Empor 

A more interesting start is to climb in the dihedral from the very beginning and don't wander too the right right as shown in the photos. The dihedral isn't that hard but I couldn't guess at the grade. I was a 5.9 leader and it felt hardish to me.

Great route, even if I did soak my butt (and gear) on the tyrolean. The last 5.7+ pitch was a bit challenging for me, particularly with a bag full of liquid chalk on my harness and wet, squishy shoes. The 5.8 dihedral start on the left and the 5.7+ crack above that seemed really easy compared to the last pitch. Cracks aren't my forte' though (yet).

I agree that the 5.7+ 3 pitch was harder than P1. But as Ben said, it is quite fun. The crack is pretty wide for most of the pitch and I placed my wide pieces up front, leaving me with a good run out. The jams are great though so it wasn't emotionally shattering, I think... :)

Very nice route.. 3 stars indeed. We chose the direct approach up the dihedral and it didnt seem much harder than 5.7+/8 so a good choice, once you get that first piece. Also on P3 we took the choice of the line of 4 bolts to the left of the crack, anyone have any idea of what this goes at ? I was thinking somewhere in the range of 11b'ish ? A confirmation on that would be nice, as it is not to be found anywhere. Enjoyable climbing, great for intro leaders with tons of gear placements and great belay stances. A must do at Cob Rock.

This is a fun climb. The 5.8 start straight up the corner feels stiff to me. The feet are somewhat desperate but the hands/fingers are good. I tried to do this without using the boulder at all but found it to be too difficult and yielded to the stem.

Also, it's about 100 ft. to the start of the left angling slot so I think this could be led as one pitch with thoughtful pro (and enough of it!).

I agree, the direct start is the best way to start this climb. I thought it was the best pitch. The pictures below show a leader avoiding the corner, and thus IHMO, the best climbing on the route. Stemming to the boulder would definitely drop the grade. I'd say that it's solid 5.8 without the stem. I thought it harder than the last pitch which seemed straight forward jamming to me.

The first pitch seemed to be the most difficult of the three. Not the best pro, not the best feet, not the best landing but the best climbing. By the third pitch your in the zone and the traversing crack goes smooth, as long as you stay in it.

Did the "Tour de Cob" yesterday, including Empor. We did the direct, dihedral starting below the boulder and avoided heading right but continued up and belayed where the dihedral opens up to the V-slot. Then, instead of taking the V-slot or the 7+ crack, we did some thin cracks to the right of the 7+ crack that are connected by a couple horizontal cracks. Has anyone done these? I am curious as to what other's thought the ratings of this might be. I thought it was 9ish.

A 50m rope reaches the second belay as described above with no problem.

My first climb ever in Boulder Canyon. It was a blast. We started from the west side of the boulder, just before the West Cracks area. I wasn't able to do it with the rack I was conned into carrying but it was a good alternative start. The first pitch or two are vastly different than the last. It is a sweet crack on the 5.7+ section. A great move over the bulge that you really have to experience yourself. It is also in the shade a good portion of the morning. I love this place.

Climbed this route yesterday and had a great time, though we started a bit higher than I think we were supposed to on top of the biggest boulder that is at the start where 3 pitons are (2 broken heads, 1 still complete). The dihedral below this boulder to the East seems like a better direct start. I also wandered off towards the route labeled as "8" in the photo, does anyone know the name/rating on that? When I got to the level of the "V" dihedral that heads to the "5.0" pitch I traversed across and finished off. It was an interesting variation for sure. Also, the top of the "5.0" section has a nice short crack that was good fun.

It's pretty easy to boulder up the outside (north side) of the giant boulder at the base of the route, and the tree that's up there is a good spot to belay from. Pitch 2 would make a great first lead because there are lots of face holds, so you don't even need the crack for anything but putting in gear (really good gear too)). If you have some crack skills (i.e. you know how to make a hand jam) the last pitch is kind of awkward, but very secure and takes good gear - it's nice to have camalots 1 and 2 ready when you need them.

This climb can easily be done in one nice long pitch. We started on top of the boulder and took the 5.0 left-angling crack. Belayed on top in a handsized crack just down from the tree.mike.

Did this route the other day with a "newbie" leader. This one makes an EASY two pitch route. I started in the "cave" below the boulder, working the RF Dihedral/finger crack. A LOT of fun. Felt like a solid 5.8 start. The last pitch can feel a little sketchy (especially for new leaders). If you make the climb in 3 pitches, let them have the middle as a WONDERFUL beginner lead. Lots of fun on the Tyrolean as well. Thanks to whomever donated the rope (though the unclip on the southern side is a climb in itself...). Any ideas for awkward people with heavy gear aside from using the tree?

William:When doing a tyrolean with a heavy pack it helps to take the pack off your back, hang it on the line with a separate draw/carabiner and then put yourself on the line in front of it and tow the pack behind you using some long slings.

One tyrolean trick is to not wear your pack, but to clip it to the rope and tether it to you with a sling. Thus you will be dragging it along. When you get to the other side, you will not have the added weight of the pack during the dismount.

A way to ease uncliping on the tree side is to clip a separate sling wherever you can when you get over and then step onto the sling to releave your weight off of the biner you're used to slide across.Another way to give newbies some added comfort is to give them an ascender (or two) and clip to the rope on a pulley rather than just hang on a biner, less friction.

I see the route description and Ben's photo indicate the route goes about 15' ro the West of the dihedral at some point. I always went straight up though. Anyone know if I'm stupid or is that the route? Given the great possibility that I'm stupid, anyone feel going straight up is harder than .7+?

I belayed a beginner leader on this yesterday (not his first lead, but close). He did the whole route in one pitch on a 60m rope, taking the easy version of pitch 3. He avoided rope drag by putting a piece off to the right where the route heads left up the slot.

Actually, Will just didn't know where he was supposed to belay, and kept going up to a few feet below the top. I made him come back down so I could lead the 5.7+ pitch 3. Not having a sufficently large cam made it feel a lot harder than 5.7. Basically, the stance sucked where I put in a cam to protect the crux moves. With a #3 camalot or equivalent it would have been a breeze (I think).

Great route. Great rock. Beautiful, solid granite. Reminds me of New Hampshire.

I lost a blue/gold Reverso at the base on 6/12/04. If anyone would come across it, I'd offer up a beer or two.

Fun climb, last pitch a little scary for a beginning leader w/ zero crack climbing experience.

Fun route; a little scary for a beginning leader with zero crack experience.

I lost a blue/gold Reverso at the base on 6/12/04. Its return would at least warrant a few beers!! finnegan13@hotmail.com

I climbed this a time ago, but just wanted to post that I felt as though the 7+ last pitch was harder than Northface left on Cob, and to me harder than Huston Crack. Huston just eats your shoulder so easily, and the 7+ last pitch here is kind of tricky at some points to figure out.

just my $.02

From reading the comments I guess we did the direct start. I remember it being harder than 5.7. We started parallel with the big boulder and there was a very airy move with no feet to get on the climb. Then on the second pitch there was a very difficult crack. I'm not a very good pure crack climber so I won't hazard a guess on the grade but I found it to be quite hard.

Otherwise its an excellent climb, just be confident at a few grades above 5.7 to lead this one.

The quickest way is to climb from next to the boulder, and link all the pitches finishing with the right angle crack in one long lead. A 60m works fine. Also, you can rappel from the 5.0 slot all the way to the ground by dropping right from the route. This only takes one 60m rope, but make sure to tie the ends, you will be at them when you step off! If you're worried about weather coming in, this is the quickest ascent (other than solo or simul).

I've only been leading this year and haven't lead anything harder than 5.9+. Having said that, the first pitch was tricky for me, and I had to stem to the boulder; the pro wasn't abundant, and the edges below didn't look fun for a fall. P2 seemed pretty straight forward, and I used plenty of stoppers for pro. We combined P1 and P2. P3 was a little tricky for me and there was plenty of exposure. Here, I used mainly cams for pro, #3 being the biggest. Overall, the climb was very cool, and I would recommend it!

Please note, I was here about a month or so ago and there was a tyrolean. Today, it was gone which made the creek crossing interesting.

Nice route, we did the first pitch from under the boulder, and there was maybe a move or 2 of 5.8 (but there is an easier variation to the right). I got to lead the last pitch which was really classic, good air, good gear, and good jams. Cruised it the whole time no problem, my buddy lead the Classic Dihedral at the Bucksnort Slab yesterday, and he thought this climb was quite a bit easier.

Everyone climbs this one, and I see why, it's great. The start of it is a little tricky. Can also be done in one pitch 60m.

We did this one starting from the crack below the boulder. We continued up the crack to the left from the top of the boulder. This was the most exciting section, with a phantom alien in there just to mess with you. It would make the route much more enjoyable if someone would go in there and pry that thing out. (I may do that in a few weeks when I get back. I though it was 5.9- for the "cave" section, but everywhere else was 5.7 or easier.

This is a fun route, the beginning is a little tricky, before you get to the ledge after the big boulder on the start, but I think most of the difficulties were in my head, as I am just starting to lead trad. The rest of the route is pretty easy. Big gear is helpful; I remember using a #4 Friend somewhere on P1. There is a nice horn you can sling for a protection point on the 1st anchor at the start of the face crack (P2), also be careful setting up the anchors as I noticed some loose blocks up there.

The line that this picture shows Ben taking, while being the route, is not the most obvious line to me. I keep left, staying in the dihedral while working stems and great hand/finger jams. Feels about 5.8, and superfun the whole way. Protection is adequate (a bit tricky in the boulder cave though, so PG13.) Climbing the first pitch this way ties with the 5.7 zigzag crack on P3 for quality of climbing.

I like to link P1-2 if I have a partner I'm confident can make it up without coaching.

I'd bring stuff to 3.5" if I were just leading at this level. Also, the creek is way down, easy to cross, but the downstream tyrolean is definitely in. Love the last 7+ handcrack variant, way better than the slot. There are three fixed pins in the first couple of pitches. The first one looks pretty good, the next two, not so much. We did the first two pitches as one, bring several slings for this.

This was my first-ever rock climb back in 1959, and after probably another 5-6 times over the intervening years still remains my favorite Boulder Canyon climb. Very high quality rock, decent exposure, fine climbing with great pro---what more could a person ask?!

Climbed it this morning, crossed the creek up stream 50 or so yards of the parking lot.

We opted for 3 pitches so my wife could lead the 2nd.

1st felt 5.7+ on the direct start.
2nd felt really light for 5.7, more like 5.5ish to me. A great line for a new leader for sure. Tons of feet, nice jambs, eats up #1 and #2 BD cams.
3rd. weird positions but bomber jambs with good feet. I'd call it 5.7+, it eats gear too.

Cheers,

Prod.

Spicy moves at the beginning made this seem a little harder than 7 for me. Still liked it a lot, great route.

I loved this climb. The photo here shows a climber skirting around obvious dihedral that I thought was 5.8+. The 1960's 5.7 rating is not accurate in my opinion, and the route is dangerous if you don't protect well at the beginning as the start is exposed and potentially dangerous landing terrain. It is NOT a place for beginning 5.7 leader. I don't know how this is 5.7 when the Bastille is 5.7 and the crux moves here are much more sustained. I started climbing in Eldo in 1968, and I know what 5.8 is and I know 5.9. This first pitch is closer to the latter than the former.

Fantastic route! Inadvertently combined pitches 1 and 2 but glad it worked out that way; don't think there's anything harder than 5.5 on P2. The start of P1 is awesome; probably 5.9 and scary if you don't use the large boulder behind. But either way, stay in the dihedral. The moves in the corner, above the boulder, are fantastic and the gear is excellent!