Empire of the Fenceless 

First, the route name is 'Empire of the Fenceless'- that's my fault for the error.

Second, there are glued holds on this route. I honestly can't tell if any were manufactured (I don't think there aree any), but a couple of the jugs have some epoxy behind them for support. Just thought I'd put the word out.

I noticed the re-enforced block on the arete as well. The rock that was glued on was obviously native and in place, but It looked junky and I was kinda bummed to see that. Gee, my first "5.12" on-sight of the season and it turns out to be on a "borderline altered" route.

Folks, this is otherwise a great route, and would have still been one less that block as well. Why not clean it instead of put a bunch of epoxy up there? With the available holds for feet that are off to the left anyway, I don't think that the climb would have been substantially different without the glue.

If you feel that you have to glue something, please do so carefully and discretely, keeping the junk out of sight.

Soft for .12a, more like .11d.

Empire Of The Fenceless was the Easiest of the three 5.12's I did this weekend. I didn't want to confuse my comment regarding chipping with a grades argument though because I am not trying to bitch about the route in general. It was very fun overall.

I was, however, trying to express that I was pretty pleased, and then bummed to see the glue.

As for the grade, I could have said 5.11b, but I've been getting a lot af flack for "sandbagging" lately, so I figured WTF- maybe I am having a good season...

Either that or there really is a big difference between Sport and trad grades. Is Empire Of the Fenceless harder than the crux of The Naked Edge? The Diving Board? Kloof (admittedly, a sandbag at 5.11a)? Not in my opinion. Maybe the bolts being so close make me feel more secure and it is mentally easier, but I'd say it is not much harder than Gravity's Angel or Home Free either (both are 5.11b, sport). Certainly this route did not feel as hard to me as Fuzzy Dice (5.12a sport) on Cadillac crag.

Hey 'Bubb', who cares? About AC or the grade.

This is a great route; nice setting, beautiful moves and has many ways to do the crux. I would suggest this route for women especially since every women I have seen does well on it.

Have fun.

I've gotta say that despite the usual sport-crag atmosphere, Easter Rock is one of the best small crags, trad or sport, in the Boulder area. This route in particular, I found to be one of the most enjoyable sport climbs in the Front Range. As compared to other sport climbs of the grade, I think 12a is pretty much right on, though it is a one-move wonder kind of crux.

As to Tony's comment above, I don't want to necessarily start a debate on the comparison of sport and trad grades, but yes, it did feel slightly harder than the mid-5.11 cruxes of routes at Eldo like the Naked Edge, Climb of the Century, etc. The difference though, of course, is that you're clipping bolts instead of dicking in RPs or purple TCUs as is typical of those Eldo climbs. Though it is totally different in style, at Eldo Empire is maybe 11c/d?

a short 12a crux section

Great line, fun climbing.

Brilliant route. 12a onsight grade; 11b/c redpoint.

Of course redpoint grades feel easier that onsites, hence the concept of a redpoint. Grades are based on onsites.

Anyway and more important, all agree this is a great route!

The glue doesn't bother me; the block in question is big enough that it would be quite a project to safely get it to the ground without going to the road and I also believe that the presence of the block makes the climb better.

Something that bothers me more, recently a fist-size pink splotch of paint appeared just below the crux that has been identified as resulting from a paintball, how totally lame.

Fun. Great workout. Who could ask for more?

I climbed this route yesterday. Just an FYI, it seems the glued block on this route is loose. This was my first time climbing the route so I have no idea what it was like before. When I grabbed the hold I heard it shift in its place. Has it always been like this? It still seems safe to me though because it didn't shift much. It just seems that the glue may not be doing much to hold it in place. Fun route.

Awesome position and movement. One of the best sport climbs in BC.

Only in Boulder have I heard a difference between onsight and redpoint grades. Seems ridiculous. So, if it takes 8 attempts, does that bump the grade to 10a?

Hey, lost my Gri-Gri 2 here yesterday... if you saw/have it, please call me 303-359-6831.

www.mountainproject.com/v/lost-gri-gri-2-boulder-canyon-east>>>

This route is an absolutely mesmerizing line from the guidebook, the ground and especially when clipping chains from the top...sometimes in your dreams. The underlying beauty of this line comes in multiple facets:

Clipping the first bolt off of a bomber, in-cut, right hand jug with huge feet quells any minor concerns for safety. Your first moves immediately after are not difficult but instead are just strenuous enough to let you know, "you're in it."

Moving up the arete uses powerful and sustained movement on holds that are good but that begin to take their toll and require thoughtfulness and balance, as well as a very tight core. As your mental duct tape begins to come undone and your heavy breath becomes apparent, the voice in your head changes from "I'm going to send," to "damn... I'm pumped!?!"

THEN you look up and see the crux.

The sequence requires big moves off small holds to another small hold... a hard move I've seen done more than one way. This challenging dead point move up to an in-cut, half pad crimp has to be accurate and controlled. Although this climb only has 7 bolts, it is deceptively long. All of the lateral movement involved adds an additional 30 feet, which only makes this one better.

As for the grade...I won't try to speculate on the difficulty.... If you climb 5.13, it's probably easy. If you climb 511...it's going to feel really hard.... The point is that either way, this route is really fun and I highly recommend it to everyone. For those you you who like to have fun climbing...don't be discouraged by people who are too good to climb something that has a glued-on hold...they probably don't like having fun anyway....

What he said ^.

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