Climb the arete right of The Formula to a difficult wall exit. We climbed the right side of the arete, but Andy Donson climbed the left side on a later TR ascent. Difficult crimping and balance moves down low, a bit more thuggish up high.
Not knowing about this nice looking route as I was looking at it the other day, a thought occurred to me; "Eldo could still use some thoughtfully established routes with bolts, but not necessarily bolted routes". Headpoints are good too. Often a nice lead will have a greater climbing quality than a top-roped climb; so will a headpoint.
There are several lines in Eldo where a bolt or 2 would open it as a lead, still dangerous but not suicidal. This route is a prime example. The problem is the FHRC guidelines stipulate that bolts be used to create "safe" climbs. Standards are rising; certainly 5.12x is within the comfort zone for some of the young and strong highball boulderers who call Boulder home. So maybe adding a bolt or 2 here and there is no longer necessary?
There is still a lot of unclimbed rock in Eldorado.
West Ridge - Xanadu to Pony Express
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