Type: Trad, 5 pitches, Grade II
FA: FA:Stan Shepard and Don Davis, 1961. FFA: Royal Robbins and Pat Ament, 1964.
Page Views: 27,243 total · 98/month
Shared By: Charles Vernon on Apr 24, 2001
Admins: Leo Paik, John McNamee, Frances Fierst, Monty, Monomaniac, Tyler KC

You & This Route


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Description Suggest change

This is one of the very best climbs around Boulder, and a great testpiece for the very solid 5.10 leader. It starts just west of the SE corner of Castle rock - just left of Country Club Crack. The pitches are all short but full-value. 

The first pitch (right off the road) is identified by a pointy boulder with a bolt above it and a ledge above that. From there, the route moves left and follows an obvious, large, zig-zag, right-facing dihedral.

P1: mantel onto the ledge above the pointy boulder (clipping a bolt on the ledge--make sure you don't blow the clip). This felt hard for 5.11a but is basically a boulder problem. Belay from a 2-bolt anchor about 10 feet left. 

P2: ascend a bulging corner with a flared crack, above the belay, thuggish 5.10d. It has excellent protection which is very awkward to place.

P3: ascend the very short, overhanging corner by 5.10 jamming or liebacking, but be careful of some loose flakes up high in the wide crack, which appear at first glance to offer good placements for medium Friends. A #4 Camalot gives good pro; a #5 would sew it up. This pitch is about 40 feet.

P4: climb the slabby corner which is much harder than it looks (Lumpy-style), 5.10b. Belay from bolts to the left. (One can do two rappels to the ground from here, with a 60 meter rope.)

P5: climb the 5.9+ crack above the belay or the 5.8 corner to the left, reaching the summit.

Protection Suggest change

The pitches are short, but you'll want to bring a full rack, and I highly recommend a #4 Camalot for pitch three.

Per Jon Oulton: there are two EXTREMELY loose death blocks at the top of pitch 5, roughly 5-10 feet left of the final anchors.

Photos

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