Northwest Corner 

I can't help it. So it's crowded. And you can actually still hear traffic...but Cob is my favorite rock in the canyon. It becons to be climbed. And the roof on the second pitch of this route (of course from the cushy belay tabletop in the sky) - exquisite. Big jugs above two pins. Beta? Lay it back and crank!

After reading Michael's comments this morning, I KNEW which route I had to do today. Matt's description is accurate - however, I believe the route corresponds to number 8 as drawn on the photo... while the first belay ledge works well at about 5-10 feet down and right (at a fixed pin, just below the large fist-sized jams flake.

Yup, and I have to agree, turning the roof is pretty dang sweet. Took me a couple of minutes to figure it out, but not that bad once you figure it out.

I think you can probably lead this route with just stoppers, hexes, and draws... I rarely had to use cams, and even then it wasn't mandatory. Fun!

I do think that new leaders should be warned that the face above the crack on the first pitch should be listed on the Spice Network! Good edges up the face but zippo pro.

I think you mean the second pitch? That's the only place where I couldn't sew it up at will...

At the top/end of that shallow V-dihedral (where the face climbing starts) there was a great stance just left of it on a ledge. I was able to place a #3 stopper (or close) in a little notch (horizontal placement)- it made me feel a lot better than doing the moves with the .75 camalot 10 feet below.

well, let's see. I climbed the crack to the right of the tree/bush with great jams and pro, then found myself standing on top of a small triangle/shelf before the face propper. There was a GREAT horizontal stopper placement at hip or lower (can't rememmber) - prob the one you speak of. Then I hit the face and moved straight up and then right to the arete where the small roof/left leaning crack is...I certainly felt the exposure with the rope 15' below me on that stopper! But I am a coward so that was pretty exciting. Maybe the route to the arete was my problem - looked cool/was cool - maybe better pro further up instead of right to the arete?

FWIW, I also found the face above the crack to be "exciting". I certainly didn't feel like I was sewing it up. The most reasonable explanation is that I probably missed the gear to which Myke refers.

If you start just below and to the right of the large boulder, there is a nice finger crack. I think that some of the guidebooks call it Northwest Corner Direct and give it a 10a rating. The hands are good but the feet are thin. The crack is easily protected with some smaller stoppers, you can even place one about ten feet up by getting on the boulder to the right. I know how many feel about pre-placing gear, but it protects you from a potentially painful fall into the cave below. A great variation to a wonderful climb. -BPC

Definitely a fun route, spicier than others on [Cob Rock] with that face section. We should all give thanks to Layton for putting this up back in the day, imagine how hard and sketchy that first lead musta been in 59!!!!!

Fun, varied moves on excellent rock. A bomber yellow Alien can be placed on top of the pedestal before committing to the runout face section.

What a fantastic mental focus problem. Those face moves are pretty easy, but blowing it would be extremely unpleasant, wouldn't it? I found myself standing there for several minutes, irrationally waiting for the traffic noise to die down a bit, consequently exhausting my feet. After a short retreat I pulled thru it without difficulty. After the face I apparently got off-route, moving left into a short dihedral, under the roof, then traversing left on a neat hand crack, finally pulling up and over on a system just to the right of the top of Empor. There was a bit of lichen, but a fair amount of chalk, too. Is there a route between Empor and NW corner? I also did the whole thing in one pitch, and I didn't find the drag to be too terrible.

An alternative start to the route is to climb down under the big boulder and climb the shallow dihedral (5.8) just to the left of the route. This is also an alternate start to Empor. There are some fun moves on this and good pro. Be careful if you climb down from the west side of the boulder as the landing is a little nasty.

You can bypass the runout face on this route by going a few feet right into a flaring corner with an old pin (probably Layton's!). The moves are harder (5.9ish), but the pro is decent.

For added excitement, don't bail around the corner, but continue straight up the corner to the top!

We started around the right of the arete at the base, going up a face with a crack that took a blue TCU. A slightly spicy start (not sure what this route is part of) but a fun alternative to the standard start.

Matt, that alternate start is called Hurley Direct, great start to the climb!