Hades, 5.10b FA: Larry Treiber, Chuck Parker, Pete Nobels, 1976 submitted by Greg Opland |
Getting to the route and gear beta: Hades is a nice, clean, wide crack found on the lower east side of
the main Pinnacle Peak area. As you hike up to the Peak, it's pretty
hard not to notice this slot, although on closer inspection, maybe
wise climbers will run away. The route was originally led using tube
chocks for protection, and they were pretty much only psychological
pro at best. Protection aside, as offwidths go, Hades is probably
one of the easier 10b offwidths out there to climb, given there are
a few crystals on the right side of the crack that help you out at
the most desperate times. Jay Anderson, Offwidth God, even climbed
the route onsight and solo back in the day, not that that's any indication
of it's difficulty. To get to the route, park in the lot at the Pinnacle
Peak Park Visitor's Center, just off Alma School Road near where it
intersects with Jomax Road in northeast Scottsdale. Hike up the main
trail to the climber's trail that heads up to the Peak proper. Follow
this trail to the base of Pinnacle Peak. Hades is a wide crack system
about 40 feet to the right. The first 15 feet are straight forward
and just involve getting up a short slot to the "business"
section of the route, the bombay wide slot above. Get into it and
don't let up until you reach the top. If you're leading, you'll need
a piece or two in the 7" to 9" range. You can place a #4
Camalot at the bottom of the bombay and then a 5" to 6"
piece in the finishing few feet of the route. After reaching the ledge
at the top, you can place gear for an anchor. There is also a single,
sort-of-hard-to-see bolt over to climber's left at the top. |
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Additional notes and strategy: As most climbers will likely not have the pro to lead this one, it
is fairly easy to set up a toprope. You can either lead the initial
4th class portion of South Crack route and then traverse to the right
and down to the ledge atop the route, or you can lead Name It (5.6)
the route just to the right of Hades as a slightly better warmup for
the thrashing ahead. I seem to recall using some medium to large cams
in addition to the bolt mentioned above to set up the toprope anchor.
Armbars, kneebars, ankle rending, and other chicanery will be involved.
Bring kneepads and boots (or tape your ankles to protect them). Route info on mountainproject.com: |
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