Elk Rock Revival

Its raining, just like is has been for nearly two weeks now.  I get fucked twice. One, I likely won't work because I paint houses and two, not much climbing! Never the less Dean and I have been out in Lolo the last three days. Tues, Wed, Thurs. Tues and Wed were rain days so we did trail work and drank beers in front of the fire and managed a small window of climbing but yesterday was cherry with blue skies and wind.

There was an old project (Uncle wiggly's power quest?)  near the hardman wall on Elk rock that we checked out. The line had a brutal tech slab start then traversed into the water runnel. We took this old line and created two plumb mixed lines. The first line, Dave's Deep Discounts 5.12- is just left of White Feather, Stick clip the first bolt, there is no stance to clip in the first 15 ft. Climb sick slab for 6 bolts then run it a while to a #1 camalot placement before the anchor. You could likely climb White Feather and traverse into this line for some harder climbing. The Second line, Aqueduct 5.11+, climbs the line to the left of D3, climb a left facing corner with optional gear to a bolt above the roof, It then gets hard and funky for a few moves then nohands rest. Then you head right a bit then step left into the water runnel for sustained thought provoking climbing. The end is the same as D3 and is spicy but easy. These climbs are bolted in classic lolo style. There is no fixed anchor but you can easy build one with 2 or 3 #2s and a #3 BD. It is super easy to access the anchor area as well. They make great TRs if you're not up for the lead. Stoppers might be useful for pro at the tops as well, like a number 9 or something. 

After we finished up these we headed on top and did some anchor/bolt replacement work on the west face of Elk, We've replaced most anchors on elk and are working on getting rid of all the shit bolts. They're all at bad angles and break with scary ease. All replacement bolts are  bomb SS 3 3/4 x 3/8. carpe diem!

The hideout is coming along well too. We, kelsey, dean, beth and I established a few more problems a week or so ago. Bat Crack V0- 30ft, some v2-v4 lines and another project that is sick and a sweet V7 type thing. The guide is getting fat! We have 50 pages, at least of just text for routes and boulders.

peace-LEvi