Standing at the base of The Example look up canyon toward Cripple Creek until the cliff turns out of sight. The prominent, overhanging prow just to the right of the large corner that is above the large block on the hillside is your target. The buttress holds three routes, Deeper Shade of Soul being the left most route; tackling the prow with Metolius hangers.
Trundle up 3 bolts to enter the crux, working through a big cross through, sloper and two monos (the left hand one is enhanced) ending on a large, flat edge. From here it is 4 bolts and mid .12 to the anchor but remains sustained. The crux has sent many people away with sore fingers and bruised egos and it is not unknown to fail while pulling to the anchors. Variously described as a pile (mainly from the bruised ego folks) to quite a good route, Deeper Shade of Soul, will test your pocket pulling abilities and endurance.
If you dig this then go for the Triple Crown - My Generation, The Example, and Deeper Shade of Soul all in one day and hanging all the draws.
I climbed this one in March, 2005. I think it is quite good compared to other hard routes at shelf. The rock isn't the greatest at the start, but it gets a lot better. What I really enjoyed about it is that the moves are quite interesting, and relatively gymnastic for shelf. Furthermore, many of the other hard routes at Shelf (12+ and up) that I have tried seem to be one move wonders, whereas this one was definitely a power-endurance test. I didn't think the route was tweaky either. There are the two mono moves, but they are huge monos, and you have really good feet at that point.
As for the chipping...the left hand mono seems to have some kind of epoxy or resin in the bottom of it. That is the only evidence I saw of any "funny business". Is it possible someone tried to return the pocket to it's original condition? I think it would be possible to climb this route while avoiding that pocket altogether, but it would be harder.
I think this route is a must-do if you climb at the grade.
Although this isn't a one-move wonder, it definitely favors the boulderer. The meat is a 6 or 7 move V6ish sequence just after the big cross through. Definitely more power than power endurance. To illustrate, I have heard some say that they think this is easier than The Example. Totally different style climb, but this is definitely way more powerful and less endurancey than The Example, which I consider a power-endurance problem. Nevertheless, this is certainly one of the classics of the grade at Shelf, nearly on par with The Example.
I sought out to climb this route without the 'enhanced' left hand mono, and found it made the crux only marginally harder- and in my opinion better. This is a great route, with interesting, powerful moves- leading into an endurance testing finish. Highly recommended, 2nd best Lantz 13 at Shelf- a step below the Example.
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