I've always looked at this slab when warming up on "

Porkfist

" and was delighted when I saw the bolts on it a couple of years back. I jumped on it after a quick warmup, without knowing it's name or rating. The photo calls this "

Porkus Procurement

," but that route actually starts just a foot or two from

Porkfist

. The dotted line on the photo is the slab I'm talking about, roughly 20' left of

Porkfist

-

Porkus

-

Lumina

. Start up a very sandy, vegetated low-angle slab to gain the first bolt. (If not for this run out and dirty start, I would have given this a 3 star rating.) Follow a line of bolts up an increasingly steep slab using the arete on the right at the start but moving back towards the center for the crux bulging headwall on slightly "Prickly" holds. I felt the bolt placements on this route were the most thoughtful of any Shelf route I've been on. Hats off to the bolter whoever it was (I was told maybe Van Horn?)!

ADMIN NOTE: This description was previously listed under the title "Stink Finger", but after examining the comments, the descriptions & climbing Stink Finger, it's apparent that the route described here is the route listed in the 2005 Sharp End Guidebook as "Punjabi".  If anyone else has a different opinion, please add a comment! - Monomaniac, 6 Jun 2009

Punjabi

The Plum

Void Lloyd

Stink Finger

Black Awareness

Redlined

Slap Me

Dark Side Roofs

Line of Strength

El Guapo

Man in Black

Route Fluffer

Captain Caveman

Eat, Drink, and Beat Larry

Crown of Thorns  aka Box Lunch aka Lou Raven's Rest

Kashmere

Muted by Reality

The Audition

Viaggro

Shelf Road Virgin

Beginner's Outing

Black 'N Dicey

Counter Balance

Papillion

Fat Like Butta

The Welcoming

Porkus Procurement

Blank Frank

Mannequin

Fragile

Edge Of Fright

Crack Happens

Unknown But Worth Doing

Corner Pockets

Animatronic

Bonnie

Go East, Old Man

Acetylcholine

Levels of the Game

Missing Hangers aka Hangers Regained

Two Hearts

Suspender Man

Stuck in the Middle With You

27 Tons

Swinging Richards

The Eagle Has Landed

Teenage Wristband

Clyde

Kinesthesia

Red Devil

Whisper To A Scream

U Pump It

The Way We Were

Trolling For Holds

Black Dihedral

Rip It

I Scare Myself

The Crack's On Top

Warm Busch Beer

Puddle Of Holes

Call From Overseas

Thank Heaven for Little Girls

Asym

Lumina

Fight or Flight

Enchanted Porkfist

Face The Music

Stink Finger climbs a black slab to a tan buttress of excellent rock.  The buttress is ascended via a tricky flared corner with a distinct crux.

Begin directly by overcoming a slight bulge on sharp crimps, or cheat into the line up slabby rock to the left.  Gain a small ledge, then head up on excellent tan stone reminiscent of Sand Gulch.  A mix of gastons & shallow pockets lead to a large hanging block in the corner and a good shake.  Mantel onto the block, then crux your way left to another smaller block.  Continue on easier though never trivial terrain to the anchor.

This is the route between

Kashmere

and

Eat, Drink, and Beat Larry

that may also be known as Youza.  The Knapp book lists it at 5.10a!  At 10a, it may be a bit of a sandbag, but it's a good route nonetheless.  The line is well bolted with good hardware and chains at the top.

This is a more sustained and finger-tip abusing route than its neighbor to the left (

Blank Frank

).  The business (crux) is in the sustained nature and difficult route finding of the middle section.  However, the last couple bolts remain sustained and technical (possible 11-ish), and the pump on this route is more substantial than on its neighbor.  The rock quality is very good after the poor rock and rat feces that decorate the first fifteen feet to the cave.  The meandering nature and sharp crimps give it one less star than

Frank

, but nevertheless an excellent route that will keep your attention till the anchor.

This route is the black slab just to the right of the detached pillar with a bolted line right next to it.  The first bolt on this route is a brown home job, with the next 5 being green and a coldshut before the anchors.  The bolt spacing on this is a little more old school compared to some of the other Dark Side routes, but they are right where you want them.  Start out carefully pulling on the loose flake at the start and heading up the usual technical Dark Side slab.

This is a route that everyone can enjoy.  It starts thin with shallow, two finger pockets for the first 20 feet until you gain access to a crack.  Climb the crack which widens from hands to off-width until you come to the business of the route which continues straight up the overhanging arete.  The redpoint crux for me was clipping the anchors because of the pump.

Slap Me was added for the re-bolt effort beta.

This is the first route you encounter on the righthand side of The Dark Side when coming down the road from The Bank campground. It is very unique compared to other Shelf Road routes. The holds reminence of New River Gorge sandstone in some areas. You won't find a lot of pockets here.

It has good holds with two fun roofs. Although this may only have 4 bolts, it's got protection where you need it. The foot holds when pulling the second roof down low can feel pretty slick.

Line of Strength is located on the right side of the Dark Side, a few climbs to the right of

The Audition

. It has an undercut start with a very high first bolt. Stick clip the first bolt, and climb a tough boulder problem off the ground. The route then follows well-spaced bolts to a cruxy section on the upper black face.  he upper section is quite [spicy] with one bolt protecting the final 35 feet of 11/11+ climbing.

This is all-time Shelf classic that is a bit old school. Consider that LOS has only 6 bolts in 80-90 feet of climbing, whereas its neighbor,

Two Hearts

, has 11 bolts with the same route length. Judging by the absence of chalk on the sections which are exposed to rain, the amount of dooky on the route, and the amount of dust and other debris on some ledges and huecos, this route sees virtually zero traffic. In addition to the slightly runout climbing, the bolts [were] in need of an upgrade. All bolts [were] 3/8 to 1/2" but [had] badly spinning old SMC hangers. For all I know, the hardware [was] from the first ascent.

The 3-star rating assumes a hardware upgrade and sufficient traffic to keep the route clean. Its slightly runout nature is part of the routes appeal, however, and in my opinion, should be maintained. Nevertheless, a hardware upgrade [gives] this deserving classic at least some traffic. It is best to avoid this route in the spring, since the enormous hanging flake on the lower part of the route appears to be quite popular with birds.

EL Guapo is an excellent, bouldery line on the East end of the Dark Side cliff.  The route is noteworthy for its two engaging, athletic roofs.  These roofs each have a unique character, but both are difficult.

Begin with a short bit of choss to the first roof at 10'.  Overcome this with powerful moves on generally large pockets.  Once above the first roof, easy edges up the slab lead up & right to an easy stance below the next roof.  This roof is remeniscent of the Gunks, with long lock-offs between huge jugs and a heel-hook or two.  A good stance above this roof provides a nice rest before the final tricky section and a spicey runout to the chains.

Trivia: Apparently El Guapo is spanish for "The Handsome One", but is certainly more well known as the infamous villain of "The Three Amigos".

Man in Black is a fun route with enjoyable, slightly overhung climbing on jugs to the first roof. At the roof, a tricky crux sequence involving a slot that is not as good as you would like, a deep two finger pocket, and a decent edge interrupt the easy climbing found below. After pulling the crux, pull onto a slab section with good holds, and pull past the second roof into a nice dihedral to clip the anchors.

Just left of Teenage Wristband is a wide crack. Climb the crack and gain a ledge near a pine tree. Fire up the steep face making several hard moves to gain a short left-facing corner. Climb up the corner to a two bolt anchor on the left. Watch out for loose rock on the ledge by the anchor.

From the Thompson book, 2017: "it climbs past the obvious hueco/cave which is often used by nesting owls. Please give the birds a break, and pick another route, unless you are absolutely certain they are not present." The rating in the Thompson book: 2 stars out of 4.

The route sets off on the deteriorating hill, just right of

Corner Pockets

. A slight cruxy start leads into a right-trending line with a gritty ledge to mantel. The "obvious hueco/cave" that the book mentions may have fallen off, because it's not really a cave but holds a somewhat loose flake that can be avoided.

This line is a technical exercise in thin pocket pulling - very worthwhile.Requires some pretty precise footwork.

To find it, go to the Question of Balance Pinnacle and go left. You will pass

Enchanted Porkfist

(11a), and then 3 more routes before you reach the buttress with "Eat, Drink...."

On this buttress, around the right side of the arete, you will see "

Kashmere

" (improbably rated as a height-dependent 12c/13b). Just left of this is a 12a up a crack.  The next route to the left is "Eat, Drink...", which has some funky old hangers on it.

Great for a hot day at Shelf!

Super fun line - classic for its grade.  Climbs a shallow slippery dihedral that starts to feel downright difficult in the crux. Keep moving and everything eases up - stall out and you might be in trouble.

This is one route left of "Eat Drink and Beat Larry".  Go to the question of balance pinnacle and go left past 4 routes to get to the buttress."Eat Drink.. " is the thin line that goes up about 55 feet on funky hangers.  "Box Lunch" ascends the pretty dihedral to the left.

This is the route that climbs the prow left of

Teenage Wristband

, and right of the popular route formerly known as Box Lunch (now called [something] different in the Knapp guide).

This route is essentially a contrived one-move wonder, involving a height-dependent campus move off of a one-digit two finger pocket to a drilled (or enhanced) mono.  This section, at the 3rd bolt, is easily bypassed by stemming into the corner to the right.

I was tempted to give this route the coveted BOMB rating, but the nice upper section redeems this route to one-star caliber.  Bypassing the crux by stemming into the corner yields a nice 11+ climb.

The new Knapp guidebook gives this the dubious rating of 12c and awards it 4-stars.  My guess is that Fred has not done the route, judging by his quality and difficulty assessment.  Van Horn rates it 5.12c/13b due to its height-dependent nature, which is closer to reality.  Personally I think it's minimally a V5/6 crux, even with a long wingspan.

I have what I call the "Holy Trinity" of the Dark Side black slab routes: Black Awareness,

The Crack's On Top

, and Muted by Reality.

Enchanted Porkfist

is my most climbed route in all of Shelf, but I use this as a warmup for these climbs. I LOVE!! slab climbs but I hadn't even gotten on "Muted" until this past spring, being warned off by all the "leaver gear" that used to adorn this route; but last spring I noticed it had been retrobolted and jumped on it.  At 11a, I thought this a lot harder than the other routes I mentioned  but a really fine route. I feel that

Porkfist

is a 10d, Black Awareness and

The Crack's On Top

, 11b/c, and Muted a solid 11c!

This is truly amazing route. This is a delicate romp up the steep slab to the right of

Cracks Happen

and left of

Animatronic

. Another route, the

Mannequin

, 12c, deviates right at The Audition's third bolt (two separate bolts here).  The first bolt is just above first overlap with the easiest approach a simple reach from near a mini-detached spire to the left. This continous climb cranks through the next overlap and another two bolts on thin edges and pockets, only then does it ease up a bit just before one hits larger holds on a seam near the top. Classic.

This route ascends continous crack systems to the left of Line of Strength (5.12c s) and two lines left of Two Hearts.  Identifiable by a short right facing dihedral, a thin crack running off the start up into this dihedral and the dihedral capped by a small overlap-roof.  Fire through and enjoy the bouldery crux in the thin crack over the first overlap just off the ground. After pulling left through the second overlap atop the dihedral the climbing eases back as one jogs along the crack system up to the anchors. One and a half stars.

Just left of Puddle of Holes is a pocket-covered face. Start on a ledge a few feet off the trail. Clip the first bolt and make a hard move to a hole and flake. Climb up the steep face and make another hard move getting past the fourth bolt. Reach a two-bolt anchor.

This has fun stemming the entire way up.  Follow a crack/flake in a corner.

Start at a black wall about 230 feet west of east-side descent gully just right of the beige, right-facing edge of

Whisper To A Scream

. Climb past six bolts to the anchor. It is a lot of fun and not too dicey.

This is the right hand route on the QOB pinnacle. The first bolt is 20 feet up and can't be clipped until you do a mid-5.10 move. You can place a #1 Camalot in a pocket to the left.

There is some interesting movement, but there are number of awkward and sharp sections. The crux is near the top using arete pinches and sidepulls with bad feet.

Papillion was added for re-bolting effort beta.

Fatt Like Butta starts off from a ledge just to the right of the eagle has landed.  Start out on solid, black rock with tough moves for the first two bolts, and then the climb eases up and angles left on easy ground.  Get to a good stance below the tan, vertical wall, and get one last good shake.  Tackle the crux on technical feet and opposing sidepulls followed by sustained moves to the anchors.

A steep boulder start builds the pump to a descent rest at a jug.  Pull the crux stepping up to a bolted finger crack.  Smear and jam your way to the anchor. Pumpy, sustained, and very technical. Awesome!

This route is located to the left of QOB Pinnacle. The start is defined by a stepped ramp leading past a couple bolts and then you head onto the face. From the description I think "

Enchanted Porkfist

" should be to the right (it also seems a little bit harder than this line, which it should be) of this line. These are both enjoyable lines with great pockets filling the near vertical face climbing the whole way. A must do at the 'Dark Side'.

The Dark Side is the "technicians choice" of Shelf. Vertical to barely slabbing (don't judge these routes' steepness by how they look from the trail), these routes inspire the ballet dancer in all who attempt the climbs here!

Blank Frank is a great dance up one of the best faces in the Dark Side. A few moves up less then perfect rock soon gain the long, very sustained crux on small crimps and side-pulls to a great rest ledge below the final roof-bulge. A devious sequence on monos and underclings gets you over the roof and to the anchors.

This is

The Audition's

right hand variation, but interestingly enough it was the original route of the two.  If you have already done

The Audition

, it is worth the effort to do Mannequin.

Start underneath the huge undercling and clip the 1st bolt. Start with an opening crux followed by a good stance, make your way up to the side by side bolts, and clip the right one.  Use some of the same holds as

The Audition

to get established at the lip, but be prepared to make your way out right.  Once past the lip, continue up on standard delicate Dark Side climbing.  After the 5th bolt, merge back into

The Audition

with this being the last crux.  After that, make your way up easier terrain to

The Audition

anchors.

A small-pocketed face right of an arete leads to a final mantle to the top of the pinnacle.

This route climbs the black arete about 60 ft. right of The Eagle Has Landed and about 25 ft. right of the tunnel on the trail. Climb straight up the corner, step out left and continue along the edge of the exciting arete past a total of five bolts to the anchor.

Crack Happens starts out with face climbing to a short, thin, tips crack, but fortunately there are pockets and edges for bigger fingered folks. Work your way up to a vegetated section and another crack. From here, the rock quality and climbing worsens.

A hard move off the ground gets you to a shelf for your hands. Fun and easier climbing (including some handjams!) takes you the rest of the way.

This is a good climb to warm up on.

Corner Pockets climbs the featured, black face immediately right of the 5.8 Dihedral route. Due to the sparse pro, this route has seen very little traffic. The climb was originally protected with 3 bolts and some natural gear in a horizontal crack (my bad - it was 1984 and all we had was a hand drill and I didn't know any better).

Retrobolted on 9-25-10, I hope more people will have fun on this thing. Thanks to Brandon Schirm for providing the hardware and motivating me to get it done.

Just right of

The Audition

, climb up into inside corners and on aretes.  The line has some dust in some of the holds.  A few of the moves are very fun - such as pulling around a corner on sinker holds and a finger crack that fades into nothingness.  Then a few moves later the climbing lacks something - flow.  This is a worthwhile line, but in my estimation, it is worth 1 1/2 stars, maybe 2 if it were cleaner.

This route is located at the far right side of the 'Dark Side' and it's found on a short, slabby (35') wall with 2 - 3 bolt routes. This is the leftmost of the 2 routes.

The climbing is fun and the only crux is gaining the ledge after the 3rd bolt, trend up and a little left as going right would be quite harder. (10c) Clip your rope into the homemade supershuts and lower from here.

As with "

Clyde

" to its right, it is short but fun.

Go East, Old Man climbs the left of 3 routes on a black, bulging buttress, approximately 30 feet right of

Blank Frank

.

Begin from a small spur trail above the main, dark side trail, and step up into slightly steep climbing on thin pockets, edges, and sidepulls.  Continue upwards past museum quality hardware on great rock.  There are no show stopper cruxes, but a fair amount of thin technical finger and footwork will keep your attention.

A novel route for Shelf, this route climbs the inside chimney system created by the detached, leaning flake to the right of

Enchanted Porkfist

. Fun chimney moves in an ever-widening slot lead to a great stem, enjoyable face climbing to a good shake on a mini-ledge, and some final tech-ness up the headwall.

Immediately left of

Face the Music

idenified by a mix of bolts/hangers.  The climbing starts on a slabby wall with edges and pockets with a powerful move right off the deck.  Climb on good pockets and edges to the left egde of a small roof.  Try and get a good shake because the business is about to start.  Pull up on small edges with poor feet to a so-so stance with a couple of really good pockets.  Continue up on relentless, "buttery-smooth" sidepulls/rails to a pair of coldshuts.

This route is located just to the right of "

Suspender Man

" and can be spotted with brand new, shiny hangers in place. To find this route, spot the obvious dihedral with a large block leaning against the wall to its left.

This climb starts almost in the cave formed by the large block and uses the leftmost pillar of the wall. The climbing on this route is simply NOT FUN. At the top of the route, you can choose to go left or right, going left would put you against the wall to the left. Going right would place you in the crack to the right. The straight up version of the route would increase the difficulty quite a bit and either way is certianly not fun. Getting to the anchors could also be a hard crux for shorter people (under 5'5") - commitment.

Try another route everybody.

Per

llamaface

: this route climbs a beautiful pillar. It starts a little uncomfortable, jumping in and out of a large crack to clip bolts on the face. After the second bolt it traverses left across the face on some painful "cheese grater rock" and then uses the left arete and face to climb the rest. The top is very cool, hugging the pillar's two aretes to make the anchors. Watch out for that flash pump near the top.

Eds. This is a combination of 2 submissions moved to the 1st submission's page to avoid duplication and confusion.

This may be a "chipped route" according to Knapp. I didn't notice it when I climbed it like I did "

Fiddler on the Woof

" in Clear Creek, but I've never been back to inspect the hold since Knapp claimed it chipped. Nonetheless, this is one of the best routes at Shelf of any rating. The ultimate grab bag of moves; bulges, pockets, roofs, underclings and thin cracks yields an incredibly sustained outing! See photo or book for starting information, but this one's not over till it's over ! Absolute must do !

Suspender Man is easy to find. Hike east along the base of the cliff until you come to a huge slab of limestone leaning up against the main wall. Suspender Man tackles the back side of this slab. It's a fun (though short) route on cool overhanging pockets - and it's unbelieveably slippery. Very different from most of the stuff at the Dark Side, and definitely worth doing.

A first high bolt in suspect-looking, light-colored rock leads to better, thin moves on a blunt arete into sharp moves up to the anchors. Crux comes just about mid-height on the route moving from left side of arete to the right side.

Fun route.  Balancy in sections, as it is mostly a slab climb until about 3/4 of the way up where you pull a small roof.  Fun route with jugs the entire way up.  A good warm up for all the 11s and 12s surrounding it.

The bottom 3/4s of this route is 3-stars great. It is very similar to its neighbors to the left and has probably 5.10+ ish climbing.

The top is a 1-move wonder. Once at the roof encounter, the bolt is easy to clip. There are some sharp holds, and a sharp sidepull flake is available to slice up your fingers. Figure out how to use these, get your feet up, and the climb is over.

Climb the route to the right of

Two Hearts

off a large, detached flake and up a short bulging face. Tackle the height-dependent crux right after clipping the first bolt. This probably goes around 5.12c or so for someone tall enough to reach through to key pocket with their feet on the detached flake (perhaps 6'2+"). I feel the grade for anyone who must work their feet up first is 13a. After the crux move, I doubt the climb is harder than 5.12a/b or so, with fun moves on pockets that get progressively bigger as one gets closer to the anchors.

Essentially, this is a one move wonder, so despite interesting moves, good rock, and position, I only consider it worth one and a half stars.

Just left of "I Scare Myself" is large detached flake. Climb up the flake clipping bolts to a good stance. Climb up the sharp edge of the wafer-thin flake to a steep pocketed face. Follow the line of bolts up the face (beautiful climbing) to a two-bolt anchor just right and down from a small pine tree. Excellent route that will only get better with more ascents.

This route is located at the far right side of the 'Dark Side' and it's found on a short, slabby (35') wall with 2 - 3 bolt routes. This is the right most of the 2 routes. The first 2 bolts are fairly easy climbing and then some tricky footwork (keeping out of the crack, hands and feet) gain the good hold below and right of the 3rd bolt. A very fun little sequence and just wish it was longer. Have fun.

Kinesthesia climbs a beautiful panel of slightly bulging stone with powerful cranks on shallow 2-finger pockets.  Scramble up to a vegitated ledge, then climb the slight overhang to the first bolt with easy reaches between excellent sinker 3-4 finger pockets.  Crux your way between shallow, incut pockets and small edges.  The feet are spaced, but great where you need them.  Once you reach the 2nd bolt things ease considerably, though it remains interesting with cool pockets up the slab.

According to Bob D., "this route climbs the crack and corner up to an arete. Continue on to the anchors". This climb could be considerably easier or harder depending on your height.

After hiking most of the base of the cliff, and this is not far, you come upon something of an alcove that is still in the trees. Look for a square cut corner and roof, this will be very obvious. Whisper starts on chossy rock of a pale color and somewhat off the climbing line. Once on top of the choss, ascend the right side of the corner as part face and part arete. At the apex of the corner pull up on to the face and traverse to the arete on excellent, black stone. Not a great route but a good combination of face and arete moves on solid pockets and interesting climbing. I thought the crux was somewhere getting onto the face and over to the arete. The arete keeps the challenge up at 5.11 until just before the anchor.

This route has a slightly less than vertical start, continues for 3 or 4 bolts, and moves past the bulge going left towards the small tree.  The climbing eases up as one heads to the anchors.  This would be a more enjoyable route if you didn't have to work with the vegetation.

To be climbed in painters pants and a rugby shirt.

A convenient, stout tree 15 feet back from the top serves as a belay anchor/rap point.  The headwall is the crux.  Pro is good.  Clear stones from near the lip before pulling the rope.

This route is located on a blunt arete about half way from the right side of the wall to the QOB. There is a mossy gully to its direct right and the climbing follows the 6 bolts on the arete. There is an obvious crack to the left of this line near the last 3 bolts (looking from the ground up). The climbing starts off pretty hard from the ground, (mid 10) and is hard to spot holds (look a little left). From here gain a good rest at the second bolt and then tackle the upper section. The guidebook says there are 4 Goldshuts and 1 Petzl hanger, but there are now 6 modern glue-ins to a two-bolt lower off anchor. This route seemed harder than 10c, but perhaps I just wasn't warmed up and have to see what other people say. Cheers.

This route ascends the nice black corner between "

Corner Pockets

" and "

Thank Heaven for Little Girls

". Start at the base of a small detached pillar and work your way into the widening crack above. Continue to the top and walk off or traverse right and belay off the anchor of "

Corner Pockets

".

Climb up using the backside of the pillar, which is easier climbing. Stem and undercling and offwidth your way up to the top for a great break. Then start up onto the 5.11 slab above to anchors.

I Scare Myself is an excellent, sustained pocket route that is unfortunately marred by a heinous runout to the first bolt.

Begin up a vegitated ledge, then up to a shallow right-facing corner, that fades into another shallow, right-facing corner up & left.  It would be possible to place some sketchy finger-sized gear in either of these corners.  Punch up over a slight bulge on incut shallow pockets past the first bolt.  Long reaches between good pockets with sparse feet lead to slabbier climbing and a diagonaling crack.  It's possible to avoid the crack to extend the excellent pocket section by staying right on the bolt line, but this is a bit contrived.

This is a better route than

Enchanted Porkfist

(IMHO) and no where near as much traffic.  That being said, I must also say that

Enchanted Porkfist

is a superb route as well.

To find this route, hike into the Dark Side Canyon, and make your way to the Question of Balance Pinnacle.  Just to the right of the Pinnacle lies a pair of routes on beautiful, black rock.  The left route of these is TCOT.

Gingerly creep your way up the face on thin technical holds.  It is fairly sustained.  At the top, you will run into a crack that is a bit awkward.  You might find this kind of hairy if you don't bring a small cam or two.  The last 15 feet (for me anyway) was a bit harder than it looked.  Have fun!!

It is the large flake that starts about 15 feet above the trail and directly to the left of

Porkus Procurement

. The flake forms a nice, hand-sized crack that curves right toward the top. Pull over the top of the flake, and you are at bolted anchors (for

Porkus

).

We climbed this on 10-12-15; does anyone know of any previous ascents of this route?

Start at a short, bulging, black wall about 400 feet west of the east-side descent gully about 60 feet left of Box Lunch. Climb onto ledge, clip the first bolt, and pass two more bolts to the anchor. Exercise care clipping the second bolt as a fall while clipping it would result in hitting the ledge. This is a fun route, good holds for making clips.

Comparable to Pocket Laurearete in Sand Gulch; what this immaculate slab lacks in length, it makes up in quality.

Start from a high ledge reached by scrambling up right just past the first "major" concentration of routes on the main approach trail. A one-move-wonder crux right off the ground, requiring pefect footwork and balance, and rather height dependent,can be more safely done by stick clipping the second bolt. The first bolt just keeps you from decking 30'down off of the elevated ledge start; the crux is below and off to the right of the second clip and a ledge out seems very possible.

The climbing soon settles down to excellent mid 11 on perfect crimps and monos to the anchors leaving one begging for another 4 clips worth of the same.

This route is located just to the left of the dihedral to the right of

Suspender Man

, 5.11d.  The climbing follows good rock and interesting moves to a bolt anchor.  The crux is at an under cling move about halfway up.  The climb then heads left of the last two bolts on the arete.

This route is one of two routes (

El Guapo

is just 5 feet to the left) with an obvious roof about 10 feet off the ground. The tenuous crux involves getting past the overhanging start and getting established at the 2nd bolt. A smaller roof is identified near the top of the route.

Either suck it up and clip as you go, or stickclip the second bolt to avoid slamming your face into the wall if your belayer is less than attentive.

Behind and just left of QOB Pinnacle, Lumina appears to start in a grungy crack-like thing (at least I always have!).  Move out right to the face after 10 - 15 ft and the climbing returns to fine pockets with the occasional horrizontal seam thrown in. If you need a second warm up, Lumina is recommended. Good rock, clean pockets, continuous 5.9 climbing. This line has a bit of run-out in getting to the anchor, but the angle drops back a bit and the final climbing is very much on the feet and substantially easier than the middle 40 ft. Nice climbing, nothing very complex.

I don't have too much to say about this pitch except that contrary to the guidebook, it's well worth doing. (Some of the quality and difficulty ratings at the TDS needed more fact checking.) It felt a little tough in the grade, especially around the 3rd or 4th bolt where the reach impaired will find a difficult clip.

Combine this with the adjacent and equally worthy

Edge of Fright

for some enjoyable warming up.

The route is near the right end of TDS, one climb right of

Edge of Fright

.

Hike to the QOB Pinnacle. Just left of the pinnacle are two quite decent lines up black stone. The left of these is Enchanted Porkfist.  Chase the bolts on good pockets interspersed with edgy horrizontal seams. Enchanted is a good warm up for the harder lines at The Dark Side. It seems as though we do this line each time we climb here. Moderate climbing, good stone, nice moves.

A worthwhile change of pace.  The rating is more accurate if you drop a number from the guidebook grade -- all three members of our party flashed this after two of us flailed on ?Lou Raven's Rest? (10c/d).  The pitch starts in a desert tower like wide crack at the bottom of a very large, hanging right-facing corner.  Up the crack, onto the right face of the corner for a couple of clips.  Then, reach over to the left face of the corner, clipping bolts and stemming until the location of the bolts force you to commit to the left face entirely.  The airy position here is invigorating, but the holds are pretty good.  Continue up the left face to anchors at its top.

Maybe, if one committed to the left face as early as possible, it might feel like 5.11, but it would sure be contrived.

Description

Protection

Routes in The Dark Side