North America, United States, Colorado, Rocky Mountains, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Hallucinogen Wall, Dry-Tool Free Ascent

Publication Year: 2005.

Hallucinogen Wall, dry-tool free ascent. In May Ryan Nelson and Jared Ogden made a hybrid free-aid ascent of the daunting Hallucinogen Wall (VI 5.10 A3+). Ogden and others had attempted to free the route previously (AAJ 2004, p. 180) but without success. Nelson and Ogden worked the route over several weeks, eventually climbing everything free except for the most desperate portions of pitch 13, where they employed controversial tactics by using ice tools to hook thin features on the dry rock. They made a variation to avoid the pendulum on pitch five but otherwise climbed the original line. Nelson and Ogden’s ascent included regular (free) rock climbing up to 5.13-R; the dry-tooling section was rated D10+. See Ogden’s feature article earlier in this Journal.