Phil at the upper crux of Eco Challenge (5.10d/11a...
Description
This is a rather long climb. It starts in a prominent corner just right of cool looking arete. The starts is in loose corner and makes its way out onto the face. Once you get to the first bolt the rock solidifies. This is where the bat with the huge fangs was chillin right on a key hand hold. The bats do not normally nest on this climb, I think that this bat was sick. Toward the top it goes past vertical a few degrees but the holds are solid, you just gotta find them since there really isn't any chalk marks.
By C Miller Administrator Sep 1, 2007 rating: 5.10d
A fun and varied route through steep, blocky terrain with interesting crux moves over small roofs at both the 4th and 6th bolt. It's really quite amazing what trundling a few thousand pounds of blocks off a route can do for it's quality. I'd give this a 5.10d/11a rating but that option isn't available on the site.
By veritus From: redlands, ca Jan 2, 2008 rating: 5.11b PG13
Myself and my brother-in-law at the time (Chris played a role as well though for the life of me I can't remember exactly what his role was? / Sorry Chris!). Eco Challenge turned out to be completely that from the get go and was not what we thought it would be. From the sketch ball climb to get to the anchors, to the before mentioned 2 tons of loose rock all over the route, it was quite the handful. After 3 days of cleaning, yes 3 days, the bolts were placed where the rock was solid not necessarily where they were ideal for clipping, which considering how loose a lot of the Lower Buttress is, we thought was a good idea. The name was chosen on purpose to reflect the "style" of the climb, a little bit chossy and a little bit adventurous from a sport climbing perspective.
I always wanted to bolt the line to the right of it, but moved out of the area before I got around to it.
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