Fantastic climb right up to the rim. Super technical sequences and some super fantastic marble stone. Partway up, the holds die out, make a traverse around a block until to arrive at a new set of holds. Finish directly into the anchors for Raiders Of The Lost Art. One could head left, at the end but you'd risk a big swing (as well as miss some wonderful hard climbing).

Then name? Well, we told our good friend we were renaming his local ranch if he didn't knock off the homophobia.

Rimjob Ranch

Raiders of the Lost Art

Armageddon Better

The Marble Miracle

Pile In The Sky

This line follows the prominent east-facing dihedral with engaging climbing in a very stunning location. Descend 3rd-class to the right. This was the first known route in the Marble Mountains, and as such, we had no idea what to expect. To complicate things, the first ascent was led with a hardly-usable recovering broken arm!

This route was climbed on accident while attempting to find the base the wall to the left. Despite the mistake, it turned out to be a very fun climb on its own, and definitely worthy of climbing again! Begin climbing up a left facing corner, aiming for an obvious hand crack. Continue up a dihedral before cutting left under a roof. Bring long slings. Scramble up and over to the same walk off as Raiders of the Lost Art on the east face.

This route was an absolute dream. Yes, it's a bit weird, but I think that's largly what makes it absolutely in my top five favorite trad climbs I've done in 23 years of climbing. The route was climbed ground-up onsight... just barely. Every twenty feet, I thought the route would dead-end, only to discover another excellent passageway.

P1. (5.10a R) Zigzag a path of least resistance with spaced pro on excellent 5.7-5.8. Eventually you’ll hand-place a solid knifeblade piton in a vertical slot and traverse rightward before heading up, passing a ball-nut placement and dead-ending at a roof. Place a solid #4, then down climb and do the 8' traverse crux left into a hidden .4-.5" crack. Reverse the  traverse to back clean the #4, then re-do the crux again to return to the splitter. Belay at a good stance below the hand crack. 2” anchor.

P2. (5.11b) Continue up the hand crack then execute several easy, but unprotected mantles. Place two #5s in an alcove to protect a few more awkward moves to a nest of gear before a 5’ roof. Exit the roof on perfect hand jams which die out right when you wish they didn’t. Pulling the lip is unforgettable. Save .3-1” for the anchor.

This is the wall left of The Marble Miracle. I had dreamed of showing up to this wall and going for an onsight lead, but a short in time led to just dropping a single line TR from the top. Turned out there's hardly any gear on the whole route! The climbing is super varied, sometimes very technical and confusing. The rock is less than perfect in spots.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Marble Rim