Andrew's new route, Straight To Hell 5.11a/10d R

         A typical Gunnison scene epic tunes from Ween filling the air, 4 drunk dudes, 1 spoken for girl and a kitchen table littered with climbing magazines and PBR cans. My friend Andrew fresh back from his first trip to Chamonix in the wrong season, (should have gone skiing, not climbing) and full of enthusiasm brings up a line he'd been eyeing at Hartmans the last couple of days. He described it as a sort of British gritstone type of line, steep face climbing, three pieces of iffy thin gear in all of fifty feet. He and Elias made plans to go check it out last night and I tagged along with a couple prusiks and my camera.

     
         Most of us think of Hartman Rocks as a sort of nancy bolted sport crag. It would be hard to give the place a standard ethic. The grading is all messed up and many bolts are bad, most likely a product of college student first ascensionists.  There are a few classic run out slabs in the 5.10 range, but most routes are short, slabby, and probably rap bolted. Only a few traditional lines exist, and yesterday Andrew added a gem.

   
         Having top roped the route a couple times before he knew what he needed to "protect it" and hoped on the sharp end, nailing it! Elias and I both TR'd it, neither of us climbing it clean on our first goes. It is stellar face climbing, thin and balancy, on high quality rock. I cant imagine placing the fiddly ass gear on lead, good job Andrew!