This is a bolted arete at the top of saddle rocks 7 or more bolts lead up the steep arete. I kind of forgot because the route was pretty long and my attention span pretty short!
The rock is mostly good compared to the routes down the hill from this one.
The bolts are in the right place to protect all the difficult moves but there is a significant runnout from the last bolt to the summit- very exciting! Not recommended if you are just breaking into 5.9 slab routes though- possibly a little more difficult than 5.9.
Location
Atop saddle rocks
Protection
Last bolt is a rusty flexing button head. Run it out from this bolt to the top of the formation. I set a natural anchor using slings on horns.
From the right side of the formation you can down climb a wide crack to an anchor and rap down to the gully with a 60m rope.
By Brandt Allen From: Joshua Tree, Cal Jan 13, 2008
I believe the route you are describing is Nuts and Bolts (also 5.9R). Both routes are on the southwest face of the Pommel formation on Saddle Rocks. Nuts and Bolts is the arete route and Boom Boom Room is the face climb to the right, zig-zagging up the main face, with both routes sharing the final bolt of Boom Boom Room before the slab to the top of the Pommel.
Im pretty sure I did this route in Nov. of 2000 after doing walk on the wild side. That runout at the top was pretty scary. I remember having to rap from a horn with no slings which was pretty hard on my rope when we pulled it. How long have the anchors been there?
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