The Perfect Kiss is the 5.11d first pitch to

Rock Atrocity

, the hard-to-miss 5.13+ out the giant, overhanging, maroon capstone on the south face of the Hand. It's a bit sharp with some creaky flakes but is a plenty-tough challenge if you're in the area.

From

Power Bulge

, head uphill to the ramp/slab used to access

New Saigon

/

Father on Fire

/

Cardboard Cowboy

. Scramble up about 20 feet to a little ledge/slot below a bulge with cobbles and look up -- six bolts take you to anchors hidden over a final little face, below the upper business of

Rock Atrocity

on the final headwall.

Expect a crux down low and one up high on the little face. A couple clips are tough, but the bolts are sited where they have to be, to avoid hollow plates of rock.

The Perfect Kiss (P1 of Rock Atrocity)

Back in Slacks

Back in Yaks

The Handy Warm Up

Power Bulge

East Face/Hand

Father on Fire

Cardboard Cowboy

Rock Atrocity

Lackin' Slacks (aka The Full Monty)

Quest for Balance

Battle Cat

New Saigon

Approach the west face of the Hand as for Power Bulge and Back in Slacks.  Then head up the ramp just a few feet west (uphill) of Power Bulge. Scramble up the slippery slab maybe 50 yards to a flatter ledge area at the base of Father on Fire and New Saigon.

Father in Fire is the beautiful, steep crack that shoots up from the right side of the ledge.  Clip a bolt to protect the initial moves, then fire straight up the sustained, high-quality crack.  Two more bolts and natural gear protect the route well, although it's pumpy to place. It is quite sustained and feels like a lot of climbing for only 45 or 50 feet.

From the top of the pitch, rap off the slings on the pillar or move up and left to a 2-bolt anchor at the top of an un-named sport route and rap.

This is a nice little sport climb on the South face of the Hand.

Enjoy big buckets as you ascend a slightly overhanging huecoed wall past a couple bolts.  Gain a rest.  Find a balancy, slightly awkward crux as you face climb angling right on vertical terrain towards the anchor.

This traditional rating might be a bit soft.

This route was previously recommended by Bobbi Bensman as a good route for redpoint training.

You can TR

Power Bulge

from this anchor.

This is a toprope line just right (5-8 feet) of

Back in Slacks

, though it could conceivably be led if you really needed the tick. I TR'ed it right off the

Back in Slacks

anchors, clipped through the last bolt as a directional.

Start up the clean face with two huecos down and right of

Power Bulge

/

Back in Slacks

, then climb up a faint rib. Step up into a licheny hand crack (you'd get slammer gear here, but it would be 30 feet of 5.8 free soloing to get here) which peters out below a bulge. Move over the bulge on crimps to a big flake, then finish on the slab as per

Back in Slacks

.

It is not a great climb but gives you some mileage if you're in the area.

This route makes a nice warm-up for the adjacent 11s and helps round the wall out as a quick destination.

The first few moves are the crux. Once established on the wall above the initial bulge, the remaining 4 bolts of climbing is 5.9ish.

At the last two bolts, one can contrive another 5.10 crux by staying left of the arête or use holds on and right of the arête for an easier finish.

This route is on the south face of The Hand, just to the (climber's) right of

Rock Atrocity

on the very overhung southwest face and to the left of another slightly easier bolted line.

Start at the low point of the rock on the East face. The start is on the Mallory cave trail just before it winds through a split rock and switchbacks onto the Mallory cave scramble section.

Protection is available when you need it. We did this with a 60m rope in three pitches.

P1- Head up picking your way on easy flaky rock. We belayed at the second ledge system after running up the rope.

P2- From here a short 5.3 (unprotected headwall) deposits you on a large ledge system in front of a chimney. Traverse right (north) to the edge. Peer down into the gully in front of the cave and crank up the protected crux of the climb. Follow a ramp system left to the chimney and belay before crossing.

P3- Cross the chimney and head up easy ground to the summit.

Descent: Scramble north to hiking territory and rappel East from a tree to the front of the cave or hike West through Fatman's Frenzy and then North and East to regain the cave trail. If you rappel, be aware that people might be visiting the cave below you. It is bad form to drop rocks, climbing equipment and even climbers on hikers....

This is the five-bolt route immediately right of

New Saigon

, on the southwest face of The Hand, up the slipper ramp/slab above

Power Bulge

. It climbs a chocolate-brown, overhanging wall on pockets, crimps and huecos. Maybe the best and funnest 5.11 in the Flatties.

This history of this route is infamously documented in the 2002 book

Climb!: The History of Rock Climbing in Colorado.

According to Colin Lantz, most of the information found in the book regarding this route is incorrect. Quoting Colin, A number of different people were working on the route at the same time. Someone did bolt an artificial climbing wall hold to the wall. I removed the hold from the wall and I tried my best to patch the bolt hole so you could not see any evidence that it had been there. The quality of the rock on the lower wall is very bad and some of the holds are very loose. Another party used what appeared to be clear epoxy glue and coated the outside of some of the loose flakes on the lower wall with it. The result was horrible and very noticeable when the sun shined on the wall. It was impossible to remove the glue because the rock was so porous that the glue had soaked into the rock. I got some special resin from my roommate Chas Fisher who owned Bolder Holds that had rock texture and pigment in it and tried my best to repair and hide the damage that had been done. By this time I knew the route would always have a stigma attached to it, but I figured the route deserved to be climbed as the bolts were already there and the damage already done. The top half of the route is actually quite beautiful and the sequence of the moves and the proud position were worthy in my opinion. I named the route Rock Atrocity to call attention to the ethical transgressions that had taken place on the route.

This route climbs out the giant overhang above

The Perfect Kiss

. Climb through a series of fun and engaging 5.12 moves on creaking crimps. Take a breath and fire into a hard, and very reachy boulder problem to a difficult clip and some endurance 12+ climbing to the chains. The position of this climb is truly amazing and the movement is very reachy, exciting and dynamic.

Begin in honeycombed rock about 8 feet left of

Power Bulge

below a steep, left-facing corner. Climb up through the corner to gain the right-angling crack feature that splits

Power Bulge

and

Back in Slacks

, and climb this with decent gear to its end. Flip around the corner and finish up the slab just right of

Back in Slacks

to its two-bolt anchor.

I led this route on trad gear only but  for better or worse  it's easy to clip the second bolt of

Power Bulge

and the second and final bolts of

Back in Slacks

, if you're so inclined. It's still a bit spicy at the beginning and near the end, but with the bolts it may not warrant an R rating.

Combine this with

Monodoigt

&

Thinner

and your tips may tingle. Find this climb on the West side of the Hand behind a tree perhaps 150 feet downhill from

Monodoigt

. The tree close to the route provides shade for most of the route.

Pull onto the overhanging rock with jugs. Contort or a backstem to the tree leads up to smaller edges on a flake. Pull-up on better holds slightly to the right of the bolts. There is a fingertip bucket near the second bolt best utilized with the R hand. There is a high left step mid-height with small edges for the tips.  Crimp with some power to near the 5th bolt for a crux pinching a small pebble right.

You can avoid the first overhang and first bolt with a scramble left and stem out onto the face.

Pull on (squeeze) at the base of the large shelf (from the stack of rocks), and traverse up and left on a nice, steep pipe of stone. Clear the bulge, and follow the remaining bolts up the grey/green blunt arête to the top on good but well-camouflaged edges. Mantel at the top to find the anchors. You may want to bring a Reverso/ATC to rap and save some wear on your rope.

This is a good route with a crux on pockets down low and another easier one up high.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in The Hand