Route Description
Hillbilly Warm-up climbs an obvious straight-up line on the right side of the wall, bisecting the existing line West Face Right (5.12a) at its first bolt. Because West Face right is a wandering mixed line, originally bolted in the 1980s at the dawn of sport climbing when climbers were just figuring things out (and using the minimum amount of bolts), it essentially crosses the two natural lines on the right side of the wall—the face/scoop/slab on the right, and the steep face climbing left of the arête on the left—to create one wandering line with weird runouts and rope drag. Kissing Cousins would seek to rectify this situation by providing the lower left start that West Face Right really should have to straighten out that line, as well as the natural, easier finish to the original mixed start on West Face Right that will climb the scooped slab above West Face Right’s first bolt at 5.11+. However, the integral Kissing Cousins would do both the new start and new finish.
Route diagram
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Existing route information
The west face of Hillbilly Rock has six existing climbs. The leftmost one is Horsefly Hootenanny, a 5.12+ on the upper left side of the west face. Then there is Uncle Dad (5.13a), which branches right off of Horsefly. Right again is Nephson (5.13+), which moves up the prow in the middle of the wall, 10 feet left of the proposed climb. Right again is Sis Wife (5.14 project), installed in November 2020. West Face (5.12c) is located down and right 20 feet from Sis Wife, and the rightmost route (West Face Right; 5.12a) is located another 40 feet downhill near the southwest margin of the wall. All are sport climbs, though West Face Right does have some moderate traditionally protected climbing to reach the first bolt.
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Approach
The approach is via NCAR. Take the Mallory Cave Trail to the Mesa Trail; head south to where the Mesa Trail traverses across Skunk Canyon. Head west into Skunk Canyon on the climber’s approach trail, then head due north up the gully east of Hillbilly Rock to reach the south then west side of Hillbilly Rock on an existing climber’s trail. The trail is on durable, hard-packed dirt and talus.
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Descent
The descent is via lowering off the route back to the staging area, using the existing anchor atop West Face Right.
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Climb base area
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Reconnaissance work
Top Roped / Hazards
Additional notes
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