P1. The start is overhung but juggy through some really neat rock.  It is a lot different than most of the stuff at Shelf.  After passing the pink rock, continue up the vertical face with small ledges.

P2. You can continue after the anchors past 2 more bolts to another set of anchors (5.11).  The crux is down low, but it doesn't let up much after that.

This is a very fun route!

Pink Torpedo

Bridget the Midget

Starving Hippies

Pink Torpedo (extension)

Flesh Tuxedo

Season Down Under

Sty in the Sky

Crab Nation

Doggie Style

Shady Character

Unknown 8+

Heaven is Waiting

Bum Cakes (formerly listed as Buns)

One Tough Waterjug

Pig City Nights

The Sweepings

Geek USA

Disciples of Hell

Puking Yuppies

Harry

The Apple Cracks

Gambino

Sky, Blue Sky

Y- Left (submitted as Why Left)

Limestone Cowboy

Poncho

Unsaid, The (aka The Brothel)

Number 1 Super Guy

jasonbecker.com

Prestevious

Ussen

Birthing the Piggy

Lefty

Who Asked You?

Misery

Heretic

Shelf Life

Project Focus

The Don Show

Pennies and Piggydust

Lick and a Promise

Silver Rain

Unknown 5.7 (Earth Day?)

[Redacted]

Tuff Shed (aka B&C)

Incredible Weather

Dirty Deed

Piñon Slalom

Stranger in Moscow

2010A

Generation X

Old But Not Dead

Gen X ation (aka Musso Route)

Ladies' Night In Buffalo

Large Marge

Lloyd

Abu Simbel

Alcohollica

This climb ascends good holds up the steep red rock leads to a casual face section on big holds. Shake out before the final crux. There are long reaches through the final crux either with low feet for the taller climbers, or higher feet for the vertically challenged. It is not as sandy as the guidebook suggests. In my opinion, this is the best route on the Northern-most end of the Bank North.

Bridget the Midget is a line just to the right of a corner. Climb steep face, move right to a right-facing corner to the top.

Start below a shallow corner, staying either to the right on the face or use the large, scary flake on the left.  Juggy pockets lead to a good stance followed by a thin and technical face.

Pull the roof after the mid-anchor (Mussies).

Start just left of a prow and ramble up easy holds on what looks like dark brown, petrified mud to reach the first bolt.  Traverse right to the arête and continue up on rock thats a lot more solid than it looks.  At the third bolt, cross over to the left and up, traversing past the 4th (crux) and 5th bolts.  From there, fire up the left side of the bolt line utilizing the large flake to gain the anchor.  Rappel to descend.

This fun, new route starts in a shallow, left-facing dihedral and eventually meanders up and right to anchors below a roof.  There may be no definitive crux move, but the top becomes a little steeper as you shoot for the chains.

Grab good chalked holds to start and move straight up for 2 clips, then move left or right for a few clips to a rest. Climb up and through the short corner section. Gain the small roof passing 1 clip to the anchors.

This is an interesting trad route. There are lots of loose rocks that need to be cleaned.

This is the second bolted line to the right of

Number 1 Super Guy

. This route provides some face, arete, and mantel climbing. The climbing isn't that outstanding but allows great positioning for photos of leaders on

Number 1 Super Guy

. It would make for a great, easy/moderate warm-up.

Climb great vertical/sharp holds to a small stance @ C2 with nice rest jams.  Go right with juggy holds over the small bulge/roof to another small stance right of C3.  Sustained, vertical climbing on good edges and nice pockets through 4 clips gets you to the anchors.

Follow a crack on the right to the roof.  Enjoy the hand jam in the left crack and gain the roof.

This is a bolted route between

Unknown 5.7

and

Bum Cakes

(Buns). It is a pleasant sport route along an arete with a crack for a part of the climb. It's easier if you climb left of the arete (less steep, with lots of holds) and more difficult if yo climb to the right of the arete (steeper, fewer big holds).

Start with some broken rock to gain the wide crack en-route to clip 1. Cruise the thinner crack with good holds for 2 more clips to a stance as the thin crack peters out.  Move up the continuing steeper crack with face holds and jams for 5 more clips to the anchors.

Climb a slabby face right of a large, right-facing crack.

Getting to this climb requires a pretty involved scramble up to an exposed ledge. The first bolt is easy to clip from the ledge. The climbing is fun, technical, and exciting.

Beware of a bit of loose rock.

Start on

Incredible Weather

, and move straight up vertical, sustained climbing to clip C1 on the right. Go to reachy jugs at C2, and continue on great, vertical holds past C3 through C5 to a great, no hands rest up and right. Move up and left to pull the crux bulge straight on with smooth holds or step left at C5  with strenuous hands and tricky hard feet with more reachy / good holds to another rest on top of a small boulder sticking out of the wall.

Sustained climbing through 3 more clips will get you to the anchors.

This [was] rarely climbed, probably due to its mixed nature. Natural gear [was] required along the top crack.

Eds. Per

Aaron Glasenapp

: this route has gone through a few phases. It was first climbed on gear sans bolts, certainly the boldest style considering the sparse placements on a limestone face climb. 4 bolts were later added making this a largely ignored, still runout mixed route with some not-so-great fall potential.

It is now fully bolted with new stainless glue-ins, has a couple of engaging cruxes (11a) and a nice 10 foot crack for good measure. At the top of the crack, you have the option to trend right and finish on the last 2 bolts of

Gen X ation

, or trend left and finish on the last bolt of

Starving Hippies

.

Puking Yuppies makes a good companion to the popular

Gen X ation

and a good precursor to the more sustained

Starving Hippies

. Climbing all 3 of these routes in a day makes a good session of 5.11 sport climbing.

This is a short, 3 bolt route with easier climbing down low. The crux seemed to be getting to the anchors.

This is a fun 5.7 with a variety of moves.  It is well protected with a lot of rests and is a good route for new sport climb leaders.

Start on a black face just left of a scary-looking, detached pillar and work up left of the bolt line, following a crack.  As the crack runs out and turns into a small roof, work up and right.  The crux comes at the fourth bolt, a delicate move up the face, avoiding the pillar.  Using the pillar downgrades the route by a half grade.    Continue up the bolt line on easier ground to a two bolt anchor.  Rappel to descend.

Start just right of the bolted crack "

Who Asked You?

". Some moderate moves leads to a roof where the cranking begins. A thin crack shoots up from the roof, think fast and look around for the non-obvious moves through this section.

This route is named Y (for how the route splits left or right per

Mark Tjaden

). Y Left, the harder problem, tackles a vertical wall with good pockets and edges to a thin, sequential crux. Good footwork will make up for the poor hand holds at the crux, but a few more less than bomber moves will keep you working afterwards.

Start climbing the sharp slabby rock that goes vertical towards the top. There are a few good hand jams and lots of finger cracks. Stem the right-facing corner to get to the bolted anchors.

Follow the line of weakness up right and then left, passing a very suspicious and hollow sounding block below the anchors.

This face climb works left, then back right and then up to the anchors.  The crux between the 6th and 7th bolt can be avoided by climbing to the left and then traversing right to clip the last bolt.

What an amazing roof!  This has the potential to be a complete sandbag at 11a, you are forewarned!

For the roof lover - the only reason the climb isn't 3 stars is the loose start.  Climb a easy, slightly loose, stemming dihedral with a piece of pro or two to a ledge.  Climb the balancy, fun face to beneath the roof.  Clip the bolt behind you on the roof.  Sandbagged with bad beta, I climbed this the hard way with the most tremendous reach I've ever made.  There is an easier way, but I'll let you puzzle this one out yourself.

Start with some stemming and face holds to get to clip 1.

Move to the face for some sustained climbing for 3 clips to a reachy hold under the bulge.  Lieback the bulge moving left with killer fingers for 2 clips to the anchors.

This route runs up a right-facing corner with a nice finger crack the whole length and decent feet except in the mid-section. This is the crux. The feet require some smearing for a few moves, but you can stem at the same time and hang on some great hands.

Named after the Apache god, this has slightly techy climbing following pockets, edges, cracks, and weaknesses. The hardest part seemed to be getting to the first bolt.

Climb the wide crack between

Pink Torpedo

and

The Sweepings

to the bolted anchor of

The Sweepings

for an optional belay. Then climb through the back of the squeeze chimney to the top and belay from a tree.

Descend by the gully to the right or carefully make your way to the anchors for

Poncho

(a short belay is recommended for reaching the exposed anchors).

This is a new route on the Piggy Bank Wall and is still very dirty.  Nonetheless, it is a great climb that requires at least some crack jamming skills to finish.  It starts at a lower angle for the first couple of clips and then steepens up into a crack where you can use a combo of crack and face moves with a finish that requires your hand and feet in the crack and goes to the anchors.

This is a bolted crack with good hand/fist jamming, left of Sky, Blue Sky and Shredulator.

Start just left of the small corner and grab great holds to clip C1. After clipping C1, move to the corner with tricky feet, and then really reachy pockets to clip C2.

There is a small rest out right with a great right hand rail.

Continue on with sharp, vertical rock to a reachy C3. Once past C4, some easier ground gets you to one more clip and the chained anchors.

Great holds to a stance. Go left for the good holds over the small bulge to another stance up and past C2. Vertical climbing on good holds to great pockets gets you to another stance by the small block on the left. Skirt the block to the right with good crimpy holds, and then head up & left past the block to the anchors.

Shelf Life is a super vertical route with lots of pockets and ledges. The crux requires a few high steps near the middle section.

Pull over the bulge, and alternate between jamming and smearing up the dark face.

Start with blocky rock to gain C1. Continue on some vertical climbing with great holds to C2. As the angle of climbing increases, stay in the corner with good but some hidden reachly holds.  Follow the crack system with good holds and then bear left at C7 and then back right at C8 to the anchors.

Climb the obvious dihedral between two bolted faces (currently labeled "

Project Focus

" and "

Poncho

"). It's a bit of a one-move wonder. The crux is pulling the roof about 20 feet up using either hand jams or a lieback. After that, it eases up a bit. There's an easy offwidth move toward the top.

It's a bit dirty, but the loose rock I found was pretty minimal (small and not too hazardous).

This is a new bolted route that may follow a previously trad line up under a roof, into a large offwidth/chimney, then up a finger crack to anchors.  There are good jugs down low to the roof, the offwidth actually provides a good rest -- the crux is the finger crack at the top before the anchors.

Start out a small roof and go to a steep face.

This climb has sustained 5.7 moves up the face. Storm the Castle!

The Ginger Midget has a steep start to a face.

This route is listed as B&C in the new guidebook.  Start in the middle of the face, behind the large pine tree.  Work up the face and the right crack of a double crack system.  While this line has a lot of face climbing, it also yields quite a lot of crack technique and several nice ledges for resting.  Continue working the crack until it runs out on a ledge.  Work up a right-facing dihedral to gain a large anchor ledge.  Rappel to descend.

Ascend the *very* thin, white face 15 feet to the right of

jasonbecker.com

.

Climb the black, west-facing pillar. Look for a low first bolt.

Like the name suggests, climb up and between some small pinon pine trees.  There is an obvious crux up high.

Start with face/crack moves to C1. Move up and left to gain C2. Continue up on good fingery pockets through a left trending section to a great stance at C4.

Go up past good vertical holds bearing right through C5 and C7 to another no hands. Climb straight up on great crack and face moves to the reachy anchors.

The route starts lower angle through the first couple of clips and then steepens up.  A couple of clips before the anchors the route changes.  You lose all of your little ledges and crimpers and suddenly you have a couple of weird sidepulls on minimum feet to a right arm sloper. This is the crux.  Pull through it, and it eases up to the anchors.

Start as for

Y- Left (submitted as Why Left)

up blocky terrain to the high first bolt. After the first bolt, head right using some shared holds with

Y- Left (submitted as Why Left)

initially. Use pockets and sidepulls aiming for the bolted crack higher up. I stepped across the wide crack mid-route while laybacking the edge of the wide crack up to the finger crack. This was fun.

Finish using finger locks in the upper crack and sharp holds near the anchor. Nice position.

This route is called "Generation X" in

D'Antonio's new Shelf Road book.

It is not to be confused with the much easier and more aesthetic

Gen X ation (aka Musso Route)

Clip the first two bolts of

Large Marge

, then continue up the arête for eight more bolts. The route has it all: steep crack to technical face climbing on top. The anchors are six feet left of

Large Marge's

anchors, making it a great toprope.

This has sustained face climbing to gain the arete.

This climb starts with a couple of cracks and a large flake to the right.  After the cracks, clip some bolts while climbing over some blocks.  Then the fun starts.  Climb up a steep face clipping a couple bolts and gain the anchor.

Start in the corner with great holds everywhere through 2 clips to a ledge at C3. At C3, start moving up and right into the corner. Gain C4 and move past Large Marge on great jams & face holds past C5 to C6.

Move up and left on great hands with some tricky feet through C9 to the anchors.

This route has short, moderate, crack and face climbing with some sharp holds on the top half. It doesn't look like this has seen much traffic yet.

There is a directional bolt at the top that can be used from

Harry's

anchors.

Start on low angled rock to gain C1. Go with sustained vertical climbing on crimpers and pockets to C3.  At C3, move right to the big block undercling and go straight up on big holds with sustained climbing to and past C4.  Lunge to a big, reachy, flat hold with a killer, hidden locker behind it at C5.  Hang back then jet up and left to the hard to clip anchors.

Start with  some low angled climbing for 3 clips. At C4 the terrain steepens and you can go left (arete & easier) or stay in the corner (.9+).  Climbing

left

offers great big side pully holds with tricky feet to a reach above C7 to a ledge and then 1 more clip to the anchors.

OR

stay

in the crack with sustained smooth jams and then aim for the same above ledge with 1 more clip to the anchors.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in 01. Piggy Bank