The Silver Surfer

Woah! This is another new route at Rifle. That makes, let me see ..., 3 this year! The Silver Surfer climbs the long gray streak on the left side of the Hawaiian-Two-Foot Wall (between the Skull Cave and Lower Tier). The Hawaiian Two-Foot Wall gets the bests afternoon sun exposure in Rifle in the winter (12:30 p.m. till 4 p.m.). We climbed this route in t-shirts in December.

The Silver Surfer is a sustained Rifle "slab", reminiscent of Ivory Tower but with harder cruxes (one at the start, one at the top) and more sustained. The route is still a little crisp and dusty, but the rock and position are outstanding. I'll stick my neck out (OK, it's my route!) and say that with traffic it will become a classic.

What else? Take 15 quickdraws. Ha, I told you it was long.

13 bolts plus anchors. There's two quickdraws on the anchors at the moment. I'll add a fixed lowering station soon. Beware: This route is long. Your belayer will have to scramble up a few feet for you to be able to lower on a 60 meter rope.