Choss Route Profile: Comic Relief
Today begins the first of a series of posts about Certified Choss Routes. Every climbing route has its own sense of adventure, but for many, there’s a certain allure to routes that are committing and adventurous.
As a whole, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, is known for adventurous climbing. Recently it was featured in the Peter Mortimer film, First Ascent. Check out the trailer below. Comic Relief is one of the tamest routes in the Black, but it still packs a punch and defeats or tames many competent parties.
Comic Relief was my first route in the Black. My friend Dave and I drove down early one morning, making the two hour drive from Glenwood Springs. I remember feeling uneasy when hiking down S.O.B. Gully in the early morning light, with full knowledge that it would be up to me to climb out via the steep walls of the canyon. Because Dave had already climbed the route a few times he let me lead all the pitches. On the crux, second pitch he advised me to place gear at the crux and then go for it. I nervously placed as much gear as I could, sometimes just a foot apart, in fear that I may get runout through the crux. Instead, I laced up the crux with gear as I continually stopped in the crux to place gear, making it harder than it needed to be. We quickly moved through the upper pitches and before I knew it we were on top of the buttress, rappelling into the exit gully and hiking to the canyon rim. All the gruesome stories I had heard of loose rock, pegmatite, and difficult climbing proved to be only marginally true of Comic Relief. It was then that I realized that the Black was home to some great, moderate climbing and it wasn’t exclusively the realm of climbers with a few screws loose.
Comic Relief is featured in the current issue of Climbing Magazine. Read on about Comic Relief at climbing.com for a great online version of the article, expanded from the magazine copy.
