The Steamboat Captain's Dream

In 1901 Frank Smith, a steamboat captain, and his party made the first ascent of Beacon Rock via the northwest face on what is now commonly known as the Spike Route. This route is named in his honor. For more on this history, watch the short film

Beacon Rock Then & Now

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The Steamboat Captain's Dream is a link up of a few existing pitches from a couple of different routes together with newly opened pitches. The line stays true with the character of the opening pitch and offers more varied and superb climbing on the way to the true summit of Beacon Rock.

While most of Beacon Rock is closed to climbing annually from February until early July, the NW section of the rock remains open year round. This route is a great option for those looking for a multi-pitch adventure earlier in the season. The 5.10 nature of the route will keep you reaching into your bag of trad tricks and will ask for a wide variety of climbing skill as the route offers everything from low angle slab to slightly steeper terrain and thin crack to wide flakes.

Pitch 1

5.10B, 28m

•  Ascend large ledges and good holds to a wider left leaning crack. The first gear is about 20' up in this crack but the climbing is straight forward to this point. Continue up as the route zig-zags its way up the wall following a discontinuous crack system, look carefully for offset nuts and small to medium cam placements eventually reaching a stance below where the rock steepens. Here find a good cam placement in a horizontal slot to compliment the older baby angle piton. Launch into the pitch's crux by moving up, passing a bolt and then exiting left around a buttress. Once you turn the corner, look for good features and a few more gear placements as you take the slab up to a bolted anchor. Due to the nature of the rock on this pitch some of the gear placements are not obvious but they're definitely available to the skilled trad climber. Appreciate the fact that the FFA of this pitch was done without the bolt!  For the most part (except a slightly different start) this pitch was originally called

Smoke Signals.

Pitch 2 5.10D

32m

• head up a weakness on the right of the anchors passing a small tree on its left side. Continue up the discontinuous crack finding good stances between reachy moves on good holds. Clip a bolt and step left on to a slab, working across the slab below a small roof towards another bolt. Climb up towards a small tree passing it on the right side and then on to the final crux head wall. The head wall has bolts, a pin and can take a couple of nuts if required. Plenty of gear can be found on this pitch. Offset nuts will be very useful on this pitch, especially the #7/gold size.

Move the belay about 25' up above the trees and to a comfortable ledge with anchors.

Pitch 3 5.10C

25m

• continue up the short 15' right facing corner just right of the belay anchor and the short cracks above. Weave through a series of ledges and traverse left into a stance behind a large tree, a larger cam can be placed here. Lay back the big flake past 2 bolts and then traverse right across the face to find the next anchors just above.

Pitch 4 5.10A

18m

• climb the low angle left leaning crack passing a piton mid way. Clipping the last bolt of Stone Soup's bolt ladder at the exit is fair game if needed. Find a belay station on the face to the left after you exit on to the comfy ledge. The micro-cams are useful on this pitch.

Pitch 5 5.6

20m

• make a step up a 6' corner and follow the low angle ledges passing 2 bolts to an anchor below a steep arete and behind a tree.

Pitch 6 5.10C

30m

• head straight up the arete following a line of bolts to a small roof. Step right, through the roof and continue up the ridge past a short crack to a set of anchors above a small ledge on the face.

Pitch 7 5.9

30m

• from the belay move right and up a crack and corner system passing a bolt, a piton and another bolt. Continue following the discontinuous crack until it hits a shallow roof, step right at the roof and continue up following a couple more bolts as the terrain eases. A final belay can be found at a comfortable stance. Be careful as some of the blocks are loose.

Pitch 8 4th class

30m

• climb a couple of steps and follow the easy terrain along the ridge crest for 100' to reach the Beacon Rock trail.

VARIATIONS

Pitch 1 var. 5.11A

A direct finish to the exit on the first pitch can be climbed. After stepping left and up from the bolt, follow a direct line to the top on good holds requiring some longer reaches. Small to medium nuts are useful for this option. FFA Stephen Shostek, Jul-10-2020

DESCENT

If you complete the route then walk down the Beacon Rock hiking trail back to your car, shoes or flip flops recommended. Otherwise rappel from any pitch with a 70m rope.

Notes:

(i) When rappelling from the anchors at the top of pitch 5, angle down the 5.6 low angle pitch to get to the top of pitch 4 and the hand lines which lead you to the next rappel anchors.

(ii) From the top of pitch 2, rappel from the anchors near the edge of the wall and not the anchors behind the trees on the spacious ledge. A 70m rope will not reach the last rappel anchors if one rappels from the anchors behind the trees.

Pace yourself on the approach, it can be taxing.

From the west end of the main Beacon parking area, walk towards the wall and then take the path leading into the woods adjacent to the water spigot. It's about 15 yards to the base of the wall, start down in the ditch.

0.1 & 0.2 Mircocams

0.3 thru #3 BD Camalot Sizes

Doubles in 0.3, 0.4 & 0.5

Small & Medium Nuts, BD 4-8

Offset Nut Set

6 QDs

12 x 60cm Runners

1 x 120cm Runner