May 2021: Finally got on this thing. Good on my old buddy Steve for putting up such a fine route. 3 stars from me.I never got on it back when we developing the crag. I was busy doing my own stuff. But 20 years later I finally touch it. Really good. I guess there is some confusion about whether to stem or not, but it seemed pretty straightforward to me. Nice stone, cool holds.

Slappin the Johnson

Two Birds Too Stoned

Chossy Offwidth

Green Monster/George of the Jungle Var.

Dr. Evil

Spiderman

SE Face

Glenn's Route

Bunkweed

Unknown

Goldmember

Lusk for Life

Mini-me

Johnny Rotten

Tony's Route AKA Cres-sent

Stone Free

Ten Years After

Fat Bastard

First Blood Sport

Delt Melt

Stepping Into Blue Sky

Ashes

Blue Note

Getting to the second bolt is a bit spooky but the holds you are trying to reach are good and easy to clip from.  There are no chains so you need a sling to donate to this climb.  This may be fixed by the time you get on it.  The anchors will probably be moved higher so the rope doesn't get hammered so badly when you lower off.  The crux is at the top which I always like.

[*First of all, we did not bolt this, and just put it up here to keep the routes list accurate.  Please let us know if you have any information on this climb and we will update accordingly.] 

  This climb starts in the chossy corner two boltlines to the right of Two Birds Too Stoned.  Some fun moves (past a questionable second bolt) lead into a band of dark, soft rock.  Once you pull onto the face there is a chest-sized death block/clipping hold.  Move past the death block to the last bolt and bolt anchors.  Lots of rope drag--best if climbed on lead.

Steep face climbing on jugs to steeper jug hauling near the chains.  At one point you have the choice of going straight up or working right.  this description is for the right finish.  I have not done the direct finish.

Cruxy start in little offset cave then over a bulge to a good rest.  Blank headwall leads up toward roof which is skirted on its right side. To avoid rope drag at the lip of the little cave, you can reach back and unclip bolt 2 once you have clipped bolt 3.  And your belayer can unclip bolt 1 at the same time.  Overhangs 25 feet although it does not feel that steep.

Make your way through varying but consistently challenging rock until your forearms start to catch fire.  Then pull some more.  Big holds and a full recovery rest await.  Rest up and fire off the steep technical finish.  Overhangs about 10 feet.

Almost everyone who has done this route prior to Aug 2018 has commented on bad anchor and bolt placements. See Jon Hendrixson's comment in particular.  I'm not really sure that Tony ever red-pointed this route.  It seems like he would have told me.  And I can't believe he would have left all of the bolting issues. These issues probably colored people's impressions of the route.  I think many folks would add a star to their quality ratings if they repeated the route now.

 Anyway... here is what I did (Aug 2018):

 - Lowered the anchor to a better spot where it will rub the rope less.  The last 10 feet of the original route added nothing.  Except rope drag. And now the anchor has the awesome ClimbTech Mussys.

 - Added a bolt so that if you blow the balancy clip at the last bolt below the NEW anchor you don't pay a horrible price.

 - Pounded a wood wedge into the inverted-v crack that was grabbing and trying to shred the rope. Put a glob of epoxy putty right under the wood.  That should be a permanent fix.

 - Moved the 1st bolt up so it actually protects the opening move and would be better on the rope and belayer if you fall on the cruxy opening move.  Stick clip of 1st bolt is a reasonable thing in the new configuration.

 - Lowered the 2nd bolt so you are not looking at groundfall.

 - Added a bolt so you don't slam the slab if you fall above the 2nd bolt.

 - Moved Tony's old 3rd bolt (becomes my 4th) 2 feet left to where it should have been all along.

 Brian Zittlosen and Josie Wodraska helped with this fixup project.

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 This route is now as good as any other 5.11 at the crag.  It compares pretty well to any 5.11 in the Upper Highway area. Technical, sustained, cool holds.  It is a blast.

The bottom is decent movement on not-so-great rock.  Upper part has a faintly alpine feel that I like.

Starts by stemming before embracing the short headwall.  Followed by a brief section of low angle 5th class before another brief headwall to a 2 bolt anchor.

Pumpy section leads to rest at golden knob. Then up easier ground to anchors.

Just left of "Too Birds..." is a tall overhanging climb.  Crux is near the middle on different rock type, then easier climbing to big bulge below anchors.  Overhangs probably ten feet.  Grab big pine tree trunk to keep yourself out of the shorter tree when lowering.  If anyone knows the name and FA I'll add them.

Steep. Might be two stars except rock quality is not so great. Good crux near the end. May clean up if it ever sees enough traffic. Bolts are close together to lessen the worry of holds (or bolts !) checking out, so don't be shy about getting on it.Name courtesy of a wisecrack from Joe Shiefman.

Originally envisioned by Tony Lusk and drilled on aid I think.  Eventually others did a ton of work to clean and solidify the route and did the first redpoint.  This thing is super steep on the bottom 20 feet then it is "not so steep" but the moves through here might thwart you.

As Todd McG was lowering off Bunkweed (which he hated... along with everything else at the Steep), he pointed to the right and said "Why not put a route there.  It looks better than anything else at this crag." And I thought "yeah...good eye Todd !"  

  Slightly overhanging and a bit confusing on sight.  Good warmup pump once you know the moves.

Steep, powerful, sustained...but good rests where ya need 'em. Overhangs 20+ feet. 

  21st century start with an old-school finish.  The best sequence is not necessarily easy to find.  Perhaps a touch of sandbag at 12a, I'm not sure. 

  An old Glenn Todd project that he let sit idle for 10 years.  Hence the name.  Well... it's also a tribute to Alvin Lee.  All bolts are stainless.

An insecure slab start ON the toe of the crag leads to a overhung lieback section.

Face climb the start or stem across the chimney.  Follow bolts up the slightly overhanging prow to anchor.

Climbs the dihedral left of the Cres-sent roof.  Tough crux off the deck and a slab crux up high. Stick-clipping is cheating IMO. The FA was a 50th birthday present to myself.

This Tony Lusk project is one of the best and steepest 5.11s on the mountain. Tricky, burly, sustained.  

  This route can be done 2 ways... 

  1) Original start is down on the corner and leads up to SE face at about 11b.   Eases off after the 4th bolt.  Clip one more and go around the corner to a surprisingly comfy belay stance.  2nd pitch traverses left a bit more, then heads up the spectacular, forearm-testing, overhanging arete for 45 more feet to anchor.  Seems 11c done this way.  This is my preferred method, but... 

  2) (Dr. Skye) Do the finger-tearing start of Dr. Evil and head directly onto the 2nd pitch of Blue Sky.  Slightly harder and eliminates the belay.

Shares first bolt with Bunkweed, then moves left for 2 bolts before continuing up. Pulls 2 roofs before reaching anchors.  

Years ago, Tony Lusk said "John you should put up a route that uses the start of Blue Sky, but goes straight up the left side of the SE face".  I don't know why he didn't do it himself, but I finally got around to it. 

  So... do the burly start of Blue Sky (which is also the crux of Blue Note), but after clipping the 5th bolt, don't go around the corner to the left.  Instead, go up the easy ramp until it is possible to traverse right onto a blunt arete.  There is a 5.10ish crux pulling onto the airy arete, and then nice knobs lead straight up to Mussy Hooks.

This Tony Lusk discovery is one of the best small sport crags on the mountain - has lots of stars and very few.....lemmons.

 A rarity on Mt. Lemmon because its summit is reachable only by technical means. You can solo after the Two Birds anchor or do a 2nd sparsely-protected pitch of Spiderman to get to the top.

 Historical note: the existence of this crag was known back in the early 1980s. But bad rock and lack of protectable lines relegated it to the forget-about-it zone. Tony Lusk was the first to view it through the eyes of a sport developer. It still required a lot of work and cleaning though. Cres Snyder probably contributed more than anyone to the cleanup effort.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in The Steep