Directly below Sunrider and behind the trees are two good starting pitches separated by a large flake that has been augered into the ground. The left is Gravity's Angel, a clip-up with an optional cam placement at 20 ft. Follow a clean, vertical face to a small roof that is dodged on it's right. Belay at the tree. The tree serves as the pivot point to launch an approach to Sunrider via the crux pitch of Heavy Weather on the left or low fifth class on the right. It also can be used to hang the draws on Advanced Rockcraft. Clean stone, crisp edges, and a nice vertical face. Save it for a warm day since it does not get great sun.
Protection
Bring a 1 or 2 size Camalot, half a dozen draws, and a rope.
By Leo Paik Administrator From: Westminster, Colorado Apr 1, 2002
This is an awesome pitch but it doesn't feel like a BC or CC clip-up. Pretty sustained steep slab climbing with healthy runs between the bolts for a 5.11b leader. Thin moves right off the deck. #1 1/2 F & wire useful before the 1st bolt. The R traverse high above the 2nd bolt feels out there with little for the hands -_ long reach/lean R. After the 3rd bolt there is balancey footwork with 2 foot crosses. Move L after the 5th bolt. Another diamond in the rough! Great vision. Thanks [Andy] and Eric.
By Tony B From: Boulder, CO Jun 16, 2002 rating: 5.11b
The book beta says that a 2" cam can be placed between the first and second bolts. No Longer True. There is no placement there, but there is plenty of broken rock as of ??? I was there on Saturday, 6/14/02 and the rock was on the ground. I hope that nobody was injured.
As an end result, the climb is actually slightly easier in that spot and does not require a placement. Even most 5.10 leaders will feel comfortable getting to the second bolt, but if you are not a 5.11 leader , you probably don't want to be on lead on this anyway...No real bad fall potential, but you could skin yourself up pretty badly.
I am 5'10" and felt that the right-hand traverse around the 2nd-3rd clip was somewhat reachy, but more for the feet than hands. The crux upper part between Bolts 4-5 is quite thin and can be solved different ways, with or without crosses.
From the 5th bolt to the top is some distance, but is safe if going left and will feel like easy buckets. It is pretty safe overall.
This is truly a great route - although there are many to choose from it stands out as solid for the grade and aesthics of the movement. There are several distint cruxes that require solid foot, hand, body, and head work...and not too much chalk to show the possiblitiles. Awesome!
I see that these bolts are ~16-17 years old and are looking fairly rusted. Realizing that the are 3/8" and that this may sound silly - Does anyone have any idea if they are still relatively safe? or the expected life on them?
What an excellent and sustained route, one of the best on Peanuts in my opinion! A Black Alien and/or small offset Aliens can be used to protect the runout between the 1st and 2nd bolt, and it would be a 5.9 s or vs section without gear there. After the 2nd bolt, no more gear is needed but draws, and there are some rather spicy but safe runouts between the 2nd and 3rd bolts, and after the 5th bolt. Lots of fun, thin, and footy climbing throughout!
There didn't appear to be any gear between the 1st and 2nd bolt... tread carefully as you could hit the deck before clipping #2. Otherwise, brilliant slab climbing.
This route, Forbidden Planet, and Blows against the Empire make for a great bunch of 5.11 climbing that are easy to get to, well protected, and high quality. We climbed this one Sunday, and I did not see any rust on the bolts, however; the lichen this year does seem abundant. I would recommend that subsequent parties bring a brush.
A great pitch, but it sure could use an upgrade regarding the fixed protection. I also don't think that there is any good gear between the first and second bolt; the rock quality is questionable for all of the small options and the old #2 cam slot is definitely broken and no longer useful. I'm wondering if something else broke since it seems to be a lot harder than I remember passing the second bolt?
By Jeff G. From: Fort Collins Oct 18, 2009 rating: 5.11b PG13
Very cool face climbing with 2 cruxy sections. I got a pretty good small stopper and a red C3 before the second bolt to help ease the ground fall potential.