Climbing the Bee Hive in Vedauwoo

This afternoon, we decided to explore more of Vedauwoo. I have heard wonderful things about the Beehive Buttress near Happy Jack and the Lincoln Monument off the highway. So we choose to go check it out! In order to get there, you take Blair-Wallis Road from the Lincoln Monument towards the central area. From there you make a left onto 705J (note: it is unmarked and rough), and then another left onto 705JA until the road becomes too narrow to drive and it looks like you've hit a circle parking lot amongst the trees. After parking your car, you take a small trail or the ATV trail to the base of the rock wall.

This place was awesome. We had the whole crag to ourselves for the first hour of climbing. The routes are a huge variety of 5.6 to 5.11+, and most of the routes are sport climbs (routes with bolts up to the anchors, so you just clip your draws in as you lead climb up). But Marc and I both got to do three climbs each. The three routes we chose were to the far left of the wall, right next to each other. They all used the same anchor, which was at the base of a roof. I think they varied from 5.5, 5.6, and 5.10a! The first one was called Gypsie Fire (5.5), the next one was Rip Chords (5.6), and the last one was Walking the Board. Marc led all the routes as I belayed him from the ground. Note this is a great place to practice lead belaying (since I am still new to this activity, it was great to use these routes and practice how much slack and taught rope I need to give to the person I am belaying as they lead climb). But anyways, after Marc would lead up the route, secure the anchors, and would come back down, I would follow, collect the gear and then he would top rope belay me down. On our last route, Walking the board, I followed Marc up to the anchor to where we practiced rappelling again. This was definitely the highlight of my day: not only did I rappel down without hesitation, but I climbed my first 5.10a! Getting onto the rock was really challenging, but I also overcame climbing on an arete (a thin, knife-like, ridge of rock), which had little to no holds and a small crack to place the tips of my fingers in. Basically, I had to body shimmy my way up it to get to the anchor! Such a climbing accomplishment for this beginner!

TheChristyBel