag.

This a mixed climbing area that needs a small rack to 3”. There are only two all sport routes, but most of the harder mixed routes have bolts at crux.

Topos and map to follow. Take a minute to walk uphill from main trail at top of Tomb Stone to the viewpoint and see why it's called Knuckle Head.

[Brendan]

Here’s the topos:

[rolfr]

Amendment: Undertaker is **, Tombstone and Gravedigger are 12A. Star quality indicated for all other routes on topo.

[Mike Teschke]

Tombstone has a third bolt up at the top to to avoid placing a big #3 or #4 high up behind the masive flake/boulder. Both Tombstone and Grave Digger have bolt protected cruxes, I'd guess that the crux climbing on both routes is in V4 boulder problem difficulty range. The climbing is deceptively sustained 5.10 crack climbing before and after the cruxes of both routes. I found a single rack from small TCU sizes to #3 Camalot to be ideal. Enjoy!

[Mike Teschke]

Edit:

Tombstone has a third bolt up at the top to to avoid placing a big #3 or #4 high up behind the masive flake/boulder. Both Tombstone and Grave Digger have bolt protected cruxes, I'd guess that the crux climbing on both routes is in V3 boulder problem difficulty range. The climbing is deceptively sustained 5.10 crack climbing before and after the cruxes of both routes. I found a single rack from small TCU sizes to #3 Camalot to be ideal (#4 if you're shorter than 6ft). Enjoy!

After re-climbing and a second opinion, I'd maybe downgrade both these routes to 5.11+

I wanted to add the Cougar crag route details to this thread so that all routes can be found in one thread:
Cougar Crag
Routes Left to Right:

S.O.S (Spicy Old Spinster) 5.11d
On the Prowl 24/7 5.12b
Flake 5.11b
Double Shot No Foam Soy Latte 5.11d/12A (red tape)
Jealous Husband 5.12a/b sustained
Pool Boy 5.11a sustained sustained
Awkward Proposition 5.10c
Cougarlicious 5.10b roof
Another Project 5.11+

Everything is dry and the canyon stays cool and refreshing on hot days. Check it out!

[AndyC]

Thanks to Rolf and Mike.


http://www.supertopo.com/tr/Tombstone-S ... 1164n.html

[timelessbeing]

Does anybody know the length of the climbs? Which anchors are accessible from above?

[Mike Teschke]

The length of the routes at knucklehead and tombstone are about 20m. You can get a toprope pretty easily on most (if not all) routes. But you would need to lower in 5-10 feet off a tree to get to some of the anchors.

[timelessbeing]

Awesome. Thanks.

[timelessbeing]

I just got back and ... WOW! That was the most fun I've had while climbing in a looong time. The mid-air rappel into the picturesque canyon, surrounding old-growth trees (200yr old behemoths), varied climbing on jungle-gym-like rocks, carved out pools of crystal clear still water ... everything. I highly recommend this place. And it's nice and cool even when the sun is scorching to boot. The directions made it easy to find. (the "exclusion of liability" signs everywhere are funny). The area has a little bit of grit and loose rock, but it did not take away from the climbing at all.

We climbed Headstone, Undertaker (the one you rap to get into the canyon) and Popeye. Undertaker was sustained, and I broke a sweat, but it was my favourite due of the variety of moves employed. The two stars are well deserved ... I would go as far as to give it 3.

Things got a bit interesting when my newbie partner had trouble finishing a climb, and also left some gear behind, all while darkness was falling. Good thing I remembered to bring my headlamp. We walked out from the top of Knucklehead and along the access road... no problems at all.

Some beta for the newcomers:
- The area is a canyon with sheer sides. Unless you want to walk around the long way, you gotta climb to get out. Possibly on lead. Give yourself ample time.
- The roar of the creek makes it very difficult for the belayer to hear the climber, but you do have line-of-sight. Agree on some hand signals before you set out.

Thanks for this gem, rolf. I will definitely be going back there with some friends.

[timelessbeing]

* SPOILER ALERT *

Tombstone Tower

(The cave part is super fun)

Here is rolf's photo of knucklehead


Here are a couple of mine...



(that's quite a big tree just perched on the edge)

[Axilla]

Awesome pictures. "Knucklehead" looks like he'd put you in a world of hurt if you looked at him the wrong way.

[Uncle Rico]

The closed project listed on Cypress Creek topo as "Double Shot No Foam Soy Latte", is now free (with Rolf's permission) and 5.12a (FFA: me). It's another excellent route on the Cougar crag, which seems to be a small crag stacked with quality, gently overhanging sport routes. As is the theme there, I hope to get back and fix in-situ draws on this route but for now it requires that you place your own. It's my thought that this crag would be most excellent when FULLY fixed with draws, since most of the climbs are fixed anyways, might as well make the entire crag fixed What a great spot for a quick pump! I might add that we climbed there recently while it was raining all across the North Shore. This crag, stayed dry.

Wheater

[Dru]

Might be worthwhile making sure those permadraws meet sea-cliff standards. The wet season gets pretty wet there even if the water is not salty.

[jonny2vests]

Good work guys. Will check this out soon.