Shadow of the 10th: A Monitor Rock Linkup

We had been climbing at Monitor Rock for years, it’s our home crag. The start of each summer would usually be marked by our first day out at the wall without any snow on the approach. It’s just a wonder that I had never had the idea to do a linkup on the giant hulk of rock before.

Sitting on the eastern side of Independence Pass, Monitor Rock rises sharply from the valley floor west of Twin Lakes, Colorado. A striking juxtaposition to the slopes of talus and scree that surround it within the heart of the Sawatch Range, Monitor maintains qualities that are hard to find for the area. With its finely-grained granite washed by many glacial melts, and less than chossy nature, climbers have been finding themselves drawn to its walls for many generations. This includes none other than one of the earliest groups of climbers in Central Colorado, but the United States Army’s original 10th Mountain Division. Formed during World War II to fight the Nazis in Italy and eventually the Alps of southern Europe, the 10th cut their teeth for mountain tactics in the Leadville and Aspen areas. Many of the notable “moderate,” or obvious rather, rock climbing lines in the area were first ascended by this group. This includes the ultra-classic “Trooper Traverse” (5.8 II) and the “Rainbow Route'' (5.4 II) on Monitor Rock.

Monitor boasts several classic multi-pitch lines, ranging from as easy as the Rainbow Route, to as hard as more than a couple stacking in at 5.12+. My significant other, Sarah, and I, had set our sights on “Transformation” (5.11 II) on Monitor for the first week of June, so we figured a good warm-up for the season on the wall would be to climb The Trooper Traverse and Rainbow Route on the same day. Both routes combined accounted for about 9-10 pitches and 1200’ of climbing so it would be a great training day for the upcoming alpine season regardless.

We awoke that Sunday to perfect weather. The sun was shining brightly above us, and the air was chilly enough to ward off being too hot while not making the belays too terribly uncomfortable. From the parking area for the west face of Monitor next to Highway 82, I could make out the large south-facing dihedral that made up the first 3-4 pitches of the route. The climbing today for the most part would be easy, though, as the day progressed I would fervently add spectacular as well. We put our harnesses on before we left the car and racked up. The only pack that we would carry for the day was a follow pack filled with enough water, food, and layers to get us to accomplish our objective. In the late morning sun, we set off on the short approach up to the “Trailhead Wall” section of the west face of Monitor Rock.

I wish I could say that I chose the correct start to the Trooper Traverse, but even now in hindsight, I still am not entirely sure. Beginning up the large and vegetated blocks at the base of the wall, I tested nearly everything that I pulled on. While for the most part, the rock at Monitor was solid, one should be wary of everything until getting into the middle of the wall. For a Colorado climber, this was normal, although I’d love to hear what the real California Yosemite-purists have to say for the quality. I continued upwards, and realized that after the first 50 feet climbed, I may have strayed a little too far right. Correcting my error, I slowly traversed back to where the first set of chain anchors should be, and found them nestled into a large belay alcove. While the climbing was not hard yet fantastic, the anchor placements were even better. Bravo to whoever thought them up.

Sarah joined me at the belay and we assessed the next pitch (or two rather) from below. The second pitch proper was the crux pitch. From the anchor at the top of the first pitch, 10 feet above was an awkward roof of sorts that needed to be handled. While the protection getting into turning the roof was sufficient, there wasn’t much to say about the availability for it once you got over the initial difficulties. I can only imagine what this would have been like in the time of pitons. I placed a bomber #1 getting into the roof, and as I jammed upwards an aging piton came into view. I can only assume this could have been one of the originals placed back when the 10th took to the line, but I clipped it regardless and hoped I wouldn’t have to test its integrity. Moving further upwards, two solid hand jams were found with a finger lock at the end supplemented by some pretty good foot holds. Altogether probably not the most graceful way I’ve ever turned a roof, but it worked. For the next 150 feet it was nothing but some of the most spectacular movement I’ve ever climbed for the relative 5.7-5.8 grade of the linked pitches. While I definitely love some giant-ass dihedrals, this one might be one of my favorites for a while. As the rope drag progressed, I realized why these are normally two pitches, but to be entirely honest I don’t really regret linking them. A rack with doubles in the fingers and hands sizes would be more than sufficient to link the two, though the more squeamish may opt for a true double rack to avoid the runouts I was happy to live through. Topping out at the even larger ledge that marked the end of our second pitch (and the third for the route) my smile was uncontrollable.

I yelled down to Sarah with the best scream that I could muster that she was free to climb up to me. Yet again, another fantastic anchor placement. I could really tell the two pitches we had done were the best, as the smile that Sarah reflected onto me when she met me at the anchor I could assume only more resembled mine. We assessed the topo we brought with us at the anchor and deduced that we would have to traverse over exposed, yet very easy terrain to a secondary anchor in order to complete the final pitch of the route. I climbed quickly and deliberately to the secondary anchor and marveled at the final exposed terrain above. If the last two pitches were the best of the route, this one I’m sure is a close second. From the anchor, I moved carefully over slabby and runout terrain until the wall became steep again at a large flake. The gear was good moving up it, but I have to say the stances for placement were even better. I haven’t climbed very many flakes at this moderate grade before, but the feet on this thing were phenomenal. A nice #2 plugged into an overhanging crack later and I was contending with the last “roof” that the Trooper Traverse had to offer. Lacking the awkward physical nature of the roof previous, this one was easily surmounted and lead quickly to more slabby terrain. One more rusty piton was clipped and the last 10-25 feet were finished pretty quickly. There was a bolted anchor at the top of the last pitch as well, but I opted to build one as it would better protect Sarah’s last couple moves to top out on the route. The view from the top of Monitor was, as always, spectacular. Nestled into the valley that leads up to the summit of Independence pass proper, The top of Monitor Rock commands views of most of the east side. What a great way to get to the top.

Sarah and I began down the walk off trail on the east side of Monitor. From there, we would be able to hopefully be deposited right at the start of the Rainbow Route. The Rainbow Route clocked in at a downright casual 5.4, something that would still be casual even if it was a sandbag. With the difficulties of the day behind us, it was just another 500-600 more feet until a cold beer at camp could be enjoyed. We tooled down the walk off trail and eventually found the indistinguishable pile of large talus that marked the beginning of the Rainbow Route.

Situated on the rib of the wall between the true west face and the “nose” of Monitor, the Rainbow Route, if anything, was a fun adventure to reach the upper summit dome area at the top of the huge rock. Looking back, there really was no primarily interesting climbing, minus the slightly runout loose stuff on the first pitch, but this way to the top would be definitely enjoyed as a solo or simul-climbing challenge. Looking back, the hardest thing that we experienced going up it was finding the Trailhead Wall rappel anchors at the top of the route. From there, it is three single 70m (35m) rappels back down to right below where both routes started. Another 15 minutes at most later, and one is back to the cars. Our finish to the day went nearly exactly as that, although a little more time added as we had to play the game of finding the first set of rappel anchors at the top.

All in all, I’d do it all again. It was that enjoyable. If you’re looking for a solid day of moderate climbing on some great routes (especially the Trooper Traverse), look no further. For the season that we’re preparing for, this was a great training day. Go out and do it.

*All writing property of Trent Hillier and Sarah Howe*

*All pictures property of Trent Hillier and MountainProject.com*