It’s no secret that Enchanted Rock is not the ideal place to project routes. The spread out nature of the park and it’s traditional climbing history make some of the great test-piece routes an automatic pass for most climbers– either they are too long, too committing, or the gear is not ideal for a hang every 5 feet. On top of that, who wants to drive all that way to spend half their time climbing one route and the other half of their time belaying one route.
Well this past weekend, our guides found the most time effective and low risk way to hit those hard routes on the backside that seem like too lofty or dangerous a goal for many climbers: Three guides, three ropes, and three Mini Traxions.
Petzl’s Mini Traxion (or the Micro Traxion) is a fantastic little device for top rope soloing.
Especially for an area like the Backside, where there is a high concentration of long hard routes with bolted anchors, the Mini Traxion is a dream come true for top roping. Just fix a single line to the top of your climb, weight the bottom of your rope, attach the Mini Traxion and it slides up the fixed line as you climb (Do not use this device without researching how to properly use it! Petzl provides more detailed instructions on their website).
We fixed three lines on the right side of The Shield and climbed at our leisure (not having to belay each other) and when done, we just fixed the next three anchors and moved left down the wall.
We got to flail around, hang, work out sequences, and never at the expense of anyone else’s climbing time.
Three owa guides enjoying some simultaneous projecting!