5.10s for Scott
As he continues to develop his resume for a future AMGA Rock Guide Course, Scott recently asked me to share some favorite 5.10s that he could top-rope before leading. Here’s the first five on my list, along with a little beta for each route.
Yellow Knight, Quincy Quarries. Spray-painted and slick, this is a great route that can be led by placing gear on the neighboring White Knight. There’s two cruxes, one about 12 feet up and the other near the top, with the lower crux being the more challenging of the two. Solid footwork and a long reach are really helpful here. Resist the urge to reach over to the obvious holds on White Knight’s flake. Yellow Knight is easily top-roped from the White Knight anchors.
Bombay, Quincy Quarries. Another sandbagged Quincy-Quarry classic, this one is tucked away on the corner of K Wall. Use the old quarrying equipment up top to build an anchor, then work the route. Like Yellow Knight, this one has two cruxes. The first is low as you get out of the awkward starting crack. The second is near the top as you traverse from left to right on thin hands and feet. Fortunately, there’s a big ledge in the middle that allows you to split this 50-foot climb into two distinct sections. Spend some time sussing out the gear on Bombay—it is quite tricky, especially in the middle section. (Pro Tip: I wish I’d had Ball Nuts on this one.)
Rip Van Winkle, Redrock. This route is easy-peasy and fun until the two-move crux near the top-out. Thin, slabby, and unprotected, the crux is likely to play mind games with you because the gear will be at your feet as you send the crux. Fortunately, it is easy to practice the friction moves on top-rope first; just walk up the steps left of the climb and set up a top-rope on the bolts. For the actual lead, save several smaller cams (I remember a Blue BD X4 working well, but it’s been a while) to protect the top of the crack.
Belly, Pad Crag, Chatfield Hollow. My favorite climb on the list, this 35-foot route is well-worth visiting. Tucked away in an obscure corner of Connecticut’s Chatfield Hollow State Park, the route begins with a bouldery sequence that works up and over a belly-like feature (hence the name). I often protect the crux with a long-ish sling on a nearby bolt, a bolt that I’m not sure is technically on route. After that, there’s room for a couple larger cams. Once you’re through the low crux, the climbing gets a little easier, with ok gear the rest of the way. (Doubling up on red and green BD C4s is helpful.) This one is easily top-roped from a two-bolt anchor that hides just over the lip of the ledge.
Three Belches, Echo Crag. Almost just a variation of Cooler Sacrifice, a popular climb on Franconia Notch’s Echo’s Square Inch Wall, this one is probably the hardest to top-rope on this list. That’s because you’ll have to lead Cooler Sacrifice (5.7) to get up to the shared anchor and set up a top-rope. Once you’ve got a top rope up, you can practice Three Belches’ cruxy sequence as it goes straight up from the mid-ledge to the top. A long reach and good footwork will help you send this one in style. (Crack gloves for the lower crack section help too!)
Of course, just as important as wiring a few 5.10s is building a broad base of leads. When I was training for my own RGC, I tried to follow the “progressive performance pyramid” concept discussed in the Self-Coached Climber. Essentially, for every 5.10 I trad lead, I tried to lead 2 climbs in the 5.8-5.9 range, 4 climbs in the 5.7-5.8 range, and 8 climbs in the 5.5-5.6 range. As part of this process, I tried to lead routes at a variety of areas (Quincy Quarries, Rattlesnake Rocks, Redrock, the Gunks, Crow Hill, Echo, Whitehorse, Chatfield Hollow, Rumney, and a bunch of New Hampshire alpine slab routes). I also tried to lead every time I went climbing, even if that meant leading the usual local suspects.
To measure my progress along the way, I used sandbagged Quincy Quarries’ classics like Layback (5.6), Outside Corner (5.8), Pins (5.9) as test pieces. And test pieces they were, since you don’t often find climbs harder than these at the grade. Doing so, I think, helped me build a wide platform of experience that paid dividends on the moment side when I arrived at the course.
By Doug Martland
