Super Euro-Alpine Style: D3 on the Davis Face
Buena Vista lays at the start of the highest and largest valley of it’s kind, being at the front doorstep of the southern Sawatch range, and nestled in the area between the western-most parts of the Sangre de Cristos and the eastern terminus of what could be considered the San Juans. Where it lay at the northernmost area of the San Luis Valley, BV hosts a variety of rock. It’s unique crystalline features being the best part of climbing in the area. While many people skip over the area while heading south to Penitente Canyon, east to Shelf Road, or other similar San Luis destination climbing areas, Buena Vista hosts its own plethora of wonderful secrets.
From the middle of town, if looking to the east, one is able to see nearly a small city of rock formations scattered for miles in front of the backdrop of the northern most sections of the Sangre de Cristos. Among those scattered formations, there protrudes a large fin of rock, a demanding wall, rising in the distance. While from town this wall seems like a world away, through the vast spider web of dirt roads and 4x4 trails, it is able to easily be approached if the season is right and if you use the right vehicle. Thankfully, my 4Runner handled it fine with no issues, even if I am admittedly not the most careful driver. This fine wall in the distance is known as the Davis Face.
I have examined Davis Face for months, reading as much as I could about the different routes on each side of the face, trying to soak in as much beta as I could from those who had attempted and set the numbered lines. While the face itself had been climbed on several routes for many years, there are still routes still being developed on it, as interest in climbing in the area has risen gradually over the past couple years. Two such wells of information came from the few climbing guidebooks covering the region that we call home. The first being Justin Talbot’s “40 Minutes from Leadville” climbing guide, and the famous Tom Perkins “Climbing in the Arkansas Valley” guidebook. Both available for purchase at the Trailhead gear shop in downtown BV, or in the case of Talbot’s guide, nearly any shop worth going into in downtown Leadville. That should be reason enough to go into the City on a Hill coffee shop, if not for their burritos and dark roast.
I had been up to the Davis face once before by the time Sarah (my girlfriend and climbing partner) and I made the decision to give D3 a try. The first route we climbed on the face being that of D4, a 5.10a II line that was generously entirely bolted in sport style in 2014 by local climbers Jess and Bobby Lewis, allowing one to be able to summit the face in 2 ¼ pitches with 14-20 draws and a 70m rope. From the line that D4 occupied, D3 ran up the looker’s right side of the face and met D4 for the final pitch. Being originally entirely bolted in the same way as D4, D3 experienced a change in the past years, losing many of the bolts placed in areas where good gear placements were plenty. While this made the route less accessible to newcomers to the sport, I welcomed the change to the route. As climbing should welcome all that want to give it a try, the sport should also be taken seriously. The Davis Face was a remote area that needed to be understood for the gravity of the routes there.
TRIP REPORT, D3 (5.9+ II) September 18, 2020
Being rated at 5.9+ II, D3 packs in about 700-750’ of climbing for a face that rises up from the valley floor at about 600’ total. This includes the 2-3 pitches (depending how you stretch it) of traversing towards the lower-middle section of the route. Meandering up awesome layback flakes and large easily-protected cracks, D3 makes an abrupt looker’s left turn and cruises along a more juggy stretch of the lower section of the face before rising abruptly again on decent slab and then angling left for a joined finish with the end of D4. As to my slight obsession with the wall, I was obviously enthralled to be climbing one of the classic routes on my local tick list that day.
Sarah and I had planned to do an ascent of D3 one day, and a second ascent of D4 the next with friends, so we had driven the camper down from Leadville in order to be able to camp closer in the area. This allowed us to wake up a little later than most, being that we were only a short 4x4 drive away from the start of the approach to the wall, as opposed to the commute that most take from either Summit County, Leadville, or farther south of town from Salida. We woke at about 7:30AM that morning and drank our coffee slowly. It was the end of the summer, and the 14’ers beyond us gave off a nice golden glow in the morning light. Fall would be coming soon, and the slight chill in the air each evening and early morning reminded us of that. I scarfed down a bowl of oatmeal, and Sarah did the same. I do have to note that she ate much slower (better self control).
We left the campsite around 9:00AM, and with only a 20-30 minute drive before us on the rutted 4x4 dirt roads to the start of the approach, we drove semi-carefully over the rocks exposed on the roads from storms a week prior. The sun was up and the sky was nearly clear. I couldn’t help but smile. As much as I loved being able to sport climb with easy access, the idea of less bolts that day appealed to me. There was nothing more freeing in the late summer than being able to meander over moderate terrain, placing gear as one saw fit. It made it even sweeter that we were doing it at home.
We made it to the start of the approach at about 9:30AM, and made sure we had everything we needed for the day. Davis Face was not remarkably remote, nor would the routes there take us longer than 4-5 hours at most, but the 4x4 drive into the area, along with the desert-steppe nature of the area made it important to carry enough water, food, and anything else with you quite important. If we wanted to have a continued good day, it was always better to be prepared. I checked over the single rack that was coming with us for the day and made a few small adjustments. The route ended up only needing a full single rack 0.2-3, some offset nuts, and plenty of long runners, but I brought an extra #1 just in case. On other trad climbs in the area I had a tendency to find the right placements for my two #1 camalots often, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to have more than one with me on the route. There are scattered bolts along the line that D3 travels on, but there is no guarantee of if they are where the leader wants them to be. Regardless, runout would be easily managed and I wasn’t really notably worried about protection along the route that day.
We began our approach up to the wall, and made the necessary adjustments to cut right before the final small rock shelf to get to the bottom of D4. The social trail leading to the base of Davis Face pops out at the bottom of all of the routes on the face except D3, and Sarah and I thankfully took prior note of that. This is how so much good climbing gets packed in. You get a whole little “tour” of the right side of the face, starting in a little layback flake kind of alcove away from the beginning of D4, Davis Dirty Crack, and the Carter Classic routes that begin farther to the left.
The first 4 pitches passed by like a dream. All 4 of them being similarly featured, traveling up nice flakes that one is able to motor along on by laybacking with the occasional bolt or gear placement. With little traffic, the route held a moderate amount of lichen, but nowhere near enough to make any holds or foot placements insecure. By the time we reached the end of the first purely vertical section, it was time to shift our attention to the traverse taking us left along the lower section of the main face. Before continuing, I should make note of the frequency of anchor stations. I am unsure if this was done on purpose in order to mitigate any rope drag, but each official “pitch” on the route seemed to be only 50-60’ long, making it pretty easy to link 2-3 “pitches” at a time. For anyone meaning to go up there on their own, don’t feel like you have to stop at every anchor by any means at all. With enough long runners and alpine draws, a 70m rope feeds pretty nicely for nearly a full stretch. While the traverse held moves no harder than 5.6 or 5.7, I admittedly had made a few mistakes absent-midely in protecting Sarah on her follow. It is easy to put in a few pieces of gear on a vertical lead and still have the follower be adequately protected in the event that they fall. However, on a traverse, one must be more careful. Skipping bolts in my mind is okay on a vertical lead as long as you are able to safely handle the moves. For the traverse, all of them definitely needed something clipped into them for adequate protection of the follower. Thank God Sarah is smarter than me and thought of that before the next traversing pitch.
We rounded the corner at the end of the first long pitch of traversing and came to the first crux. I don’t know if I would specifically call this the crux section for Sarah or myself, but the exposure in this instance was considerable. With a short move where one lowers themselves onto a large shelf, and then makes their way across a large boulder chocked into the expanse, there are a few blind moves. The route setter, Jess Lewis, thankfully thought of this and provided more than enough fixed points of protection along the duration of this short pitch. From there, it was more up and up until the eventual merge with the end of D4 after a nice and large belay ledge at the famous dead tree.
In the route description for D3 on Mountainproject.com, the crux for the whole line lay towards the beginning of pitch 8. I would say that I’d have to agree, though the moves in this section felt no harder than 5.10a at the most and were simply just sort of thin. I remember the most memorable move being that of a sort of tension placement that I had to make while moving up the slab, pressing my right foot down onto a small crimp, my left foot flagged out to a insecure smear, with my right hand pinching as hard as I could on a shallow arete. All the while I pressed the top of my head (with helmet) into the rock for stability while placing my smallest 0.1 cam in to mitigate a bit of the runout. Not super secure, but pretty fun regardless. This is a couple moves away from the aforementioned dead tree belay that is pretty popularly talked about when referencing the route, as it is the last belay station before D3 fully meets up with the last pitch of D4 to the summit of Davis Face.
From the dead tree belay, I went for another long stretch in order to finish the route in good time. Sarah had been having no trouble keeping the pace moving along, but for the last two pitches my stomach wasn’t feeling the best and I felt sluggish on my leads. It helps the momentum of the climb when at least one of the people in the partnership isn’t dragging ass, so I heavily appreciate my dear Sarah’s enthusiasm. The rope drag was noticeable at the end of the last stretch as I navigated the “boulder problem” section at the end of D4. I grunted and pulled myself over the final ledge, and with that, my lead on D3 was finished. I clipped into the anchor and belayed Sarah up to me. Nothing beats a light and fast day climbing, and this day was no exception.
Overall, I would consider D3 a fantastic adventure climb for anyone within reasonable distance in the area. Give it a try and have fun. Although, I feel compelled to remind anyone making the trip to respect the locals, respect the land, and most importantly-respect the rock. Pick up your trash and whatever you find while you’re out there and don’t cause any fires. Try not to fall either.
Cool
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