Icarus 

See my comments on the Yellow Spur route for a detailed description of a new, much better descent, which requires only one rope.

Most aesthetic way to start this route is from the first 3 pitches of the Yellow Spur, but this considerably harder than Icarus (5.9). You can traverse right to the arete in several places, but the arete is 5.8ish and unprotected. Rapping the gully between Lumpe Tower and T1 is to be avoided. The last rap (from a big tree) is 48m and it took us 20 mins to get our rope down (knot snags going over the edge).

This route affords a less-skilled leader to access the incredible and exposed last pitch of The Yellow Spur without having to climb anything harder than 5.6. A great multipitch route to take less skilled climbers on (not quite for those who have never climbed though - it is quite exposed and the final pitch has a little fall potential for the second). I recall one uncomfortable belay, but a fine compromise for the stellar exposure!

The only thought is for the 5.6 climber, getting off the top is a bit exciting. I know my wife was non to thrilled downclimbing to the notch, but it was survivable. Great route though.

I thought that the second to last pitch was way more runout than any other - for some reason I did about twenty feet of face climbing above the end of the dihedral, and then a tough traverse to the arete. Is this off route, or am I just a big pussy?

I remember traversing right to the arete soon after the dihedral ended, this may make the runout less. Also, Tony Bubb's photo of this route must be tilted or something, it looks way harder than 5.6 in that photo!!

I agree with George, I remember traversing almost immediately after the end of the dihedral. There is some kind of strata making the traverse easier. I do not remember this being at all run out. The next pitch (joined with Yellow Spur) now that's run out!

I wouldn't suggest taking a beginner leader or follower on this climb. The rock is loose in places and the gear is tricky (you have to be careful not to place gear behind potentially loose blocks). There is also usually a lot of people below the climb between Yellow Spur and Rewritten so extra care is required. I continued straight up the face after the dihedral which was easy but run out for 20 feet or so. Awesome climbing up an easy and exposed face. I belayed at a nice short tree and continued straight up the face from there. Excellent position on the climb. casey bernal

This is a wonderful climb! Simplistic yet retains your interest. The route is easy to find and you can't beat the finish. Three stars in my book.

You can easily protect the first half of the final arete finish. If this route is "s" because of the upper arete finish, why is not the Y. Spur also "s"? If runnout on the face above the dihedral ending is a worry, then as Warren states, go right about 8' to the start of a good crack which you can protect. This little traverse is exposed but the strata provides good foot placements.

The Yellow Spur does not have an s because the runout pitch is significantly easier than the crux. This is a controversial aspect of ratings, but many feel that climbs shouldn't have an s rating unless the runout moves are within about 1 grade of the crux. Rossiter will sometimes give a split rating 10d (8 s) which indicates the 10d is reasonably protected but the climb also has runout moves that are only 5.8. He does not do this for the Yellow Spur but one could probably call it 9 (6 s).

I was a little less impressed by this climb than many of the other folks who commented above. After doing Swanson's Arete recently, which is truly a 3-star climb, I had high expectations for this one. I would say this climb is worth doing, only because it gives you an easy path to access the incredible last pitch of the Yellow Spur. Besides that, the bulk of the climb is less than inspiring.

Icarus itself is a one star climb. It gets a bonus star for following the amazing last pitch of the Yellow Spur.

IMHO, this is a great route, in particular, for its difficulty rating. It is a great combination for a day with Swanson's for 6x60m pitches. Bit of spice for the 5.6 leader with a breeze on the last pitch. Wonderful exposure.

It rivals Wind Ridge, Calypso (which feel tops in Eldo at 5.6) in quality of climbing and beats them in position. What else is better in the Front Range at 5.6?

I would have to agree with some of the other comments that it's the final pitch that makes this a great climb. The first two are good, but not stellar. We used a slightly different belay after the first pitch. Instead of belaying in the dihedral like the book shows (small pro), I traversed along the wide crack that leads to the arete and belayed at the end. It was interesting. There is an old fixed pin directly above the belay. On the second pitch, we climbed the face directly above the dihedreal. The pro is good, the climbing is fun, and it didn't seam that run out. Great route.

I agree with Leo above, this is probably the best 5.6 climb in the Boulder area. It is way exposed, involves lots of interesting and varied climbing, a little bit of spice for the intermediate leader, and the position and views are excellent!

For speed, you can do the route in two pitches with a 60-meter rope, going from the starting ledge to the end of the runout traverse discussed above, then to the summit on the second pitch.

I just climbed this again a bit late in the day on Saturday. I did what Rossiter refers to as variation B for the second to last pitch. Instead of moving to the right to the arete, you go straight up at 5s. The pro here is pretty poor. In some places, all I could find was a shallow microcam or a Loweball placement every 20-30ft., but the climbing is easy. We got to the ledge with the two trees around 6PM, so we escaped down to the Dirty Deed gully from there. A rap anchor with two quicklinks will assist you in reaching the second rap station on Dirty Deed and then it's one rap to the Red Ledge with a 60m. We got to our packs at the base by the time it got pretty dark.

Nice climb. A lot like Swanson's, but a bit harder. Two things to be aware of: First the first belay is not at all obvious or optimal. I kept going expecting the tree ledge I thought I remembered from the topo. 55 meters up, I was running out of gear and constructed a semi-hanging belay on a foot-sized ledge.

Second, there are two extremely loose blocks on P2 (the runout section much-lamented above). These aren't your standard Eldo loose blocks; they look like they'd come out if you looked at them funny. Each was probably 50#. Definitely an accident waiting to happen. We thought about gardening them, but the rock was crowded, so it seemed like a bad idea.

Anyway, nice climb though I chickened out on the last pitch in strong cross-winds.

Nice route with great exposure.

Climbed this today. I disagree with those saying it's not so cool. It's awesome! Started with the West Chimney for P1, then a short traverse (more of a scramble then a climb) to Icarus. Two pitches on Icarus, not easy, some fun moves, but not real hard either. Final pitch, the Yellow Spur arete, is totally awesome - delightfully terrifying exposure and views.
Getting down was a long downclimb, 4th or EZ 5th class, and I didn't like it. I would rather have sprouted eagle wings and just flown off the top ....
I dispute the rating - I would give this a solid 5.7. But I haven't been climbing that long, so what do I know?

Ament's 1975 Eldorado guide documents this as a variation to The Yellow Spur, first climbed by Bob Culp in the 1960s. According to Jim Erickson, this was (and one assumes, still is) one of Culp's favorite climbs in the canyon; indeed it was the first route Jim ever climbed with Culp, sometime around 1968 (personal communication).

If you are climbing with a 70m rope, you can make it from the Dirty Deed Dihedral to the small tree at the top of the face (just before the traverse right) with ~3m to spare. We climbed the first pitch of the Great Zot, Icarus and then finished on the arete in 3 pitches. Nice!