Originally scoped by Aaron Carter this route was brought to completion with permission by Scott Ayers.  The name is a tribute to Carter's energy and enthusiasm for the Homestead. 

  The route starts with four bolts of moderate climbing up a crack to a platform.  Face climb on orange rock through improbable jugs.  Trend left to a gray limestone prow that requires to stemming and deciphering to the chains.

AC Power

The Rough Rider

McLovin'

Cold Fusion

Semi Bluff

Crosstafarian

Crescendo

Tough Enough

There Goes the Neighborhood

Swarm Riders

One With Everything

Roughians

Cruise It Or Lose It

Cherts So Good

Semi Bluff All In (Extension)

Send Train Surfer

Gamble on John

The Glass Ceiling

Superbad

The Riddler

Riders on the Swarm

Wild Woozy

JBone Memorial Highway

Long and sustained with varied multiple cruxes.

A Gambler classic, one of the longest routes at the Homestead, and one of the first routes put up on the RR.  Crux is before the midway point, sustained climbing follows with great holds on a steep bulging arete to the top.

A cryptic hard start in both getting off the ground and passing the second bolt leads to easier climbing and a good rest.  Pull the next steep section on good holds to a handjam slot, then figure out how to get past the next five feet to another great rest.  Rest well as the hardest crux awaits.  Increasingly difficult climbing leads to a jug, then a miserable crimp.  Pull to an OK hold clip, then pull the final hard cryptic moves to the anchors. 

  This route may feel really hard for the Onsite as the moves are cryptic and the holds very difficult to find.

A few sections on this route might keep NPR's Will Shorts scratching his head.  The climb goes on and on and has a middle and a finish that might thwart your onsight.  Pretty much what you get on most Rough Rider Wall routes, stemming, laybacking, underclings, thin balancy face climbing and it is long.  It crosses Crescendo at the easiest point, about 30 feet up using one bolt then moving up and right.  If you clip two bolts on Crescendo you might not be happy with the rope drag.  Work left at the top to use the anchors on Crescendo.  Oh, and don't even think about clipping the last bolt on Crescendo.

Stick clipping the first bolt is recommended.  Funky start but once you get going the first half of the route is pretty cruiser.  Much more challenging moves await up higher.

A good climb that has some of the best crack climbing in southern Arizona. A good warmup if you stop at the first set of anchors and is about 10+. The thirty five foot extension is really great and well worth doing raising the bar to 11+.

Dicey start until a first bolt gets added.  The rest is fun and sustained.

Climb the first pitch of Riders, clip the anchors, and keep going! As according to the grade, this extension is harder. It is NOT the best warm up, unless you're looking for one of those epic, in-your-face warm ups.

This is an amazing pitch requiring a 70M rope.  Cool moves at two overhangs and thought provoking cruxes between them.

Fun long moderate that stays interesting to the anchors.  Where Cold Fusion moves left off of the slab this route continues up right on easy broken rock for a couple of moves until possible to follow weakness up to a blunt short arete. 

  A completely independent line is just right of CF but is 5.11 and is a little run out on the easy slab.  This EFR direct start avoids using any holds, bolts or anything else that has anything at all to do with CF.   But, if you want a nice moderate start on CF.

Thin hard start leads to the inevitable semi rotten band that crosses the entire wall.  More moderate climbing leads to 40 feet of climbing that gets progressively more difficult. The final moves through the notch in a roof might end your cruise.

This is a 35 or 40 foot extension.  Like the other three cruxes on the lower section there is a no hands rest before you launch into the crux.  I suggest you get it all back at the no hander.  The crux is just a tad harder and a bit longer than the lower cruxes and you can blow it at the chains.  The climbing involves some underclings in pockets, thin crimps, and route finding on just slightly overhanging rock.

Stout climbing right off the deck to the first break in the wall at about 35 ft.  Need to stay away from the funky rock at the broken area half way up the wall.  It is easy to avoid by climbing over or right of the bolt.  A hard move up to where the angle eases leads to the start of a tricky crux which leads to an endless series of sequences that never allow you to get completely off your arms.  Really cool.

The climb starts with some techy moves then eases up for a bit with some fun movement to a roof in the middle of the route, here the difficulty increases, pull through this roof then up some more techy face climbing to some good holds. Try to recover here as the climbing gradually becomes more inverted to a second roof at the top of the wall, pull this roof and make a couple moves to the anchors.  Probably want a 70m rope, though it looks like a 60m will barely get you down. 

Nice climbing up to a fun stemming section before the finish.

Superbad is a much maligned route consisting of a two foot roof at the second bolt.  The crux requires precise footwork and brutal deadpoints.  By the third bolt the climbing eases significantly, allowing full recovery.  Off the ledge a sequence with a pinch and undercling flows well.  Prior to the chains the climber is rewarded with a moderate exposed traverse above a roof. 

  Named after the 2007 comedy film, Superbad sees few ascents due to its inconsistent difficulty, brutal start, classic neighbors, and original sandbag rating of 11++.

Sustained climbing, hard to read sequences on great rock.

This is THE WARM UP route on the wall. Start on the huge jugs. Crux it out going to the anchors.

This climb has four hard sections.  The first is the start which is the same start as Send Train Surfer.  Above the weakness that crosses the entire cliff is a cool stemming problem leads to a move over a roof that involves slopers and side pulls. Fifteen feet of easy traversing take you to the last hard section with thin crimps and side pulls.  Some of the higher bolts seem to be pretty far apart but they have good clipping holds but you will still have to push yourself to get to them.  Many thanks to SA for cleaning this thing.

Pull an easy start into a lower angle dihedral.  Next make very awkward moves to leave the dihedral and get established onto the face.  A very difficult clip is encountered here.  Continue up on sustained rock with good movement passing the approach rap anchors to your right.  (If you've had enough it would be easy to bail here).  If you choose to continue head up passing another crux with some more difficult clips to the anchors. 

  Expect to be making hard clips and hard moves well above your last bolt.  In some cases the bolts are just out of reach from nice jugs so if working this route, some long slings should make the clips flow better.

The main Rough Rider Wall is unquestionably one of the best walls at the Homestead. With long routes on beautiful orange rock, often capped by roofs near the top, this sector claims some of the best 5.11 and 5.12 routes in the canyon. Clean, crisp lines of positive holds, interspersed by buckets, make this wall especially enjoyable. The aspect of the wall is such that it always gets morning shade, but depending upon the month, the sun will hit the wall between early to late afternoon. Most people don’t climb here between December and February due to the cold temps.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Rough Rider Wall