Lost Soul

Within the divine belly of The Gully of Biblical Porportions is a playground, which God blessed us with and - with his odd sense of humor - might actually give us a chance to go meet him/her in person if we slip off this crag into the ferns below.

After carfully making your way around a corner, one will happen upon a bold, black streak and come to a personal crossroads, which, of course, takes place within each and every one of us.

Go big...or go home. That is the quintessential dogma that is represented within the Land of the Five Twelves. It's virtures have become sanctified tenants in which climbers define their lives by. At some point within one's climbing career, one ponders the question, "How hard to I wanna go...and thus, how far do I wanna fall?"

To climb rocks is to truely wander, and if you are a climber who loves the idea of being able to wander off into 5.ll sport climbing territory without the threat of damnation, then this lavish, yet middling route is calling your name.

It starts on a slab, yet it starts on a crack. How high can you climb the crack? How how many footsteps of elevation must you achieve before you traverse? How many crimps must one endure before a bucket hold and a nice, comfy place to stand and shake out your twitching arms?

All these questions - and more regarding all things existential - await you at this 5.10c crack climb that becomes a 5.11 face climb should you choose to accept the will of the road less traveled. Go ahead, test your faith. Test yourself and see if you are at a point in your life where you could potentially go into territory that you have never yet experienced. Is the secret to life within the potential ride...or should you keep to the moves that stay within the bounds of your reason? Risk it all, or not at all...finding a righteous path to the anchors is possible and well within your reach...even if you get lost along the way.

The bottom line is we are all lost souls, we feel conflicted about many of our decisions within life and that is why were are human. We know not perfection yet within our conscious psyche, which we might call a soul, we feel something that suggests to us that we are granted a chance to achieve it. How you get there is up to you.

Get on this route! It is awesome and awe inspring! Spearfish Canyon does not have an over- abundance of "Choose Your Own Adventure climbs" due to the beta intsive nature of many of the routes in the area which rank into the 5.11 and 5.12 territory.

Do this route! Do it over and over again! Do it everytime the relentlessly hot summer days (or the cool sprinkling showers of spring) drive you to this truly humbling crag.

There are about seven routes ranging from 5-11 to 5-13 on the wall before reach lost soul by hiking into the gully along a ledge. Make sure that you carefully make your way around two treacherous corners (one of them has a belay anchor) before you dash to the shallow corner that is just to the left of Lost Soul. There are at least four more routes after this pleasurable climb. This route is easily identifiable because it has an obvious black streak and two cracks, one large one to the left and a narrow one that is just to the right of the black streak. Climbing the black streak is where the 5.11 parts are located. However, climbers wanting 5.10c climbing can get there by simply stepping off gingerly to the right of the black streak after climbing past the third bolt. Stay to the right for 5.10c stay on the black streak for phenomenal 5.11 climbing.

6 bolts. Open Shut Anchors. Hiking skills are a must since this route might get you sent to heaven if you slip off the narrow ledge. This route contains blank and difficult to read features. Short climbers may have trouble clipping from the cracks.