Varieties Of Religious Experience

Just above the West Ridge Amphitheater (as for Allosaur) and just below

The Unsaid

area there lies a set of less-often-climbed routes. This is the

High Anxiety

area.

High Anxiety

and Varieties Of Religious Experience are two of the better routes here. Most of the routes here are 5.10 to 5.11 and almost all of them are runout at least a little.

To find Varieties Of Religious Experience, first locate the big clean slab 100' down and 30' left of the hanging slab of

Verschneidung

, where a lone pine tree holds a rap station. A right-facing, right-leaning corner borders the edge of this lower slab, which is Verschneidung Indirect Start. About 40 feet left of this, start climbing.

P1 (5.10d, S). Pick and choose your way up the slab/face climbing a short distance left of an obvious roof which is about 80' overhead. The difficulty will be from 5.9 to 5.10 depending upon your exact line. The protection available will also vary according to your position, but it is never great. As the slab disappears, cut over to the right on an undercling to just below the extreme left-hand side of the roof and go up through a short, right-facing feature (crux). Run it out to a large pine tree from there and belay in a stance below the tree.

P2 (5.11b). This is the good pitch! Move out and left from the pine tree on jams and underclings below a roof, which is rising up and left. There are a few loose holds in the area, but they can easily be avoided. After 10' of climbing (5.10), you will tackle the roof at a small crack, and continue up the face for the first bolt. If this runout is not to your liking, you can place a few pieces including a hand-sized cam in the cracks below the roof before pulling over it. From the first bolt, climb up and left to a second bolt. From there, climb straight up (thin crux) to the top of a ledge at a 3rd bolt. Continue up another 35 feet on thin cracks with slightly sharp rock to the top of the buttress (5.8).

I toyed with the idea of giving this route 3 stars, as it is a very good route, but it just can't compete with the 'true Eldo classics.'

To descend, scramble NW up the back side of the West Ridge, and descend as for

Verschneidung

.

P1 is runout on so-so gear. Take a set of RP's and small Stoppers with a set of cams to 3". No doubles are really needed. P2 is bolted but there is quite some distance to the first bolt. A [hand-sized] cam (2.5") can be placed to fill the void. The top-out over P2 requires a few medium to large nuts or small cams.