SUMMARY HAIKU
A terrible climb
What the FORGET ABOUT IT!
Did I say this sucks?
A terrible climb
What the FORGET ABOUT IT!
Did I say this sucks?
Silicone Sag
Climb: Silicone Sag (Trad) (5.7)(1 pitches - 30') Wall: Gentleman's Club Pro: Toprope Beginner Lead? Nobody should lead this...much less climb it... Conclusion WTF? What the FORGET ABOUT IT! OMG, this is the first time on this tour where I feel like we completely wasted our time. We've been on some shitty climbs, but Silicone Sag has nearly zero redeeming value. I mean it's a climb, so I'll give it 0.25 of a point credit for that fact (since I do love climbing...) Silicone Sag is located on the cliff band called The Gentleman's Club. Thank goodness you can't actually find it on Mountain Project. The cliff is listed in Handren under Mt. Wilson, although you access from the First Creek parking. The Gentleman's Club is part of the very soft deep orange-red colored Chinle sandstone band that emerges below the main Aztec sandstone that we know and love about Red Rock climbing. Some people refer to this type of rock as hardened mud and that's not too far off base. Silicone Sag is listed as a toprope climb. Although there may be some protection, I wouldn't bother leading it - much less climbing it at all. |
We decided to try to set up the climb from the top, rather than climbing one of the adjacent climbs to locate the top. Although, frustratingly, we screwed up on our first location for the anchor, we did get it the second time. In retrospect, despite the annoying time wasted, I'm glad we did it this way because frankly, I would not want to top out on the adjacent climbs on lead with a belayer below. It's really dangerous and unprotectable - with huge loose boulders, lots of small and medium sized loose rock, at an unappealing angle.
So, we set up the top rope, one person rapelled down and the other belayed from above, then we switched so that we both would experience this ultra classic piece of crap. Fist sized rocks fell down during each climb, and one cooler-sized boulder hangs on precariously at the top. I tried hard to stop my mind from thinking about being lodged beneath that boulder should it give during the climb. The climb itself is rated a 5.7, but it's considerably easier than that. But that's ok - if it's any harder you might no be able to make it up because any additional effort might crumble the rock beneath your fingers and feet. The entire challenge of the climb was finding where to place a foot or hand where the rock wouldn't disintigrate beneath it. Thank goodness it's only 30 feet. Usually that short of a climb is highly disappointing, but in this circumstance we were grateful. Are you excited yet? Chomping at the bit to climb Silicone Sag? Now, by the time we were done, the wind had picked up, clouds worked their way in, and the temperature was dropping, so with that and the stellar climbing experience we just had, we decided not to do any of the other climbs on Gentleman's Club. So, I honestly can't comment if the other climbs are slightly better. Perhaps they are. Perhaps we missed the cream of the crop. I don't know. I, for one, have absolutely zero interest in climbing at Gentleman's Club ever again. |
Climb Stats to Date
DATE OF CLIMB: 12/12/20
WALLS HIT: 1 NUMBER OF 5.7 CLIMBS HERE: 1 NUMBER OF 5.7 PITCHES COMPLETED: 1 NUMBER OF FALLS: 0 NUMBER OF TAKES: 0 VERTICAL 5.7 FEET CLIMBED TODAY: 30 DIRTY UNDERWEAR ENCOUNTERED TODAY: 0 |
TOTAL 5.7 CLIMBS SO FAR: 155
TOTAL PITCHES SO FAR: 203 TOTAL 5.7 VERTICAL FEET ON THE TOUR SO FAR: 17,995 NUMBER OF CLIMBS REMAINING (out of 237): 87 VERTICAL FEET REMAINING: 32,752 DIRTY UNDERWEAR ENCOUNTERED TO DATE: 5 |
TAKES ON LEAD SO FAR:
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FALLS SO FAR:
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