Fountains shares its anchor with

Portraits

, to the left and nearly in the trad crack "

To The Fire Wind

". What makes Fountains so great is that every move ratchets up the difficulty till about the 60 foot mark. The fingery 5.12 crux comes in passing a small overlap to wrap a hand almost into the crack on the left but not quite. 15 feet of close encounters with the crack lead to easier climbing up and right. Fountains never uses the crack but picks off little crimps that are continuously out of sight. Three stars for continuity and superb climbing.

Fountains of Light

Forces

Golden Hair

Lady Of The Lake

The Citadel

Elliptical Seasons

Warping The Gale

To The Fire Wind

Silver Winds

Reel to Real

Pig's Nose

Portraits

This follows the the right of two cracks on the east side of The Starcastle. This is the eye catching crack which is seen from The Headstone, to the east. It appears to be a hand crack, which is only half the story.

Forces starts downhill from

Elliptical Seasons

just after an ominous looking, large, loose flake. Angle up a ramp to the right, and then cut straight up into the roofs and corners. The rock was a little sandy in the first year and cleaned up well, although a small stretch to start may give some pause. Powerful reaches around the corners and the steepest line on the wall distinguish Forces. A second reachy 5.12 crux on thin hands at two thirds height dumps you out to the left for a moderate romp to the anchors. Knock off a single star for the break above the last crux that lowers the continuity factor. However, two powerful 5.12 cruxes will leave you happy for the casual ending. A warning, stay on your feet. While considerably easier at the top, Forces runs out a long way to the anchor. Beautiful climbing overall.

Begin climbing up a crack 6 feet to the right of

The Citadel

. Follow the crack as it climb through a dihedral and pulls a roof (the same roof as

The Citadel

but protected by a handcrack instead of a bolt with easier climbing). Continue following the crack to the top, and then traverse left to

The Citadel's

anchors.

This excellent face climb shares an anchor with

Warping The Gale

, and just like

Warping

, it is a very continuous climb. Every move is between 5.10c and 5.11b, and there must be close to twenty of them. Also like

Warping

, the climbing is on small edges, vertical, and bullet proof. Bring the edging shoes. Although a straight up vectorial climb, route finding on The Lady is often not simple. Three stars for continuity, the quality of the rock, and the view from the top.

This is a fun route with good edges and a small roof thrown in for good measure. Clean, safe and a great view!

Unquestionably my personal favorite on the Starcastle, Elliptical Seasons takes off after passing the two excellent trad cracks "To The Fire Wind" and "Reel to Real". I first spotted this line from across the canyon on the top of the Headstone. Sometimes a feature alone is all that it takes to make a line attractive, and Elliptical Seasons has a gorgeous elliptical seam arching up and right that splits an immaculate yellow head wall. To start Elliptical Seasons, angle in from the right almost in the Reel to Real crack. A series of overlaps and edges takes you gradually leftward, and after a reachy 5.12 crux at 60 ft or so dumps you into the start of the  seam. This route never eases up until the end of the seam and even the final move at the anchor is a trick. Head for the right end of the jam, then back left to clip. A great line, easily worth three stars for quality, continuity, and the killer seam on a glorious wall.

Starting on the big talus blocks and tanning slab at the upper (North) end of the wall and before the rope scramble, Warping The Gale is a fine warm up route. Every move is between 5.10a and 5.10d and on fine clean edges. The climbing is continuous, a bit tricky, and a complete gas. Thin at the top.

This fine crack caught my eye during my first tour of the "Head".  While the rest of the crew clipped bolts on the fabulous Starcastle sport routes, I learned that this clean and obvious trad crack remained unclimbed.  Reaching deep in my pack for my "other" rack, it wasn't long before this situation was remedied.

Silver Winds starts in a clean, left-leaning, finger crack about 30' right (north) of "

Warping the Gale

".  The crack ends about halfway up but is replaced by a left-leaning flake that carries you to a scenic, flat belay ledge.

Alas, there is no easy descent (and thus only two stars instead of three).  I need to return with a drill to install a permanent belay anchor on top.  We scrambled around until we found a block we could sling for a rappel a short distance to the north.  If the sling is still there, it is long overdue for replacement, so plan to leave some webbing.

Reel to Real is a fun crack climb that goes through a variety of sizes. The book calls for a #5, but we thought it was perfectly fine with a rack up to #4. Maybe a little soft for the grade but fun, solid gear makes this a nice warm-up for the wall if you brought trad gear.

A nice moderate to warm up for some of the harder lines down the hill.  This is sort of a unique line as compared to much of Devil's Head.  The rock at Devil's Head tends to be fine-grained with edges and sharp features, with the occasional band of crumbly large-grain choss cutting through (these large-grain sections don't have routes, for the most part).

Pig's Nose doesn't really fit any of this format - it is all very solid large grains and crystals up a blunt snout. Fun climbing, if not overly demanding.

Finding it:  this is the furthest right route on the Starcastle.  It is on a big pillar that sets up hill from most of the other climbing.

Portraits stands two routes downhill from

Lady of the Lake

and on the next most distinct turret. You pass another good roof problem on the way. Use the fixed rope to scramble down. Portraits is the right of two routes on this turret. It can be done by entering from the left at 5.12b, but this seems improbable, and I have found the right hand start at 5.11d to make more sense. My guess is that most climbers will enter from the right hand start. Either way converges at the first bolt. A series of seams and overlaps leads to a final 5.11d crux move 30 feet from the anchor. Some good holds lie rather far to the right, so if the going gets thin, look around the corner. Enough said. Great route and worth three stars for continuity and quality.

Description

Protection

Routes in The Starcastle