Excitable Boys 

Pitches 3 & 4 can also easily be combined with a 60m rope, a 50m rope is probably possible as well. Didn't take a #4 camelot, but might be nice if you don't like wide stuff.

#4 Camalot (old-style, or new, doesn't matter) is not big enough for the OW on p6. You need bigger pro than this, or grovel up it without immediate close pro (no big deal- it's 5.7 or so).
Other comments:

• Link pitches 1+ 2 and pitches 3 + 4 w/ 60m rope as stated above.

• On the 4th class pitch (p5): From 2 bolt belay on top of the 5.9 p4 option, you can't get to Football Ledge in a single 60m pitch. If you were to set a belay after 60m, what remains is probably 'only' 3rd class, however. Or simulclimb, which is what most people do.

Word to the Wise. Using the Mike Hill guide requires some serious interpretation and adaptation skills on the part of the reader. I'm sure the poor and often completely wrong information in the Hill guide, lead to the many epics and suspect reputation the Sandias have gained over the years. Either of the Schein guides are vast improvements. Do not rely on the Hill guide for any accurate information when it comes the climb descriptions or topos.

The first time I climbed Excitable Boys we thought we were doing Clark's Cramps!?

I know what you mean. A lot of the routes in Mikes book were relayed after the facts and sometimes many beers. Thats why after a few inquires I decided to write down the original route description to Clarks Cramps. See routes.

P1,2 link 58m 5.7+
P3 60m 5.9+ to football go L and climb cool 9+ roof at almost football ledge. you are 20ft right of crappy mashy bolts
P4 45m cl3 hike to near warpy . stop

p5 5.9 50m climb direct and rightish to grassy ledge 30m above football ledge. Climb cool 5.9 crack with exit OW easy there is fixed nut on this crack. keep going rightish to big sexy ledge. belay small pro.
p6 40m 5.6 to summit

much shorter and safer than WARP finish. with a little simul climbing 4 pitches. I have excellent topo of excitable boys drawn by Jim Linn while drinking moonshine in 1995. note,There is a great r var if you climb p1,2 far right on face and arete. recently tried to climb direct from football, above crappy placed mashy bolts, to big tree got scared and downclimbed ,bit runny. Might try again on TR for three pitch version of excitable.

The older sandia guide is an excellent guidebook for texans. new book sucks too though has pretty picture. we need ocd psyco climber photo geek in sandias to climb for about ten years straight for a good guide. Sooo many routes I love it. lots of loose rock you better goto Palomas much safer a bolt every six feet.

Just a few feet above the old, scary bolt on the sixth pitch is a chalked-up and tempting looking flake to use to get into the awkward dihedral. However, this flake is very sketchy and I wouldn't recommend pulling on it. We considered yanking it yesterday but we think there were people below us.

In regard to the flake I tried to yank on it yesterday and it would not go anywhere. Maybe I was just not strong enough.

the fixed pins should go away on this route

A #5 new-style BD Camalot does work in the OW on P6. A #6 might work just as well or perhaps better - not sure.

I did the route a few years back and if I remember right the 5.10 variant was rather fun. I don't think it was chosy and I don't really recall the pro as I was following on that pitch.

5.10 variation is worthwhile I thought...

Bone Cage Var to Excitable , solo up for a bit then keep right at start od EB, stay on edge of arete , pro ok but missing sometimes, cross excitable at overhang P1or2 use anchor
P2 join ex boys for 80ft or so then go left climb up three pitches to summit youll cross football ledge left of EB ,P3 leave Football ledge twenty feet left of entrace to it , traverse into schroungy discontinuous crack system,P4-5 climb two pithch straight up to big tree where mtn club left giant piece of webbing.

200' rope required small pro plenty of lichenskill and dry weather, this one runs../

Im just an excitable boy

VAR Amanda Chapin, Longfeather Epistein

I agree with what others have said about the left 5.10a dihedral variation on the second pitch. I thought this was really fun and it protects well. Quite nice.

Did route yesterday:

1) definitely link pitches as described

2) i wandered briefly on p4 - the line seems to head more right off the belay then i expected from the topo

3) loose block next to OW on p6 is very sketchy - use great caution; leader in my party yarded on it and it moved alot but still in place

4) the last pitch is a heaping pile of lichen covered death blocks - i also ended up with some heinous drag - use long runners...

overall - thought this was a very mediocre Sandias route; Second Coming, though shorter is more fun and much much less filled with loose junk.

Climbed this route today with Casey Eales. Linking pitches works well and the 5.10 variation of p2 is worthwhile. P4 goes much further right than I had expected traversing under a large roof.

Pitch 4 5.11? variation.
Instead of traversing right under a big roof to the anchors, climb through the 6ft roof crack (#4 new style camalot) jamming and lie backing until you pull over the lip and reach for the thin crack. After mantling on a laptop sized ledge to the left of the finger crack, place some pro and continue up to the gully or traverse right to the p4 belay anchors.

Climbed this route today with Supra & Wes, linking pitches as seems to be the norm (1&2, 3&4). A few comments about pro:

IMO, #3 BD camalot was sufficient protection for the pitch 6 crux. I'm a pansy, relatively new 5.9 leader who sews up routes, and I brought the #5 for the OW (I absolutely abhor OW). However, I found the OW was a walk in the park compared to the crux right below it, sufficiently protected by said #3, and i dumped the #5 just to get rid of the weight.

Contrary to the recommended rack above, I found that small metolious mastercams (00 & 0) were very handy for this climb, with plenty of small, parallel cracks just begging for perfect placements.

All and all, this was a very fulfilling climb.

Purposefully pulled some loose blocks down on this over the weekend. If you know a rock is loose and you are confident there is nobody below, do not wait to remove loose material on a route. A couple of the blocks were ticking time bombs and should have been pulled long ago. Good route.

The 5.10 variation is worth it. I would suggest not wearing a pack for this one.