Rainbow Mountain, East Face, 5.8-5.11b

Growler- 60'-5.9+/ This route is located on the lower level of this east face area.  As you hike up the gully between the red band rock break, make your way to the left side and the first wall that hits the ground.  This is a right facing corner hand crack that widens to a fixed anchor above.  Not an exciting or special route other than used as a warm up before tackling some of the finer off-width cracks further above.  Single to #4 or #5.  Fixed rap.    Photo attached.  Route not listed in any guide as of 2020. Dow

Tickled Pink- 70’-5.11b/ This is the softest 5.11 route you will ever encounter out west.  Whether Handren got the grade wrong in his guide or the FAer's were having a bad day, I cannot say.  But this is mostly a hand sized corner, steep and sustained yes, but definitely a 5.10 climb vs 5.11.  Takes extra C4#1's down low and widens near the top.  From an approach perspective, this route should be combined with Beelzebub, 5.11b, which is an obvious off-width splitter just meters to the right on the same ledge.  The approach for these two involves some 5th class with a final 5.8 short corner that lands you right at the base of Tickled Pink on a comfortable belay ledge.  From the Growler located on the lower wall (lower and too the left of Da Boneyard), scramble up and right accessing a brush filled gully that angles up and left.  Scramble 5th class on the left side to avoid much of the brush.  Then aim for the left side of the next obstacle ascending a 5th class stem chimney.  Then move right and climb the 5.8 short corner.  Many would prefer to put on climbing shoes for this last part of the approach.  Tickled Pink is the obvious right facing corner above and therefore shades itself fairly well.  Single to #4 with three or four #1's.  Fixed rap.  There is a fixed rap line from the ledge bypassing that 5.8 corner section, as of 2020. Dow

Beelzebub- 60'-5.11b/ To the right of Tickled Pink with the same ledge access.  This is a near perfect C4#6 off-width splitter than can easily be identified on approach up the slope to the left of Wise Guys.  Triple #6's minimum with minimal opportunity for other sized pro.  Cruxy off the deck and rather sustained from that point forward.  The climbing is made up of heal-toe, stacked hands and feet, thigh and knee jams.  The singular crux, if there is one, would be an inversion or thigh jam out of a pod in the first third of the pitch.  From there it is a true splitter.  Fixed rap.  Route not listed in any guide as of 2020. Dow

Wise Guys Off Size- 150’-5.10c/

La Muerte- 250’-5.10/

Little Brown- 60’-5.8/

Da Boneyard- 220’-5.10b*/This is an outstanding off width climb, the best of its class in all of Red Rock and I have climbed them all. This is one of Handren’s routes and usually his gear calls are overdone (in this case, triple 5” to 12”). But I racked a Valley Giant, triple 6’s and triple 5’s and was glad to have them. I also placed a pair each of #3’s and #4’s. The crux is the top roof pull you can see from below, approximately ¾’ers of the way up the pitch. But there are several cruxes. It would depend on your skill set which one challenged you the most. I can say arm bars and chicken wings were almost non-existent. There were a few knee jams higher up and the roof pull was not the most physical of the moves. The wider portions down low was where the huffing and puffing was going on. Like any good, long off-width, switching from wall to wall was essential, making sure to plan your next several meters in advance. You get rests when you need them. It truly is 200’ of full on beast mode. Someone is working a project (or abandoned it) on the arête to the right. They have placed a mid-station there that allowed me to lead the route, clean it and rap off of that station with a single 70m. I did have to do a few swings to retrieve my gear. If you have a 2nd who can climb it, obviously bring them up. There is one bolt on the route, but it is old (2017) and not needed. The station is in great shape (rap rings) as of 2017. A must do for off width aficionados, get on it! The name is appropriate as there is a skeleton of a ring-tail cat at the base. Dow

Rockingstone Groove- 110’-5.9+/ I have no idea why Handren gives Da Boneyard a star (it deserves it!) but not Rockingstone? For the grade it is pretty damn good although there is more than 3 grades that separate these two routes (Da Boneyard is stiffer than most other 5.10 off widths at Red Rock whilst Rockingstone was quite mellow in comparison). Handren also has this pitch at 130’ but it is easily top roped with a 70m rope and I think a 60m might do it as well. I personally did not use any large gear on it myself, but you can place a C4#5 if you want to haul it up. This is not pure off-width in that you are constantly climbing twin cracks (corner plus a face crack out right) therefore tons of stemming and the like. Maybe a few heel toes and arm bars, but quite a few hand jams as well. I would not bring the kitchen sink just for this one. Another good anchor as of 2017 but it is nylon. Dow

Enter Sandman, 5.11-, 6 Pitches/ This route is labeled by the Faer’s on MP.com as 5.10+ but the same contributor gave the crux pitch a 5.11- rating?  It is all subjective, but the crux pitch will be stout and physical for any competent 5.10 climber.  They also call it a seven-pitch route whereas it is really just a six-pitch route.  They called their scramble option a pitch but most climbing at this grade will be comfortable unroped through this section.  The route itself involves, you guessed it, a lot of sand, brush, dirt, loose rock, paper thin rock, etc.  What it lacks in quality of rock it almost makes up for in terms of diverse climbing.  The first pitch is essentially still part of the approach that is required to reach the base of the massive right facing corner.  Once you scramble up and right and bushwhack back left, you land a ledge by a slung tree that is your final rap.  Above is a lower angled weakness that climbs through brush and dirt to a short flaring steep yellow colored chimney.  The Faer’s considered this flaring crack 5.10aR, but I led it with a RP and bomber smaller off set cam and feel it is maybe PG, but not R.  Once through this short corner, you land the base of the major left facing corner system you will become quite intimate with for the next five pitches.  The 2^nd pitch is the crux of the route via easy runout chimneying to reach an awkward, steep to overhanging and sustained off-width at the grade.  The FAers gear call when I climbed the route was for a single to #6, doubles to #4.  It perplexed me in that they called the previous pitch runout, but not this one being led with a single #6.  Also, if you really required  doubles to #4 for any of the reminder of the climb, you will most certainly desire a #7 or #8 to safely get through the crux of the route, the beforementioned off-width on the 2^nd pitch.  The third pitch of the route requires a headlamp as you burrow deep into the abyss of the chimney within the massive corner.  The rock is perilous for the next several pitches of chimneying and tunneling, but no more difficult than 5.9.  These 3^rd-4^th pitches eventually spit you back out on a small ledge in the main corner.  The last two pitches make for better climbing than the previous two.  Climb a fun stem box while placing plenty of smaller gear (5.10) to another ledge.  From there, finish the massive corner via a short wide corner section and proceed up and left to a large ledge below, by Red Rock standards, a pretty damn good tight hands splitter.  The Faer’s were shocked to be rewarded by this finish and had no idea it was there.  A true #.75 to #1 splitter to the top of the wall and the first of four full double 60m rope raps.  Dow