East Crack 

Well, this time Charles and I disagree on the Protection. Perhaps I was too tenuous to place, or perhaps it is my height, but I found myself struggling a bit for good gear on this route. My partner, who is shorter than I agreed that the gear was difficult or lacking. Then again, I normally climb in Eldo, not Boulder Canyon.

The moves are very cool, however, and very worthwhile.

Well, it's fair to say that, even though this is a finger crack, it can't be "sewn up". There are definitely tricky placements at the crux, and in the initial corner. Not enough to warrant an "s", IMHO.

It was probably 6 years ago when I did this, but I recall the runout moves are at the start before the roof, where it is only 5.8-9. Another way to start this climb is the first pitch of Night Vision (10b, look for 2 bolts left of Huston's Crack). This is much easier than the 10d thin crack right of Huston's Crack, and doesn't require big cams and grunting like Huston's Crack.

There is a variation to this route, that I'm not sure has an established name or anything, but I'm sure it's been climbed before. Instead of starting up the left-facing corner into the overlap, it's possible to climb start about 6-8 ft. to the right. This leads up into incipient cracks with sparse pro above the overlap. Moves felt like hard .9 or easy .10, but it's been a while, so I'm not sure my memory serves correctly. Eventually, the pitch wanders up into easier, though steep ground with a nice crack and good pro. Pretty much the whole thing can be done in one long pitch. Once again, I'm not sure how much different this is from the East Crack described, but it seems to me that it's a different pitch altogether. Please anyone feel free to correct me or inform of the proper name for the climbing described. One quick note on bees on Cob. I have been up there on a day when some people knocked off a sizeable nest and there were bees all over the place. Crawling on my legs as I led the second pitch of Empor! Just please be careful of those pesky bastards, they're everywhere anyways, we don't need to climb through angry swarms.

To me, it made more sense to climb straight up to the roof just left of the belay. There is a thin crack system that offers plenty for small nuts. Once reaching the roof travers a couple of feet to the right until you can reach the good horizontal crack above the roof.

I think this route can be sewn up with a set of RPs or micro stoppers. I didn't place a single cam on the whole pitch.

I led this route last week for the first time and really enjoyed it.We did the first pitch of Night Vision to start.I found the gear to be excellent and easy to place. Really fun route and a good after work excursion.

Did somebody put a bolt on this thing...? Looked across today at it and it seemed like there was a new bolt below the fixed pin by 10 ft or so. Maybe a face variation, or from my perspective, it wasn't on the East Edge? I hope not! That route has great character and doesn't need anymore fixed gear on it.

The bolt that you saw is probably one of the bolts that got replaced on the second pitch of Night Vision (see comments there for details).

Great climb, rack I used: RPs 5+ 4, to 00, a 0.5 (WC) cams, to pitons, a #8 stopper, #1(WC)cam, to a #2BD cam one 60m pitch, fun moves good gear 5.10a.

As Chad's comment notes, it is easier to climb and protect this route by beginning left of the small dihedral. From there I traversed under the step roof and pulled over on the right getting back in line with East Edge. From there, instead of taking the pin-scarred crack, I climbed more or less straight up using a variety of cracks and edges. Certainly this is the line of least resistance on the left side of Cob Rock but watch what you pull on up there as there are numerous loose flakes that are difficult to avoid and could do a lot of damage if they came off.

I placed two #3 stoppers, two green Aliens, and one blue Alien throughout the pitch above the roof. The gear is where it needs to be(kind of), although I found placing the gear very challenging and difficult. Indeed, the crack gets progressively harder until the piton (the pin could be 4-6 feet lower in my opinion). The finger crack on the third pitch is worth the effort.