Chase the Sky

Chase the Sky is named partly to honor the Chase family, who donated their land to the park.

This route is 3 pitches long with a 5.8- crux 30 foot from the top of P3.

P1

: 130 feet. Cruise up 35 feet

past

the low rappel anchor. Just above it (bolt 8), there is a 5.6 ‘crux’. Continue on easy rock to the anchor at the back right corner of the giant picnic ledge.

Hey Ranger!

passes through/near the left side of this ledge.

P2

: 85 feet  Start to the right of the anchor. 40 feet. up, there is a section of low angle rock. Then the fun begins. Climb the steep, highly featured wall. The crux (bolt 7) has options left, center, & right of fairly similar difficulty. The P2 anchor has several sets of footholds but no ledge to speak of.

P3

: 85 feet. Climb straight up from the anchor, and head for the blue stuff! Positive features abound on the way to the headwall. The 5.8- crux (bolts 6-8) is where the character of the rock changes at the base of the headwall. Finish the last 30 feet on easier terrain. From the P3 anchor, it’s a 4th Class scramble to the top of Park View Dome.

Combining P1 & 2 won’t work with a 60m rope. Combining P2 & P3 could work if you have 22 draws.

Descent

To get down, rappel the route. The first two rappels are straightforward. Some care should be used when pulling the rope down past the plentiful chickenheads. The third rappel can reach the ground if you follow the gully and lean right to land 50 feet higher than the start of the route. If you rappel the bolt line, a 4th rappel is required.

If there are folks climbing the route below you, you can scramble up to the top and past the pine tree to the

Heads Up

anchor. It offers a two rap descent on bolted anchors. As a trad climb, it is less likely to have traffic. Walk down the gully to get back to the start.

Chase the Sky starts on the third buttress up right from the bottom of the dome. Buttress 1 is right of

Heads High

. Between B1 & B2 is an alcove with aspens. Buttress 2 is

Hey Ranger!

To confirm the Buttress 3 location, look for the large aspen tree with the ‘roundtangle’ (rectangle with rounded corners) scar.

P1: 13 bolts including one at the intermediate anchor and a 2 bolt anchor with chains.

P2: 10 bolts and a 2 bolt anchor with equalized chains to a steel rap ring.

P3: 12 bolts and a 2 bolt anchor with chains.