Culp-Bossier 

P2 maybe we belayed at the wrong spot, but it didn't seem like 120 ft to the bottom of the corner. P3 we stretched out a 200 ft rope on this one. [definitely] the best pitch of the climb, but also the most serious. Pitch by pitch description by Charles Vernon is good beta on the climb. We used it and everything seemed to jive with what was on route. Have fun. Terrific route.

I would suggest that on P2 you go to the top of the corner for the belay. Definately less rope drag on P3. I may have got off route, but we did the route in 6 pitches with a 60M rope. There is a nice hanging belay in the pod of a crack at the top of P4. P5 goes straight up from here, goes right up higher (35M) then back left to a sloppy ledge. P6 cuts back right and up an overhanging crack that was a little wet yesterday from what appeared to be run off. I thought this to be the hardest section of the climb - above the overlaps - friction moves and no pro. This is a STIFF 5.8 and very commiting up high. It will get your heart racing.

It seems everyone does this differently. On pitch six, I would go up the corner and then break almost straight right, perhaps 60 feet, until you're just around the main prow. There is a great belay stance there with a fixed pin. It is the start of the long ramp that eventually connects with Jackson-Johnson. On pitch seven, you can avoid the runout face above the belay by just climbing right around the arete and heading up a large right facing corner. Tom Isaacson

The Rossiter topo shows a bolt on the last pitch of the Culp-Bossier. I couldn't find this bolt, am I blind, or has it been chopped?

As we finished (Charles Vernon's) Pitch 6, I took a long traverse right (50') around a corner and belayed next to a huge pin with an enormous detached block, at the base of a steep rightward leaning ramp. Above us was (I'm pretty sure) the crux pitch - steep 5.7 s face moves to a steeper crack splitting right between two sections of cream-colored (and rotten looking) rock.

It doesn't sound like this was the belay everyone else found, but it sure seemed to work well for us. We tried to decipher the "proper" belay spot, but never did find it.

That said, what great exposure! I never expected so much face climbing and "eldo crack climbing" (stemming and face holds, using the crack for pro).

You can link 1 & half of two nicely (maybe you can make it to the top of the corner with a 60m?). The "correct" corner (there are 4 that we debated between) is the largest of the RF corners, that steepens into creamy colorered rotten rock (the route traverses to the right just underneath that section).

From the grassy ledge, it makes total sense to link these and simul-climb as needed (300 feet of super-airy face climbing was FUUUUN.) or as comfortable.

Oh yes, and the pin at the crux roof up high is terrible, it moved about an inch up and down. A perfect red alien placement goes in right above it.

Whoops. What Tom Isaacson said about P6. PS, no bolt on the last pitch, as far as I saw.

In the midst of racing a severe lightening/ hail storm, I left a 3.5 Camalot on the final pitch. If someone happened to retrieve it and was gracious enough to return it, I would gladly compensate for the trouble. If not, at least put it to good use. Please contact cms212@aol.com.

??? . . . We didn't bring (and didn't need) anything larger than a #2 . . . ???

Did this route a few days ago (on 9/2) with Bob Chase (a guide from the Colorado Mountain School). I needed him, as I am but a "novice" (can only lead up to about 5.6 trad). Everything that has been said about this route is true...and more. Last year, I did the Petit Grepon, and this route is much more sustained, strenuous, and fun (not to take anything away from the Petit). It is a great study in edging (all of those little micro edges are pretty bomb). Just when you are about ready to give up, BOOM, a great hand hold or another little edge pops out of nowhere. I thought P3 (the first crux with the roof) was fun, but P7 makes the route. Dead vertical, with extraordinary face climbing. Bob made me a bit nervous by running out the start of P8 by about 60'. Oh yeah, we were the only party on the entire face of Hallets that day. I presume because it was a weekday, just after Labor Day, and because of the Bear Lake shuttle situation. We arrived at the Sprague Lake parking area a little after 2 am and did the approach from there, started climbing by headlamp (~5:30 AM), and topped out around 1:30 PM. We made it back down to the base just as it started raining. You can take the Bear Lake shuttle back to Bierstadt Lake, from there it is less than a mile hike back down to Sprague Lake.

It looks like it's getting a bit late in the season for this route. My partner and I were up there on 9/20 and the first two pitches had more ice on them than I usually like on a rock route. After spending way too much time chipping ice with a nut tool on the first pitch, we bailed for the sunny joys of Eldo.

This is what a quality alpine rock climb is supposed to be like. The climbing is exposed and sustained at the given grade, the line is direct and logical, there are no "gimme" pitches, and it's in a positively beautiful spot. I'd recommend it if it wasn't apparent that a lot of people already know about it! Beware of the old fixed gear, some of it is manky.

I laughed at the idea of this route being rumored to have route finding difficulties, as I did the Love Route last summer with no problems. At my second belay, with no idea where we were, and obviously off route, with bail slings in a circle of shame all around us, I hung my head, tucked my topo deep into the pack and headed off like a dog in heat, aiming my nose towards whatever looked good next. I have pirated the well shot route photo and marked what I found on my meandering journey (hallets2.jpeg). I believe we nailed a pitch or two of the Jackson Johnson, but other than that, I have no idea. It was overall a good time, with a lot of runout 7-8, and a hair raising wide and wet pitch 4. One deep slingable chockstone mid way provided some relief for my wide eyed belayer on his first alpine and only second multi pitch climb(I know,I know, I would make a horrible guide). Anyways; I have been up many so called "hard to read" routes and this one really confused me, so I thought I'd drop a note and see if anyone can figure out what we were on (route, not hallucinogens).

jer

Jer, from your photo (under Beta Photos) it looks like you did the top 2 pitches of the Jackson-Johnson. In the middle you're actually right of the JJ, in this area there is a huge yellow flake that the JJ goes up the left side, while you show going up the right side. Halletts can be tough route finding as there aren't many identifiable features around.

Awesome climb, rock, and exposure. One should hit this in the morning and be done with it by noon (1:00 at the latest) as hell broke loose when we summited at 2:00. Pitch 1 was confusing. Pitch 2 was straightforward. Pitch 3 pulled a funky little roof with a manky piton. Pitches 4 and 5 are the heart of climb in my opinion-incredible exposure on excellent rock. Pitches 6,7, and 8 were a free-for-all as we didn't know where the hell we were until I topped out. Total time on the route was about seven hours including route finding, downclimbing, upclimbing, figuring out where we were, etc, etc, etc.

Hey guys and gals, just did this route two days ago. Fun fun route, after having done Crestone Needle, I was expecting more of a chossy, which way do I go kinda route. But this one kept going and going. Lots of solid climbing with the nice occasional gimmie. The annoyance was the occasional stream running down of the holds but even that was not too bad. We took the 7a bus and where back at out car by 4p. You gotta love the approach on this one. Especially seeing little kids walking the trail. It does seem like it rains there everyday. On our descent, we got about a 10minute soak. But even if you have to go and then bail the scenery is very well worth it.

Excellent route. There are runouts, but both hands and feet are very secure - no slab moves! Most of the pins actually looked solid given the way they were placed. The steepness makes the 5.6 climbing exciting. East descent with the bolted chain is totally obvious (because of the cairn) and highly recommended.

Although the climbing for the most part is easy, and you can move pretty quickly if you stay on route, I would recommend bringing a rap line if possible. I had to descend from P7 in a nasty thunderstorm w/ only 1 70-m rope, and it took several hours and some anchor construction. Incoming weather cannot be seen until the summit, and it is difficult to continue on runout terrain when the rock is soaked. Climb safe!

Anybody know if this route is still "in" and not iced up yet? [Chris, John (Love Route), Deb, Allen (C-B) were just there last Wed.]

"Anybody know if this route is still "in" and not iced up yet?"

It's getting cold up there (9/2/06), but the route is as clean as a whistle. To add to the route finding discussions, we were able to stay on route by using Charles Vernon's pitch by pitch description and the topo from Rossiter's guidebook. The only couple of notes I think I could add is that on P6, after leading out of the LF dihedral, there is a gold(ish) section of rock maybe 70 feet above your head that you can see from the dihedral. We angled up and right under the gold section of rock with good to excellent pro (for the grade) to a right facing corner that marks pitch 7. We had a pretty shitty belay stance there, but I'm sure there were other options that we missed out on. There is a silver colored pin at the start of P7 that you can move around with your fingers, but an excellent .75 Camalot placement is right above it.

I love this route! I agree that it's the best moderate in the Park, better than the Petit Grepon. The route's still in for the brave of heart. Sideways snow doesn't stick. Thunder and lightning in the fall rarely strike the ground. The black rock is still sticky when it's wet; the white rock is not. The numbness in your feet will go away with time.

Dave, went to do the route on 9/16, the wind was shaking our car in the parking lot at 4am, and even the road was soaked, my buddy and I figured we would just be going for a hike if we went for it. We thought for sure there would be ice on the route.

Just did the route yesterday. It was good that my partner had climbed the route before, route finding was not that obvious. Then I did not study the route nor took a topo. I would suggest taking a full rack due to the varied placements. There are a few runout sections, however they offer solid climbing. If you are not adept in placing protection and setting belays, I would not attempt this route. Protection was not that straightforward and somewhat cerebral. The route also seemed sustained for the most part. However, I am going to be 48 next month, so getting out of bed is sustained. We descended by heading down along the cliff face until you see a large cairn. There are chains. The rappel can be done with two 60m to safety. There is also a midway station that I believe you could rappel this in two single 60m rappels. However, since we did not do this, it is only an observation. Follow the gully and cairns wrapping up towards the climb down a scree field.

Hey Charlie,

Glad you had an interesting time. Was it very wet up there?

-P vernon

Loved the route, but hated the descent. This was my second time up Hallett, and I haven't grown any fonder of that series of 'class 4' gullies. It's all loose, and it requires some class 5 downclimbing. On the climb, the fall risk on the 5.7 runouts isn't so bothersome because of the stellar rock quality. The gully was nerve-racking by comparison.

At the final gully there is a tree with slings on a ledge off to the left with a boulder embedded high in the trunk. A 60m double-rope rap will get you past the snow all the way to the talus slope.

Greg, which descent are you doing? It is quite easy if you go climber's left at the top (generally southeast). See Mike Sofranko's description under Hallett Peak. I'm assuming you went northwest?

George,
We didn't go up to the West Gully. We hiked down to the chain anchors on the first buttress, rapped 200', then followed the gullies straight towards the lower half of the east couloir. I didn't see many choices on the way down. I don't think we were off-route. I just think it is riskier than the climb.

You must have missed the traverse west about 300 feet below the rappel. There is a cairn here, but if you don't notice it you will head down into a nasty chute. This descent normally takes under an hour, even for slow people like me.

If you did more than one rappel on the east ledges descent you were off route. One 60m rap from the chains takes you to a gully with easy downclimbing, then trend LEFT (west) around the buttress at about every opportunity you get and you end up at the base of Hallett's chimney. There was no snow on this descent on 6/24/07. This is definitely the best way down as it has only a short loose gully section.

The descent down the west gully is more of a loose slag heap than the east side, but it is the best way down from the Third Buttress. This one also has a trick to it, at one point you have to go up and over a hump to the left (west) to another gully. There are no rappels needed on this descent.

LOST CAMERA!

Well not really lost. I dropped it from the top of pitch 6 and watched it hit once before landing on Lunch Ledge. I'm sure the camera is toast (it's a Kodak digital) but would like to get the SD memory card back. I'll provide a cash reward. My name and address is on the camera.

Thanks!
Lee

Did this on 9/2; a fantastic experience. The statements about being solid on 5.8, runout @ 5.7, tricky gear placement all held very true. Also required simul-climbing in a couple spots to get to decent belay spots and stay ahead of ominous weather. FYI, backing down off this route would be a sketchy and expensive process as there were only 1 or 2 fixed slings that we noticed down on the lower half. We didn't start the climb until 8am and made it only due to answered prayers as thunderheads were rumbling all around.

Outstanding route! We climbed this on 9/1/07 in six pitches with a 60m rope. We didn't simulclimb, but stretched out the rope on more than one pitch. The runout sections didn't seem bad due to the solid rock and abundance of incut holds. I got off route at the top (it all looks the same up there) and basically went straight up where the topo has you go right a bit. The climbing didn't seem any harder than the normal route, but there was an exciting move onto a huge jug to get over a little roof with about 900 feet of air below my feet. That might have been one of the dirty overhangs mentioned above. As you might expect for a north-facing route, we didn't hit the sun until the fourth pitch, so it was chilly starting out.

Best route I've ever done in Colorado at the grade. This should be the definition of 4 stars for 5.8 alpine. On the flip side, if you just lead 5.8 in the crags (as I do) I wouldn't touch leading this with a 10 foot pole. Doing it with a 70 meter is a good idea.

Jen and I did this yesterday and it was exquisite. Not a cloud in the sky all day. Lucky for us, as we had some route-finding and other issues and were SLOW. We were on route above the ramp and the crux pitch was the best even with the runoff from the recent weather. We could have used more slings to reduce rope drag lower where we were meandering, but overall it was a great day and a great climb. Despite some of the beta to the contrary, the raps at the east end can be accomplished with a 50m rope with plenty to spare.

First time on gneiss rock, first alpine climb in CO- way way too much fun. My buddy Chris had me stretch the rope on the second pitch, spicily traversing right over a roof to an excellent 5.9 corner variation for pitch 3 to the midway ledge. I recommend.

Did this on 9/3/2008. Nice little route.

I found the "dicey" sections to be adequately protected. A set of wires nicely protected my partner's 7s section on P7. The 5.6s runout wasn't bad at all - I got pro every 15 feet or so. Small Aliens or TCUs are nice on this route. (black & purple Alien / #0.1 & 0.2 Camalots). If you belay from the ledge at the top of P2, then a 60m rope will not reach the next ledge for p3. (Had to simulclimb 20 feet). You should probably set your belay a bit above the comfy ledge in the right-facing dihedral. Remember: choose the middle dihedral!

Then expect a 200 foot pitch to the comfy ledge at the top of p3. There was a single pin protecting the p3 5.8 section - which is otherwise a right trending ledge/slab. I found this to be the hardest / poorest pro of the whole climb.

We had trouble finding the raps: The descent rappel can be found by hiking roughly 1/3 mile down the ridgeline (maybe 200 vertical feet). Pass the first major incut gully (which faces north) and then go down another 50-60 vertical feet, 400 feet or so of horizontal walking. Look for the cairns marking the rappel to your left (northeast). Rap 30m to a ledge. Downclimb the sections below you, passing the first major lefthand turn after the looming tower on your left. Take either the second or third lefthand turns which will have you drop down/climb up to the gully respectively. Then descend the gully via downclimbing or traversing ledges. The gully felt no worse than 5.1/5.2 in the very worst spots, but perhaps a little harder than 4th class in others. We did it unroped. You will end up about 400 vertical feet below the start of the route (5 minutes back to the base).

The descent would be rather spicy in a rainstorm - there was plenty of tat hanging on lots of boulders in the gully. We cleaned a lot of it up since it had been burned through by ropes pulling across it. We also pulled a taped carabiner from the top of p6 with two slings on it - if you left something up there and want it back, email me.

The hike up took us a little over 1.5 hours, and the drive from Boulder a solid hour. It was darn cold in the morning and the sun dropped behind the formation around 10am -- reappearing briefly on the ledge and on top.

Fabulous route, one of my favorites in the Park. Did this several times back in the late '90s and need to take my kids there now.

Great route with amazing exposure. On the 6th pitch, I got naturally lured to the right and onto the 5.7 variation that leads to the bottom of the crux on Jackson-Johnson. In retrospect, it should be easy to stay left of the nose, but requires sticking to the face for a bit and the pro that goes with it.

Eric Peers (above) gives a good descent desription which worked for us. The approach was about 90 minutes from the parking lot, although we flailed around a bit on the approach. We got a 5:30 trailhead start and topped out around 2:00. Pulling a second rope slowed us down quite a bit.

The right-facing corner in Vernon's pitch 6 is the right hand side of the massive, yellow roof/wall above your head.

On Vernon's pitch 8, start your traverse right 20 feet below the roof that has a fist crack on its right side.

As good as I remembered the route being. Great fun being on the route with my son Tobin. Excellent climbing in a great setting. Fun to be out there with Clay and Alex, even though they ignored us and got off route:)

Amazing route...even if I was off route a bit (Thanks for telling on me and Clay, Lynn). Made the mistake of taking the dihedral directly above pitch 2 instead of the dihedral to the left. Got back on route after some major movement right to find a weakness and then a major traverse back left above.

Granted this is a confusing face in general, but we tried following this route description and found it just slightly better than useless. Could definitely use some beefing up with better references to cognizable features. At least this face is so featured, no matter what you do you aren't really going to get yourself in trouble.

Steep, sustained, fantastic, face climbing. It is definitely runout, though if you don't skip potential placements (oops) and have some small cams, you can do better. Bring lots of slings if you're going to link/stretch pitches. Route finding is tricky as many have said. All the "landmarks" make sense once you have done it before, but when you are climbing it for the first time, there is a lot of rock above you. I didn't think any move was harder than 5.8, but you have to be prepared to make 5.8 moves above gear, and there may be multiple in a row. A 70m rope isn't a bad idea, it will give you belay options, but we did it easily in 6.5 pitches with 60m doubles, and that was with some mistakes on my part.

Bringing a 70m rope is nice for this climb. I opted (accidentally) to extend the first pitch all the way to the base of the dihedral of the second pitch. This gains you a nice, flat, belay stance.

When I arrived to the start of the Culp - Bossier Route, it looked like a jammed up buffet line at a cheap casino in Las Vegas.

I ended up with this after I topped out: Better Than Love> Love Route> Englishman Route> Culp Bossier (sounds like a set list I know). Great outing, could not have been more stoked with the climbing!

Such an ultra mega classic. Wow! I have yet to climb anything that remarkable at that grade.

Using a 70, we were able to do the first four pitches in two which made for good time. Then we began running into other parties and things slowed. Weather held and all was well, but had we had a free run at the second half of the Culp, it would have gone easily in three, possibly in two, and certainly not in 4!

Chill descent as well.

AMAZING CLIMB!!!

Maybe we got off route, but I remember a manky pin (maybe manky old bolt) and overhanging, awkward, wet 5.9 (old school 5.8) on the last pitch. It's been awhile.

Has anyone been up this recently? We're thinking about it for next week and were wondering what the route conditions were like. Thanks!

Hard-to-believe-but-true: With a 70m skinny and about 15 meters of simul-climbing at the P4 grassy ledge, you can send this seemingly massive puppy in four monster pitches.

Also, for those wary of jumping on a route notorious for dubious routefinding...just get on it. We printed pictures, topos, notes...and almost didn't bother with any of it. The C-B is heroically easy to find and maintain; I have NOOO idea how you could get grievously off-route on this one. But there you go.

Route finding can be difficult without a good topo. I usually prefer pictures to a topo, but I wish we had a topo for this one. The good news it that almost all routes near the top are 5.8, so getting off route isn't a big deal. Despite the description above, all the "5.6" pitches are mostly 5.6 with sections of 5.7. In Bernard Gillett's guidebook, he rates no pitches easier than 5.7. Also, the description above isn't written that well with vague instructions. Gillett gives a much better description that will keep you on route.

Excellent route, lots of sustained 5.7 face climbing. All the run-out sections never felt desperate or scary as the face is full of features, crimps, etc. As for the main concern of the "Culp"... route-finding... just go to ClimbingLife.com and print out Eli's topo. Pretty much dead on for all the pitches, aside from pitch 5 from the Crystal Ledge. My partner and did about 30m of simul and a belay shift to reach the pitch #6 belay under the white roof. We ended up doing the face in 5 rope stretching 70m pitches in 4 hours. Just remember "take the second dihedral!!!" on pitch 3. This will set you on the correct course for the rest of the climb. Once you head off from the Crystal Ledge (pitch 5), it is pretty much directissima on the left side of the blunt prow of Second Buttress. Don't think about this one, Just go do it!!!

Anyone know anything about the variant where you go directly up (and slightly left) at the start of p7, instead of traversing right around the big white flake?

I did this yesterday, found OK rock quality (not as good as the rest of the route), and what I'd put at roughly 5.9R climbing.
There was one old fixed pin, right before the small overhang to the left of the big flake. I didn't see any other fixed gear going this way.

The top out also finished at a fairly well worn trail, so this has obviously seen a bit of traffic but not nearly as much as the rest of the route, judging by the rock quality and amount of lichen.

Climbed this with my buddy Eric Harvey, in the rain!!! Was the granite not freaking slippery that day? We took some spooky pictures and made it to the top in alpine fashion, making our own route up the higher pitches.