Ascent Notes for: Mars Attacks - 5.8 popular Average Rating : 4.44/5

A great route to show friends, take a vacation on this !
I lead all four, like 3 rd the best, such texture and variety.
palce a #4 at 20 ft flowed by # 2 later , and #1 at crux.

killer traverse! thin ass slab first pitch! fun stuff.

with josh

Lots of fun, soft for the grade and over-hyped...but then again, what route can live up to this amount of publicity.

Drove partway, then parked and walked 15-20 minutes on the road in order to save our compact car. Note that the unusually large tree mentioned in "Weekend Rock Arizona" at the start of the approach is no longer there.

I dropped a heavily used and bent wire #4 DMM stopper at the start of pitch 3. It landed somewhere around the tree down bottom. I got a mega reward for this sentimental piece of gear. Instead of finding it, I did unearth a ton of biners, hexes, and other nuts. I miss our old friend Smithers (yes, we named it).

because I thought the 1st pitch was way harder than 5.7 and I have done a good bit of slab work, mostly on granite though. However it had just recently rained and the whole route felt sandy so take that for what it is worth. Really exciting second pitch with great crack climbing on the 3rd makes for a good outing. The slab detracts though...

Loved this one. All four pitches make a nice contrast.
P1 5.8
I think this pitch is within 5.8 range. Well-protected except that the first bolt is kind of high. No harder than J-Tree 5.9 slabs with sparse bolts. Sandy red rock was more slippery than it looks, though.
P2 5.7
Spectacular, very exposing traverse. Moves are kind of easy but some holds are questionable. Just mentally demanding. My partner freaked out on this pitch. I fixed both ends of the rope and sent her from one end to the other with prusik. This worked very well on this pitch. Otherwise, belay from both sides for beginners. A fall wouldn’t be a good option on this pitch.
P3 5.7 or 5.8
Awesome. Felt like we were on another planet!
P4 5.7
Actually, liked this pitch, too. The slab section was well-protected (~6 bolts) and no harder than P1. Runout section is just a walk.

The approach was straight forward once you found the right wash.

...If only we could now find the top.

The first of many trips Sedona. Fun pitches with 2 great belays. loved the 3rd pitch, fun crack.

This was my first multi-picth climb, and while it was a lot of fun, I don't really have much right to comment on it! I had a lot of fun, and was glad to second the entire thing. I have not had a lot of experience on Slab, but the first pitch seemed a little steeper then 5.8

Approach: We parked at the right pullout at 1.6 miles on Dry Creek road, and spent little time wandering around looking for a trail. The approach to the route comes from the far left side, cutting right above a prominent rock band. On the exit, we followed the wash out, and ended up by a pullout on the left side, somewhere between Devil's Bridge and the 1.6 mile pullout.

Excellent pitches, and varied moves. The traverse was wild, and crack pitches were a blast. P4 was longer than I expected. Climbed the final slab section in gale force winds, which made it very exciting. Great belay stations for each pitch.

Descent: There are two sets of anchors at the end of P4. Use the rightmost set. First rap is 100-120', and takes you to a hanging belay just right and above the Big Corner anchors. Second rap takes you to the ground. There is a trail that hugs the cliffline which takes you back to your packs. The trail is overgrown, and can be hard to follow in the dark.

Gear list: I used singles of camalots 0.5, 0.75, and 1, and doubles of 2 and 3, plus a 2.5 and 3.5 friend. Brought a 3.5 and 4 camalot, but never placed them. I ran it out a lot, so you would want more hand-sized pieces if you plan on sewing it up.

Updates after a second visit:

Approach: We parked in a big sandy turnout on the left 0.2 miles past the Devil's Bridge junction. Walk back 100' or so to a wash marked by a dead tree and a small cairn. Well marked trail all the way to the Fin. Much faster this time.

Descent: We had a 50 meter rope which did not reach the ground from the second rap. If you've got a short rope, you could do a third belay from the top of P1 of Big Corner.

Approach from wash as others suggested. There is a point where the wash splits, take a left. There is a trail that cuts off to the right a hundred or so yards up that wash.

Lead P 1,3,4.
P1 5.9 Slab. Haven't climbed much slab, so this may be off. The other pitches were 5.7/5.8. They were all fun except for the easy run out to the anchors on P4, just wasn't fun or exciting like the rest of the climb.

I used my big hexes a fair amount, but if I had doubles in 2-4 camalots i probably wouldn't have used them. Didn't use anything smaller than .75, with the exception of a few nuts.