FFA of Europa 5.8
FFA of Europa 5.8
Today we, Saar Moisa and Vince Beyer, made an on sight FFA of Europa (5.
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We stuck to Jeff's topo and description of Europa, to the letter, with the exception of the bolt ladder part of pitch 6.
Description:
From the bolted anchor, stem wildly to a knob on the left, past dike features and a cedar to the base of a chimney. More stemming leads to an old piton on the right wall, clip it and traverse right, past the arete to the top of the bolt ladder to rejoin the route (5..
We really enjoyed Europa, thanks for all the hard work Jeff & co, but either of us would recommend this climb to a person who would not be comfortable climbing The Ultimate Everything, despite the lower grade. We would definitely recommend it to a party that is interested in climbing similar grades of alpine rock. Both of us broke holds off the climb (luckily without falling or serious consequence) and thought it might not be obvious, to a novice at the grade, which features not to use for protection.
Get out there and enjoy it!
.We stuck to Jeff's topo and description of Europa, to the letter, with the exception of the bolt ladder part of pitch 6.
Description:
From the bolted anchor, stem wildly to a knob on the left, past dike features and a cedar to the base of a chimney. More stemming leads to an old piton on the right wall, clip it and traverse right, past the arete to the top of the bolt ladder to rejoin the route (5.
.We really enjoyed Europa, thanks for all the hard work Jeff & co, but either of us would recommend this climb to a person who would not be comfortable climbing The Ultimate Everything, despite the lower grade. We would definitely recommend it to a party that is interested in climbing similar grades of alpine rock. Both of us broke holds off the climb (luckily without falling or serious consequence) and thought it might not be obvious, to a novice at the grade, which features not to use for protection.
Get out there and enjoy it!
Re: FFA of Europa 5.8
Just trying to work out what you mean here... I take it that neither of you would recommend it to such a climber? Because to me Ultimate Everything is a sandbag for beginners as well...Rockitman wrote: We really enjoyed Europa, thanks for all the hard work Jeff & co, but either of us would recommend this climb to a person who would not be comfortable climbing The Ultimate Everything, despite the lower grade.
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Jeff Mottershead
- Casual Observer
- Posts: 16
- Joined: Sun May 20, 2007 4:36 pm
I'd definitely agree with Vince's statement that despite the climbing being easy, evaluating the soundness of the rock requires a little more experience. I expect that within a year or two of regular ascents that the crumbly holds will be gone and that chalk and wear on the rock will make it easier to see where other people put their pro.
In short, I wouldn't tell someone who can just climb 5.8 to go out and give leading it a shot now, but I expect that in a year or two it will be more appropriate for a somewhat novice leader. I don't think it will even be the ideal route to cut your teeth on multi-pitch climbing with, but it could and will be the first climb the exits off the Backside trail for a lot of people.
I'm happy to see that there is a free line now. I tried for quite a while to find a route that didn't involve putting in a bolt ladder and failed. I took a look at the line Vince and Saar took and thought it would be way too hard, which is a little embarrassing. I'll take being embarrassed to have a free line, though.
I'll give it a shot next time I'm up there. If it's not significantly harder than the rest of the line, I'll pull the ladder. If it is a fair bit stiffer, then the ladder stays.
By the way, I climbed it today and saw two parties going up below us. It's great to see that kind of traffic on the route already.
In short, I wouldn't tell someone who can just climb 5.8 to go out and give leading it a shot now, but I expect that in a year or two it will be more appropriate for a somewhat novice leader. I don't think it will even be the ideal route to cut your teeth on multi-pitch climbing with, but it could and will be the first climb the exits off the Backside trail for a lot of people.
I'm happy to see that there is a free line now. I tried for quite a while to find a route that didn't involve putting in a bolt ladder and failed. I took a look at the line Vince and Saar took and thought it would be way too hard, which is a little embarrassing. I'll take being embarrassed to have a free line, though.
I'll give it a shot next time I'm up there. If it's not significantly harder than the rest of the line, I'll pull the ladder. If it is a fair bit stiffer, then the ladder stays.
By the way, I climbed it today and saw two parties going up below us. It's great to see that kind of traffic on the route already.
I just want to echo Saar's comment about enjoying the route. Definitely an adventure feel on every pitch. I really enjoyed the final 5.6 chimney pitch (despite the high choss factor). It's obvious that a lot of work was put into this pitch and of course the others to make it climbable. Thanks to Jeff and his crew for putting up this route.
Pitch 6 could also probably go free by climbing the dyke and making what looks like a tricky move to get into the bottom of the main crack of the upper half of the pitch. That variation seemed like it would be harder than the rest of the route. This is what captured Saar's attention as he was contemplating the pitch. It looks like Jeff may have had this in mind since there is a lonely bolt above the dyke to where you would climb up to the crack. The only problem is that the dyke was quite filthy, and Saar understandably did not feel like cleaning on lead unprotected the ~8M to get to this first bolt on an unknown grade. Instead, he decided to check out the chimney to the left. This was also filthy, but was protectable.
Just one last comment, both Saar and I considered the crux of the route to be the finger crack on pitch 3. The moves and the gear placement are tricky in this section. Being the weaker climber of the 2 of us, I'm not sure if I would call this section 'easy climbing', definitely a full value Squamish-style 5.7!
Pitch 6 could also probably go free by climbing the dyke and making what looks like a tricky move to get into the bottom of the main crack of the upper half of the pitch. That variation seemed like it would be harder than the rest of the route. This is what captured Saar's attention as he was contemplating the pitch. It looks like Jeff may have had this in mind since there is a lonely bolt above the dyke to where you would climb up to the crack. The only problem is that the dyke was quite filthy, and Saar understandably did not feel like cleaning on lead unprotected the ~8M to get to this first bolt on an unknown grade. Instead, he decided to check out the chimney to the left. This was also filthy, but was protectable.
Just one last comment, both Saar and I considered the crux of the route to be the finger crack on pitch 3. The moves and the gear placement are tricky in this section. Being the weaker climber of the 2 of us, I'm not sure if I would call this section 'easy climbing', definitely a full value Squamish-style 5.7!
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Jeff Mottershead
- Casual Observer
- Posts: 16
- Joined: Sun May 20, 2007 4:36 pm
I reread Saar's and Vince's posts and now know where they went. The chimney they went up is part of the original Crap Crags line. For the Crap Crags experience, follow that chimney all the way to the top. Scott Webster and I did it a couple years ago and found it pretty sketchy as you'd need bros to protect the chimney. That's why we cleaned out the pitch 6 crack.
And yes, I did try to do the face climbing directly up to the crack. A much easier way to get to the bolt is to climb up the step on the right, a couple meters above the belay stance, and then reach over to the left, where there is a very generous ledge. From there it's easy to get to the bolt. Past the bolt, it gets trickier. I fell on that bolt a number of times before backing off. It's up for grabs. I wouldn't have objections if someone did put in another bolt, though. It wouldn't be my place to have objections anyways, as it's not like I climbed it.
As for the location of the crux, I found the start of pitch 2 to be the crux. That's probably because I'm too fat to be liebacking. I could see different climbers thinking that the crux was either on 2, 3 or 6.
It feels really good to see people on the route and to get positive feedback from people. Thanks. When we did it yesterday (April 27) there were two parties behind us, which was great to see.
And yes, I did try to do the face climbing directly up to the crack. A much easier way to get to the bolt is to climb up the step on the right, a couple meters above the belay stance, and then reach over to the left, where there is a very generous ledge. From there it's easy to get to the bolt. Past the bolt, it gets trickier. I fell on that bolt a number of times before backing off. It's up for grabs. I wouldn't have objections if someone did put in another bolt, though. It wouldn't be my place to have objections anyways, as it's not like I climbed it.
As for the location of the crux, I found the start of pitch 2 to be the crux. That's probably because I'm too fat to be liebacking. I could see different climbers thinking that the crux was either on 2, 3 or 6.
It feels really good to see people on the route and to get positive feedback from people. Thanks. When we did it yesterday (April 27) there were two parties behind us, which was great to see.
The falcon closure doesn't start the same time each year. It starts when they notice them nesting and post a notice.
From the BC parks website: "There are no route closures at this time."
They also post at the Chief parking lot.
The notices in the outhouses saying that the closure is in effect are inaccurate, they have been there for a year.
I'm not sure what the exact height of the closure is, but Europa has a rap line starting from the top of the 4th pitch intended to allow climbing to that point during the closure.
From the BC parks website: "There are no route closures at this time."
They also post at the Chief parking lot.
The notices in the outhouses saying that the closure is in effect are inaccurate, they have been there for a year.
I'm not sure what the exact height of the closure is, but Europa has a rap line starting from the top of the 4th pitch intended to allow climbing to that point during the closure.
No.Jeff Mottershead wrote: I expect that within a year or two of regular ascents that the crumbly holds will be gone .
Much like the North and South Gullies, Europa follows a shear zone. This means that the granite has been stressed during formation, resulting in the formation of significant weaknesses in the very crystal structure of the minerals forming the granite.
What this means in practical terms is that cleaning of loose holds will NEVER result in a solid route on this particular line. You could dig a tunnel all the way into the chief and the granite along the shear zone would still be crumbly when exposed, hundreds of feet into the rock.
In short, this climb will remain loose forever.
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