RRC Archives

My friends and I were out at Phantasia this weekend scoping out some trad climbs we hadn't done before and had a question about St. Alfonso's over by Attack of the Sand Shark: What does the top look like? The guidebook says rap from a tree, but are there enough places up there to build an anchor for a toprope? I'm fine with rapping down from a tree, but I'd rather use it as only 1 of 2 or 3 points for a toprope anchor, especially with inexperienced climbers with us. Has anyone been up there recently? If there's webbing up there, how does it look? Thanks!

I remember doing it and toproping,but I don't remember whats up there.
Build a good anchor to TR then clean it and rap. Shouldnt be a problem. The problem I had at the time was not having multiple big pro. Fist sized .Sometimes the top is wet.

Last time up, sometime last year, there was new webbing.
If you plan on TR'ing it, you may want a couple of runners to extend the anchors a bit so they hang over the edge.
As far as how it looks...it is good sized ledge, a little sloped and dirty.

Watch for wasps/hornets.
Never have seen any up there myself, but ran into a guy at Seneca who said he got nailed on St Alfonsos.
That was around Labor Day of last year.

Last thing I heard about this climb was that it is infested with "killer" hornets at the top.

The tree mentioned in description is about 10 feet back off the top of the climb if I remember right. Because of this, the anchor requires a fair amount of webbing/extension if you are planning on toproping. As of about 1 year ago, the webbing was all there and in fairly good shape. When I did this route, we were also setting up a toprope for new climbers. I would recommend belaying from the top if you are going to do this. I think the route is a bit longer than the descriptions states. Its probably about 80 feet if my memory serves me right (caution...it rarely does). Have fun. Its a good route and probably in the shade which is even more important now.