Diagonal Will Buttress, Mango Tango

Colorado, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
Author: Hansjörg Auer. Climb Year: 2017. Publication Year: 2018.

On May 4, Much Mayr and I completed a new route on the Black Canyon’s Diagonal Wall, ground-up and in a single 11-hour push. This was my second trip to the Black Canyon, after traveling there with Ben Lepesant in 2011 to make the first free ascent of the historic Hallucinogen Wall (AAJ 2012).

Mango Tango (600m, 5.11+ R/X) is on the right-hand side of the Diagonal Wall, between the routes Diagonal Will and Pathfinder. The route’s 18 pitches follow logical systems of cracks and corners, but also feature some spicy runouts through unprotected face climbing—like the third pitch, where falling is not an option. We left two pitons and one nut in situ. Although the Black Canyon is famous for poor rock, this new climb offers mostly the opposite.

– Hansjörg Auer, Austria



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