Sofa Kingdom 

I think if you hesitate you'll find this harder; fiddling around mid-sequence burns energy. If you go with the flow (will the hold to be at your reach) you'll find the crux 9+. Fight it and it will seem 10a.

This is a sunny climb in the afternoon on a surprising slab. One last thing: if you want to make the first clip (which does involve a move over exposure up onto the slab) extra safe, it is possible to throw in some pro in a hand sized crack before the face. I used a red BD hex and felt glad all over.

This route is very nice and worth doing, but no way is it 5.10-, even by Boulder Cyn standards. 5.8 at the most, and easier and safer than virtually *any* 5.8 than I can think of in Eldo. Getting started is a bit weird, though, and I agree that a 1-2" piece has a calming effect.

I concur with Ray's comment. Did this route today and it felt like 5.9 for the Canyon - no harder. The bolts might be a bit reachy for the more vertically challenged, but the climbing is not 5.10. Compared to Eldo, this is probably 5.7.

Great route though! Beware of loose rock and the potential for a nasty tumble getting to the first bolt!

Oh yeah, great climb. It clearly is not 5.10, and I know this because I still struggle on many 5.9 routes, and this was pure joy.! The only reason I would give it a 5.9 is because, like mentioned above, you can get psyched out if you don't just keep moving. I must say, there are places where, being short, I had an intermediate move before the bolt. Those moments made it slightly challenging. Oh, we dabbled with starting left, center and right of the line of the first bolt off the belay ledge...and each start was fun and unique. The route is in the shade most of the morning.

Pretty solid rock, and fun enough moves, but probably more likely in the 5.7 to 5.8 range.

A couple of things: As others have pointed out, this route is not 5.10. I've taken first time climbers on this, and they've gotten up it fine on TR. 5.8 at the most but still a very fun climb. A couple of saftey precautions: be very mindful of loose rocks both on the approach and around the belay station. Also, if you decide to rap off the route to save wear and tear on your rope from the awful sloping ledge before the last bolt, be sure not to toss your rope anywhere near the nasty pine tree with lots of small dead branches that stands just to the left of the climb. It can really eat up your rope and may reqiure some toproped, licheny, 5.10 fingercracking to untangle said rope from said tree. And the mine hole is not a bathroom!

This is not 5.10, although it might be a bit height dependent. At the start, it's easier to come in from the right before clipping the first bolt. A 60m is plenty for lowering off, I think a 50m would be fine.

I agree that this is not 5.10. More like 5.8 with perhaps one move of 5.9.

I guess if one would limit onself to following the bolt line directly it may be harder than if you reach left and right for the obvious holds. But then, it would be way contrived....

Anyway, fun route to do, particularly if you are lost looking for the Animal Crag and stumble upon it.

WT

Bob, funny you should bring that up...

I guess we are so used to 5 mile approaches that we did not bother to look for directions until we noticed that we were running out of climbable rocks as we hiked up the side of the hill.

WT

I like the Gerry Roach Maxim: "One must go the wrong way at least some of the time."

This can easily and safely be lead on gear. Most bolts are placed directly next to gear placements.

We ended up at this crag when trying to find Animal World also. The problem is that the approach to Animal World involves an easterly traverse along the sloping terrace just above the Boulderado, with some scrambling and a couple of slightly exposed spots. Since we were expecting more of a 'trail' to Animal World, this didn't seem quite right, so we left the terrace to head further uphill and bumped into Mine Hole Crag before we realized the error.

This is a nice route on mostly solid rock (one suspect flake near second bolt). We approached the first bolt on the face from the right, up a wide slot and then along a left-angling, hand-sized crack where protection can be placed. Walking the feet up this crack, with good handholds available above, seems easiest.

Rolofson's original intention for this route may have been to take a direct line right next to the fourth bolt, which looks rather difficult and would explain his 5.10 rating. We bypassed this by stepping right a couple of feet, to reach good handholds near a thin crack with a bush in it, then stepping back left. Just above this is the technical crux, the mantle-shelf maneuver to the Thank God finger pocket mentioned in the route intro (5.9-ish).

With a 60m rope you can lower all the way back to the ground; no need to scramble up to the exposed belay ledge 10 feet off the ground to start the climb.