The other day I took my client to climb Honeycomb Chimney which is a route to the left of Community Pillar on the north face of Magic Mountain. I have climbed the route four times.

And only the fourth time I was like “wow it was a very good route.” Yes the first two pitches were like okay but not mediocre and the third and the six pitches were basically connectors but the fourth and the seventh pitches were phenomenal. The fourth pitch was the “honeycomb” pitch and it was aesthetic with flowy jug fest. And the seventh pitch might have been the best 5.9 pitch I have climbed in Red Rock. Plus the route was in the shade, had no crowd, short approach, straight forward descent. And of course great views just like many other multipitch climbs here.

One of the common questions people ask “what’s your favorite route in Red Rock?” To be honest I don’t have an answer. And many times I don’t start to appreciate the route or give the route a fair evaluation until I have climbed it a few times even so my opinion can still change.

I have climbed many “classic” moderates in Red Rock when I was a new climber but none of them stood out to me because I was so new that my focus was to survive and get the task done and sure enough after completion I chased another harder objective. Years later I started guiding in Red Rock and repeated many routes and I was like “wow I understand why this route gets three stars in the guidebook” and also “I don’t understand why this route doesn’t get any star in the guidebook.”

This season it was almost impossible to get on Armatron. I forgot how many times I have climbed Armatron perhaps five or six times or more. It is a decent climb and has this varnished chessboard looking pitch which looks spectacular and goes at 5.6.

Connecting a route on Jackrabbit Buttress and then a route on Brownstone Wall is a standard way to climb something big when it’s cold because you will be in the sun the whole time. And it’s a great adventurous day. However right before this season a famous climber YouTuber Magnus released a video of him soloing Armatron with Alex Honnold. All of sudden everyone wanted to climb Armatron.

This season the only time I managed to take my client on Armatron was to hike to the base instead of climbing something on Jackrabbit. The approach is big and involves some talus field and much slab walking. Yes Armatron is a decent route but at the end of the day people only remember the tiring hike. Of course after Armatron I always connect to Requiem of a Tadpole so people have a summit.

Perhaps the celebrity effect makes Armatron a classic now but I really would be hesitant to take people there especially one day after my client and I topped out Saddle Up on Jackrabbit and saw four parties on Armatron and another five parties were waiting at the base while all other routes saw no traffic.

Many people come to Red Rock and request to climb the classics. Sometimes I suggest other alternatives which might not be considered a classic. I have my reasons but mostly because of expected crowd. And personally I just don’t think any route is worth waiting for hours while other routes are just as fantastic.