This fine adventure awaits for any trad team beginning to work through the grades: It has a fair amount of scrambling, but parts have great exposure that rivals that of most other BCC 5.6's and there are enough tricky moves to engage the 5.6 leader. Since

Firefly

reaches the very top of Strone Crag, it can be used as an alternative (and maybe slightly more difficult) way to start Standard Ridge.

Firefly

should rise to three stars as more folks do it (yes, this is a bait and switch -- I put three stars on it so it comes up using the three-star search parameter). Expect some looseness, minor but worthy of a helmet.

(1) Face climb past three bolts, staying right on the cleaner rock to broken ledges (this used to be the first pitch of

Kiss the Sky

, but retrobolted for the 5.6 leader). Scramble up ledges to a face with two more bolts. From the second bolt, traverse left and up into a shallow corner on the arête. Climb the shallow corner to a nice crack that gains Brunch Ledge (don't pass up any pro and use runners to reduce drag). Belay from bolt anchors and a hand-size cam about 10 feet right. 125' 5.6.

(2) Traverse left off of Brunch Ledge, using one of the bolt anchors for pro, and climb to another bolt. From here, there are a number of options, all fourth or very easy fifth class. If you're not interested in climbing to the top of Strone or continuing on

Standard Ridge

, one possibility is to stay as near to the right side of the face as comfortable and climb to the chains on top of

Mr. Bad Luck

. If interested in continuing to the top, um, continue. 125' (75' if to

Mr. Bad Luck's

chains) 5.6.

Firefly

Old Habits Die Hard

Mad Calf Disease

Creaking Plank

Road to Recovery

Major Tom

Brad's Bane

Itchy Scratchy

Nimbus

Tyrion

Starstruck

Wealth of Nations

Cersei

Rear-View Mirrors

Le Rap Et Tap

Mr. Bad Luck

Red Gorilla

Minotaur

Cat-O-Nine-Tails

Kiss the Sky

Space Cadet

Cost of Business

Orbital Decay

Gods and Monsters

Bad Monsters (Unknown)

Akahi

This route is located between Gods & Monsters and Mr. Bad Luck.  I climbed up this route after rapping firefly to retrieve some dropped gear.  It had a ancient military ring piton in it which easily came out.  The routes difficulty is hard to gauge but it's dirty, loose, and chossy.  Yum.

It consists of double cracks and the cracks are actually in good shape and yield good fingers and hand jams interspersed with face climbing on creaking lose blocks.  It's likely when this was done it was cleaned and the rock has loosened up over the years.  It's also sprouted some lovely bushes and trees that add to the experience.

You'll finish in the crack in the corner leading to the Firefly rappel.  An enterprising individual could clean this up.. maybe

Old Habits

is best identified by a striking right-facing, right-leaning dihedral, beginning just above a roof, high on Strone Crag's northwest face. The route crosses the bolt-line of

Mad Calf Disease

at the roof, but it's cams and nuts all the way unless one of the bolts becomes too much of a temptation.

The best way to reach the dihedral is to climb the first pitch of

Cersei

.  From the belay atop the first pitch of

Cersei

, rather than stepping right to

Cersei's

bolted arête, move left toward the two-bolt hanging stance of

Mad Calf

, place a bomber piece of gear an arm's reach over the lip of the roof (and consider not clipping into the two bolts to reduce rope drag), then crank over it to get established in the dihedral.  An alternative (and original start) to reach the dihedral is to climb what is now posted as the first pitch of

Cost of Business

, but this likely will put you at a gear-protected small foot stance about 10 feet straight to the right of the two-bolt hanging stance of

Mad Calf

, which could make for some awkward pulls on your protection once you get established in the dihedral -- hence the recommendation to start on

Cersei

.

Once established in the crux dihedral, climb it to its end (5.10-), then continue linking features more or less straight-up, keeping

Mad Calf's

bolt-line to your right. Two sets of anchors on top; choose one.  The dihedral is a bit shaley, but the bad stuff is easily avoided.

This route was stumbled upon when we set out to climb the striking dihedral of

Old Habits Die Hard

.  Turns out, according to a post, this is another Steve Habovstak line -- I suspect that Steve might be right up there in the number of bolts he's drilled in BCC.  The second pitch slab is well worth the walk and somewhat ugly approach pitch: good position, solid rock, and interesting climbing.

The best approach is to climb the first part of

Firefly

(5.6), climbing past that route's first 3 bolts to the broken ledges above and finding a comfortable place to belay somewhere up and right.  From here, move right into the large corner and climb up until possible to gain a Lego-like face protected by two bolts. Gingerly work up the face (some of the Legos are loose) to a two-bolt hanging belay.  This can be made somewhat more comfortable by traversing right from the two-bolt stance to a small foot ledge and setting up a belay from gear (requires at least one 3.5-4 inch cam); this is also the belay for

Cost of Business

.

The crux pitch begins by turning the roof just left of the hanging stance. Avoiding the

Old Habits

dihedral to the left, climb past 5 bolts to a ledge, then past 3 more to the top and anchors. The climax comes around the 4th bolt, and varies by a letter grade or two depending on whether you stay in-line (if in-line, I'd say 11c). You'll probably want to place gear to protect the move over the roof and between the last 3 bolts. (Date of FA from rc.com).

Formerly a trad route with somewhat shaky rock, retro-bolting and aggressive cleaning have created one of the better 5.9 sport routes in BCC.  The first three bolts protect increasingly steep climbing, culminating in a wild overhanging layback up a hollow flake.  Above, more bolts protect a slabby but airy traverse to the right and spectacular climbing just left of an arête.  Above, stay left of the

Red Gorilla/Nimbus

chains on the face of a block-like feature past a bolt, then up to the last bolt protecting a boulder move to hidden chains.  See the photodiagram on the

Orbital Decay

page.

Alternate finish to Itchy Scratchy or a great additional pitch to lead or TR. Good gear in cracks protects a variety of climbing to the roof which is the crux. Finish on bolt protected  face climbing on  good edges.

Major Tom

is the attractive two-part arête to the left of

Le Rap et Tap

, offering excellent rock and some of the best exposure in BCC.  The first part is protected by three bolts up to a ledge.  The second part begins by stepping right off the ledge to avoid a severely undercut section of the arête, and then moving back left past the fourth bolt to regain the arête above the undercut.  A small cam with a runner protects the move to clip the fourth bolt.  Above, one more bolt protects exciting climbing (take a deep breath) to the large belay ledge shared with

Rear-View Mirrors

,

Le Rap

, and

Wealth of Nations

. Really a sport route, but calling it trad to keep off the draws-only crowd.

Another serpent for Brad’s gunny-sack of twisted snakes (see Strone’s main page). Start up the first pitch of

Firefly

, climbing past that route's first three bolts. About 15 feet above the third bold, traverse left on casual terrain and up to a large ledge with chains. Above the chains is a line of bolts up a slab and over a small roof, and eventually ending on Brunch Ledge.

Brad’s Bane

can serve as a decent warm-up (and preview) for

Gods and Monsters

, which is accessed from the same large ledge.

Itchy Scratchy follows good rock for 5 pitches, can be climbed with 8 draws, a light rack, rapped with a single 60m rope and is shady mornings all year! I saw the 5th pitch crack from Starstruck and thought it might be good. Turns out it is!

Pitches 1 and 4 are very good.

Pitches 2 & 3 are mostly easy, with short bits of steeper climbing, similar to the end of the 1st pitch of Steort's Ridge.

Pitch 5 makes the route!

Pitches 1-4 can be climbed at 5.7 R bolts only. Gear and small trees can be used to make the route well protected for beginners. See pitch descriptions.

Route starts below pin and bolts on small, right trending crack.

Bolts on first pitch are shiny. After that they match the rock really well.

P1 5.7 90’ - 1 pin, 6 bolts

Can place a purple c3 at the start before piton.

Belay on good ledge from 2 bolt anchor.

P2 5.6 100’ - 4 bolts/gear

Start in small cracks left of anchor, trend up and left of 2 small stumps.

There are small cracks between bolts 1 and 2 for a piece but the climbing is very easy.

Starts slabby, gets steeper.

Belay at good ledge from 2 bolt anchor.

P3 5.5 75’ - 3 bolts/gear

Cam just above belay on slab.

Starts slabby, gets steeper.

Belay from bolted anchor on ledge left of tree.

P4 5.7 65’ - 4 bolts

No gear but still well protected.

Belay at 2 bolt anchor or skip and combine pitches 4 & 5.

P5 5.7 85’ 2 bolts & gear (purple c3 to #1)

Use horizontals and bolts low, then follow ever narrowing crack up and RIGHT, on smaller gear and bigger holds, to top of pillar and 2 bolt anchor.

This wild ride maybe is a tad better than

Red Gorilla

just to the right; although it has some lower-quality rock down low, the choss is more than offset by its outrageously exposed gymnastic climbing.  Scramble up easy rock (same start as for

Red Gorilla

), then diagonal left and up past four bolts to the arête.  Continue on easier ground past another bolt (shared with

Creaking Plank

) to the

Red Gorilla

chains.  See the photodiagram on the

Orbital Decay

page.

For those who might have investigated

Nimbus

prior to June 2012, the line has been straightened out, two bolts added, and cleaned, again.

This mischievous little line is somewhat discontinuous, but the climbing is entertaining and the crux involves titillating moves over an overhang that is more reasonable than it looks. Start up a blunt arête protected by four bolts to a ledge (a microcam or two may be useful above the fourth bolt). Figure out how to safely clip the bolt above, then climb up zigging left then right past more bolts to the crux overhang. Thrutch through the overhang and work up and left past more bolts (maybe some gear too) to a ledge with chain anchors. This is where

Tyrion

ends, but more climbing can be had by stepping left and joining

Mad Calf

(5.9 to the top of the crag) or stepping right and climbing the last pitch of

Starstruck

(5.7).

Starstruck

takes a line just below the right shoulder of the northwest face of Strone Crag, taking in some beautiful formations and providing good position.

The first pitch begins by climbing a short, clean slab on the right end of the ledge system cutting across the base of Strone Crag's northwest face (see Location).  A cam in a horizontal pod and micronuts in a seam protect the slab adequately (there are good slots; look around).  Continue up the crack system above the slab to a ledge and take a short, sweet left-facing corner to another ledge.  Walk left to a bolted belay.  (90 feet).

Pitch two starts by stepping left from the top bolt onto the face.  Climb thin cracks into a hanging dihedral.  Continue up the dihedral to another ledge and belay from gear in a thin crack or chain anchors a few feet further left.  (80 feet).

The last pitch works up the thin crack and over a small roof.  Once over the roof, move left around the buttress and face climb to the top and bolt anchors.  (50 feet).   The last two pitches can be combined with a liberal use of runners.

Climb up an easy slab towards the left edge of the roof band.  Enter the left-facing corner and enjoy the fun moves.  Lieback and stem to conquer the crack and two small roof pulls.  There is a small arête inside the corner that leaves you feeling a little exposed.  The climbing eases out at the top, unless you climb out on the face and head for the anchors (not recommended due to hollow-sounding flakes). A great direct start to the

Standard Ridge

or a good way to get to the Rush Wall.

"One of the best and sandbagged crack lines in BCC." -TP

This is the left-most climb on the clean buttress left of

Starstruck

and the

Minotaur

routes.  Although the first pitch is so-so (should clean up with more ascents), the second is a looker.  Begin with steep face climbing past two bolts (5.9+) to gain easy broken cracks.  Above diagonal left to a bolt marking the beginning of the next steep section.  The bolt allows one to forego placing gear in suspect rock and protects moves (be circumspect) to a more solid, albeit very thin crack above -- think brass or steel nuts.  Belay at chain anchors from a small ledge.  This also is the recommended way to get to the money pitch of

Old Habits

, and can also serve as an approach to

Mad Calf's

crux pitch.

The second pitch steps right to a crack to gain the bolt-protected arête leading to the roofband right of the overhanging crack of

Cost of Business

.  Work over the roofband and continue past a few more bolts to a ledge with chain anchors.

Cersei

ends here, but you can continue up

Mad Calf

by stepping left or the last pitch of

Starstruck

by stepping right.

This line has been re-engineered from that shown in the Ruckmans’ 1998 guide.  It originally started right of the obvious offwidth (or "big crack" as described by the Ruckmans) to the left of

Major Tom’s

arête and climbed past two rusty pins, stepped over the offwidth, and past another rusty pin and two bolts to the top.  With Stuart’s permission, three new bolts were added, and the line now starts and stays left of the offwidth.  This makes it at least a two-star sport route rather than the no-star route shown in the Ruckmans’ guide.  Two of the pins on the original line have been removed, but the third remains for historic value (and because I couldn’t get it out without breaking it).

Nice thin face climbing on impeccable edges, sidepulls, cracks and slopers.

"Look over yonder, got to get away" (Hendrix).

Mr. Bad Luck

takes the attractive overhanging hand crack and largely bolt-protected headwall high on Strone Crag, above

Red Gorilla

and left of the crux pitch of

Kiss the Sky

. The climbing on the crux second pitch is a bit contrived and may have some minor looseness, but it provides some great exposure and, with more traffic, may reach three stars. The first pitch is worthwhile in its own right particularly for 5.9 leaders; rather than doing the second pitch of

Mr. Bad Luck

, it's an easy rap to back to the ground or continue up via

Firefly

(5.6).

(1) Start up the first pitch of

Firefly

, climbing past that route's first three bolts. About 15 feet above the third bold, traverse left on casual terrain and up to a large ledge with chains. Walk left past the chains on the ledge for another 15 feet to a right-facing dihedral capped by a small roof, above which is a bolt. Go up this dihedral a ways to enjoyable face climbing past the bolt and two others to Brunch Ledge.  120' 5.9.  (The line of bolts more or less directly above the chains is

Brad's Bane

, 10c/d -- it may be more enjoyable than the pitch described here, but you came to fiddle with gear, right?)

(2) From Brunch Ledge, jam the obvious overhanging hand crack until possible to move right and up clipping three bolts en route to the crux. Above, either step right to get some gear (and a rest) or swallow hard and punch it to the last bolt and one last set of difficult moves to chains. This pitch was bolted to avoid two sets of huge loose blocks; don't be tempted to go yonder lest you risk devastatingly bad luck. 70' 5.11.

N.B. There is some chance that the hand crack had been climbed before the FA posted here. Someone had tapped into the rock what appears to be "11b?" just off Brunch Ledge near the start of the crack. Putting aside my (hostile) view to such a practice, I don't think this means that any part of the line had been climbed because of the amount of cleaning required, the still-existing death block if one doesn't step right to the first bolt on the headwall, and the on-size nature of the crack. But hey, if someone wants to step forward....

This excellent short climb would be three stars if it weren't for the no-hands rest between the hard parts; well suited to boulderers.  Scramble up easy climbing to the first clip, punch it past two more clips, rest, repeat past two more bolts to the chains. See the photodiagram on the

Orbital Decay

page.

This good (but short) trad pitch can serve as an alternative first pitch to

Starstruck

, or, better yet, a quick warm-up before jumping on

Starstruck

.  There are fixed anchors on top that make for a convenient lower back to the base.  Begin in a short right-facing dihedral left of

Starstruck

.  Climb 25 or so feet up and right to a ledge.  Above is a short roof presenting two options, a crack skirting the roof on its left or a crack in a left-facing dihedral that passes the roof to the right.

Minotaur

(5.7+) takes the left crack, past the roof, to a bigger set of roofs.  At the roofs, traverse left, just over the lip of the lowest roof, for 15 feet or so until possible to climb straight up steep but juggy face to the anchors.   Great position, good rock, and ample protection opportunities.

A variation,

Minotaur Right

(5.8), takes the dihedral that passes the roof to the right.  Once over the roof, step left to a crack (the crack to the right is

Starstruck

) leading up and over another roof to the anchors.   The position on

Minotaur Right

is not as good as

Minotaur

, and it could use a bit of scrubbing, so I'd stick with the latter unless you're out to bag all the moderates on Strone.

There are some small oak shoots in the first 20 or so feet of the climb that might need cutting back every once in a while.  Consider bringing some small clippers; the next party will be thankful.

Great exposure, tricky, but well protected (almost gym bolted),

Cat-O-Nine-Tails

clears the overhang just left of

Creaking Plank

, then moves left and up an obvious bolt-protected arête.  The flogging consists of two distinct cruxes, but with a no-hands rest in between.  Apprehensive folks might want to use a well-slung finger-size cam to reach the first bolt on the arête.

The second pitch of

Kiss the Sky

is one of the better trad pitches on Strone Crag IMO, requiring thoughtful and careful climbing on good rock with fine exposure.  The first pitch (110') starts up

Firefly

.  At

Firefly's

fifth bolt, traverse right (

Firefly

goes left) for about ten feet and catch a sweet crack to a small footstance and belay from a single bolt and cams. (5.6).

The money pitch (120') traverses right and up under a roof band until possible to step right onto the face and climb up to a bolt just above a small roof. Bust up to the next bolt, then follow a seam system on the left and head toward a bolt protecting moves to easier ground. Work up and slightly right to join the anchors shared by

Starstruck

,

Mad Calf Disease

, and

Old Habits Die Hard

. Don't pass up any pro between the second and last bolt, or you might get yourself a runout.

Space Cadet

sneaks up the left end of the huge roof band on Strone's main face by starting up the right variation of

Wealth of Nations

for five or so feet until possible to move right at an obvious deep jug.  Stretch to clip the first bolt, then commit to airy climbing right and up to the lip of the roof band to another bolt, which protects moves to get established on the face above.  The face is protected by two more bolts leading to Metolius rap hangers.  The real climbing is short, but it's on excellent rock with great exposure, justifying IMO three stars.  Named in part for losing car keys during a dawn patrol recon, necessitating a day's worth of combing the base, hitchhiking, and other shenanigans.

Named to commemorate a new 70 meter rope that was cut by a large block as the line was being cleaned, the route is well worth the walk for someone breaking into 5.9 trad. Start by climbing a shallow left-leaning ramp leading to a vertical thin crack bisecting the clean-looking buttress bearing the bolted lines of

Tyrion

to the right and

Cersei

to the left. Follow the cracks above to a substantial ledge. At the ledge walk left to its end, make a few moves up and hand traverse left into a dihedral leading to an obvious roof crack. Belay from gear (takes at least one 3.5 or 4 inch cam) under the roof crack at a small footstance. (5.6 or 5.7).

The second pitch powers out the roof crack (5.9) then cruises easier ground to a ledge with chain anchors (the top of the second pitch of Starstruck), but ignore the anchors and continue up the crack to the right to a bulge. After surmounting the bulge, step left around the buttress back onto the face and climb near the buttress to the top (if nervous, you can climb a bit more left and clip a bolt or two on the last 30 feet of

Mad Calf

). Bolt anchors await on top.

Orbital Decay

climbs a bolt line that catches the right edge of the huge roof band that cuts across the center buttress of Strone Crag.  Three bolts protect gently overhanging climbing to a short slab under the roof band.  Surmounting the crux roof is protected by two bolts, then it's easy sailing past three more to the anchors.  Although the route has some funky rock in the first few body lengths and inconsistent difficulty, spectacular position and exciting climbing warrant the stars, in my view.

This is the best of the 5.12s on Strone, and it vies with

Le Rap

for the best pitch on the crag. It climbs beautiful rock with superb position. Bolts protect a vertical but cryptic face to a large break and full-body rest, then a gently overhanging headwall to Metolius rap hangers. There is some minor looseness on the vertical face, but the headwall is bullet proof.

To get to the start of the route, scramble past the first three bolts of

Firefly

and up for another 15 feet or so until possible to traverse left to a large ledge with chains. Keep traversing left (past the bottom of the right-facing dihedral on the first pitch of

Mr. Bad Luck

) for another 25 feet to a belay bolt that can be supplemented by a No. 1 or 2 Camalot. (5.6) The route awaits above.

This is actually a direct start of sorts to the second pitch of

Starstruck

, but the new climbing is substantial enough to justify giving the line its own name.  Nice pitch for the 5.9ish trad leader who enjoys BCC quartzite.  Climb a shallow right-facing dihedral to its top, clip a bolt, then continue more or less straight up to a clean left-leaning thin crack leading to a short overhang guarding the entrance into a large, wide, left-leading dihedral.  (The start of the left-leaning thin crack is about 15 feet straight left from the bolts atop

Starstruck's

first pitch, which are easily reached if desired).  Continue up the wide dihedral to a ledge with chain anchors.

Akahi

ends here, but one can continue up the last pitch of

Starstruck

if rope drag is reasonable, creating one of the longest pitches in BCC -- 165 or so feet.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Strone Crag