Just what the world needs: more routes on Table Mountain. Our goal here was to get in the hard face right of

Monkey Puzzle

, but the additional routes that also went in will flush out the climbing in this small sector. "Cool Thing" ascends a short slab to a very awkward corner system. The corner may or may not be 5.11, but it has a weird sequence that is easy to do incorrectly. The FFA went to George Valdez in mid-week, the 2nd or 3rd of Dec.

Cool Thing

Uomama bin Rotten

Parental Abuse

5.8 Crack

Sahara?

Big Loose Goose?

Unknown  3 (Rat Race?)

Unknown Q

Scream Amy

Mystified Monkey

Power and Lies

Fergus Traverse

Monkey Puzzle

Puzzled Monkey

Off Guard

Unknown Rib

Mousetrap

Skin Deep

The Rodent

Rafiki

Hairball

Unknown

Unknown 2

Unknown L

Power and Lies Trad Variation

[Redacted]

Mohare Eclaire

Off Guard (aka GWB, Great White Bullshitter) ascends the  face just left of

Cool Thing

. A left hand on the arete sends the route. Fun moves. Solid stone.

This route has some of the absolute worst rock I've encountered in a quarter century of cragging.  The only other route that even came close fell into the Pacific back in the '80s.  Large sections of this pitch have bear a strong resemblance to used clumping cat litter in appearance, feel, and structural integrity.

It is listed as a "chipped" route because countless holds were created, destroyed, and modified during the initial ascent, and it seems certain that this process will be repeated on any subsequent ascent.  No tools beyond bare hands (I left my chalkbag in the car) were used in the "manufacture" of this route.

Despite stone that barely qualifies for the classification, the climbing is quite engaging.  The real challenge is not in climbing 5.10 moves, but in distributing your weight and pressure on the holds without blowing them to pieces.  Pull a little too hard and you'll need to scrape out a new hold with your fingertips.  The crux comes about 40' up where the wall bulges slightly.

From where the Access Fund trail skirts the base of the lower tier of the Child Free Zone, head right on the path that traverses the base of the wall.  Follow it all the way to the right, past the giant cave/gully to a spot where there is 15' or 20' of better rock at the base of the wall.  There is a nice 80' bouldering traverse (

Fergus' Traverse

- V1) from one gully to the next along the base of this wall, and a bolted Richard Wright route on the right that goes halfway up the cliff.  Start about 20' left of Richard's route in a grey corner with a crack that looks better than it is.  Head straight up using anything that comes to hand (tossing off about half of it).  On the upper wall, follow a crack up the middle of the wall left of the chimney past endless perched boulders to a particularly large one that hasn't fallen off the rim yet.

Don't forget your helmet, don't set your pack at the base, and be sure to belay from well off to one side.  There's not much point in bolting it into a sport route - even with 25 clips it would still merit an R or X protection rating.

On the main right sector above

Monkey Puzzle

and before the scramble to Dan Hare's new routes is a fine seam and edge climb on near perfect stone. Scramble up to a bolt and swim past with an easy mantle to a broad flat ledge. Balance up some crisp edges to a jug just before the face begins to overhang. I used a couple of zig-zag moves through the overhanging face to catch jugs right and left of the seam, but you may just as well run the seam on thin tips. Parental Abuse is an excellent and continuous climb on very good stone (for this neck of the woods). Highly recommended.

The crux of the route could be getting your first piece of gear after leaving the ground.

This is a decent crack line to the right of

The Rodent

.  It utilizes a short, aesthetic corner on the left near its start.  Too bad that doesn't continue for the entire pitch.  Piece together stretches of crack, face holds, and top out at a 2 bolt anchor.

Thanks, Dan & Tom.  What did you name it?

6 bolts, no anchors!  This is in a small alcove with a pair of climbs separated by about 10 feet.  This is the right-hand climb listed as #4 in the

Classic Rock Climbs

guide to the area.  This is a fun little climb that works up a face to a crack higher up.  Continue up the face/crack along plentiful (albeit small) holds.  The face moves get a little thin towards the top, but something usually pops out where you need it.  The bolts for the anchor are in place; however, there are no hangers on the anchor bolts.  It is possible safely traverse to the anchors on the adjacent climb, but it's probably easier just to lead this one and then walk off the top.

Addendum: the hanger on the 3rd bolt and anchors are missing.  You can traverse left to clip the anchors for

Unknown Q

.

This is not my route, but we saw the bolts and climbed it. The trickiest moves are the start. There is not much to it, but it is fun if you are collecting the full set.

(We made up the name, as there are too many "unknowns.)

This climb is located immediately left of

Unknown #4

and is listed as #5 in the Classic Rock Climbs guide to N. Table Mountain. While

Unknown #4

follows the obvious line on the right of the alcove, Unknown #5 works up more serious terrain to the left. Strenuous opening moves gain a large ledge using a vertical crack to the left. Once above the ledge, the climbing switches to thin face climbing. There are plenty of small, crimpy holds to haul yourself up to the anchors on. The upper portion of this climb is a blast.

I can't believe this awesome offwidth hasn't been added yet! It's pretty good even for NTM standards.

Begin up the obvious wide crack just right of

Rafiki

. You can clip the first two bolts of

Rafiki

with extended runners (awkward to clip with left side in).

Once past the second bolt, wiggle into the crack, and enjoy a fun squeeze chimney. When it becomes too tight, eject yourself from the chimney with a surprisingly good finish. Belay from gear or from the anchors on

Power and Lies

.

Double BD #6s are recommended. I was able to back clean my single #6 at a less than inspiring chockstone.

This easy trad route ascends the crack system just left of

Puzzled Monkey

. Before making an anchor at the top where large blocks are suspect, put in a directional piece and traverse right to the bolted anchor for

Puzzled Monkey

.

Keep in mind some loose rock does exist, but it is surprisingly solid for a less traveled route.

Power and Lies ascends the face and arete just right of the Un-named Monkey. This line was originally envisioned to keep on the arete (5.10+), but will most likely get done via the face and trough on the left (5.9). Fun climbing on good stone, with a small thrill popping on to the ledge. FFA for arete variation went to Mark Tarrant.

This is a fun problem that is worth doing if you happen to be climbing

Skin Deep

.  You are never more than about five feet off the ground.  The moves are interesting throughout and the crux is moving around the bulge about 10 feet right of

Skin Deep

.  Do it both ways for extra fun.

Monkey Puzzle climbs the large overhang right of

Puzzled Monkey

and is the first route you pass on the way up to the Brown Cloud crags. A clean, vertical face gains a good stance below the roof. From this stance, a pair of large jugs sets up a cruxy move to the lip with the left hand - from here on out the puzzle begins. I had an opportunity to try and solve Monkey Puzzle with Pat Burwick and Greg Purnell, on separate occasions in February. While I thrashed away, the younger, smarter pair threw a heel hook on the left and swam over the roof. Monkey Puzzle is a fine problem that just begs to be misinterpreted: trying to overpower it will likely fail whereas solving the technical puzzle will let you pass on superb kinesthetic movement.

Ascend the face/arete left of

Monkey Puzzle

. Good stone with balancey moves.

This line definitely draws your eye as you climb

Sahara?

.  It makes you wonder if there are enough features to climb it.  Sure enough, there are enough features, but it is quite short.

You can actually clip all 3 bolts from the right, then downclimb a bit and get out on the arete...or you can start from the left and fight to make the second and third clips.

This crack has certainly been climbed before but is not documented in any guide.  I am calling it Mousetrap due to its proximity to

The Rodent

.  The first 10', reaching a big ledge, are the most difficult.  Easy stemming on big holds then leads up the crack to the anchor.  This is a fun warm up climb if you have a rack with you.

There seems to be some confusion about SD. The

route listed

on the upper tier is not SD. It may refer to one of Dan Hare's lines or one of Joe Desimones'. SD is the further right of two routes, both about 100 yards right of

Cool Thing

on the lower tier. SD starts on very nice, almost chocolate-colored stone. Mantle up on a small ledge to clip the first bolt. The crux comes in the subsequent ten feet. After the fourth clip, the rock becomes sharper and more friable but climbs on decent edges. There is indeed a double bolt anchor at the top. These welded cold shuts, although solid enough, should probably be replaced with more durable gear.

The Rodent chases 5 bolts up the left wall of the big open book.  The arete on the left of the face provides some good holds from which to transition to the right onto the face.  This transition is the crux.  Once on the face, a nice crack leads up to a small ledge which is a couple of moves from the anchor.   We did not encounter any rodents.

Rafiki starts just right of

Monkey Puzzle

following 6 bolts up an overhanging wall.  Climb both the face and the wide crack on the right (.10+) up to the fourth bolt.  A knee bar rest helps in clipping bolt 4.  Move left for 6' (.12) and then launch (crux) to some good holds below a 4' roof (.11c)  The reason for the fixed sling on bolt 4 is that the rock is more integral higher up than the rock near the knee bar.

RW submitted the following description in 2003:

A killer (to be sure) line has been lurking just right of

Monkey Puzzle

. This is now a gorgeous, strenuous route with its own harrowing story. For years,

Monkey Puzzle

had been done using a brief rest that involved a good right hand edge on the top of an evidently solid sword. In preparing the new route, we were very skeptical of the integrity of the sword. Indeed, two light taps of the hammer sent the 500 pound sword earthward where it impaled itself two feet deep into the ground. Agamemnon would be proud. The Un-named Monkey ascends the continuously steep face just right of

Monkey Puzzle

by surmounting a strenuous bulge that is followed by a fully extended dyno. Difficult and interesting moves throughout make this a very worthwhile endeavour. A possible, but uncompleted, left hand variation could bring up the difficulty to 5.13. Good strenuous addition.

At the left end of the lower tier, about 20' from the trail is this juggy but slightly overhanging prow.  It is quite obvious and striking as you're walking down the hill.  It's too short to call a route, too messy on top to rig a good toprope, so I classify it as a psycho boulder problem.  Falling is not an option - you'll probably bounce all the way to the parking lot (taking your spotter with you, if you've got one).  Carefully inspect the holds by scrambling up around the side, then tackle the prow straight on from the base for a thrill (or chill) you'll not soon forget.

This is a fun, short sport climb up a partly detached pinnacle just right of

Cool Thing

by about 25 feet.  It ascends a small bulge to start on good handholds and sloping feet.  There is a way to stay right of the bolt line at a modest 5.7 grade; however, the line seems to draw you left at the second bolt.  Once you get your feet above the bulge, the difficulty eases.

As of now, the anchor that consisted of a bit of rope, long sling with a towel pad, a link, and a ring...was upgraded to a two bolts with rings anchor. Thanks!

FWIW, you can TR the little face on nice holds to the left at about 5.7...and that offwidth to the left looks tempting.

Start in the alcove/gully on the left. A couple tricky moves protected by small gear will get you to a gravelly ledge where you can clip the first bolt. Watch out for the finger locks in the left crack. If your feet slip, you might loose a finger. You could also skip the start and scramble up to the big ledge where the bolts start.

The bolted section is fun but very short. You can maximize the fun by staying right and avoiding the stem left to a big ledge.

This is the farthest bolted route Left on upper Child Free Zone, with most of the bolts facing the trail and the anchors facing nearly 90 degrees left.

Power and Lies

seems too contrived if using the prominent crack left of the bolt line. Therefore, I am adding this as a variation. This crack also makes for a good trad lead by itself. The climb stays promptly left of the bolts.

Climb the obvious crack in the gully left of

Power and Lies

(some folks use this for

Power and Lies

). This crack is also right of the large off-width/squeeze chimney. Climb up the crack and join

Power and Lies

at its last bolt. Clip the bolt, which also conveniently protects with a small cam, and finish to the anchors.

Climb the same start as

Parental Abuse

, clip the first bolt on PA. When you reach ledge, jam the crack in a right-facing corner. Reach top of block, climb a thin, left-facing corner to a blocky face. Finger crack in right-facing, when roof is reached follow horizontal seam under roof. Move out right to same top out as

Parental Abuse

.

Mohare Eclaire climbs the left side of the dihedral staying close to the arete on the left.  The crux comes at the third bolt above a small ledge.  The moves off the ledge are not obvious but staying to the right of the arete seems to work the best.  The moves above the crux are easier but powerful and sustained.

Description

Protection

Routes in Child Free Zone (aka Parkway Crags)