PRINT: Rock Climb Old Bolt Route, Estes Park Valley

Old Bolt Route

5.8- PG13, Trad, Sport,

Avg: 2.4 from 22 votes
FA: [Keith Lober, 1980s]
Colorado > Estes Park Valley > Big Thompson Ca… > Combat Rock

Access Issue: Access issue - Monastery, Cedar Park, Combat Rock, etc. - open since 2023 Details

Update: per Bruce Hildenbrand: the area has been open since 2023.

Per JF M: as of May 2022, there is no signage on-site, nor information on the USFS webpage for the Cameron Peak Fire (nor on their published map of closures) that indicates the area is closed.

Per Bruce Hildenbrand: it appears that the Forest Service has closed access to all the climbing areas accessed via Storm Mountain Road (Monastery, Cedar Park, Combat Rock, etc.) until they can clear all the dangerous dead trees from the Cameron Peak fire.

I worked this issue with Eric Murdock at the AF, and it looks like the Forest Service picked Devil's Gulch Road as the southern boundary even though all the climbing areas on MP.com were not burned.

Description

This route climbs the face about 15-20 feet to the right of Rambo Santa (5.7). Most people, like myself, think they are on Rambo Santa when they climb this route for the first time. The climbing is high quality, but the protection is not. The mix of quarter inch bolts and death hangers add a little excitment. There are a few trad placements between bolts.

P1: Head up the slab to the right of Rambo Santa. ([3] bolts, 150 feet). Belay at the bolts for that route.

Descent: Rap with one rope to the chains of Arkansas Patriot or do a double rope rap to the ground. [Apparently, aka DMZ]

Protection

Light rack, mostly small stuff, [QDs for 3 bolts]

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

Looking for the next bolt?

Beautiful granite, little pro.

Claire relaxing (?) on the easier upper half. Tree Roof is in the foreground.

Climber named Claire above what I think is the second bolt.

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

Errett Allen

Don't expect to find 4-5 bolts on this route -- there are only 3. Sep 8, 2003

allen simons

I'll have to climb this again and count the bolts. I thought there were 4 or 5. If you get off route at all you could pass them unknowingly. Jan 23, 2006

Guy H.
Fort Collins CO

5.8-

Thanks for replacing the first two bolts on this climb. With this recent change, the climb is no longer "R" rated. You can get good gear every 10-12ft. The 3rd and last bolt is still a 1/4 incher, but it can be backed up with the smallest Alien.

Bring gear to a #3 Camalot with emphasis on small cams. A brown tricam can be placed in a pocket right before the overlap half way up. Jun 12, 2006

Eran Shileikis
Colorado

I rapped down the "Rambo Santa" anchor to look at the bolts for this climb and only located 3 total. There are 2 newer good ones near the beginning and 1 old 1/4" POS homemade thing just below the 2 bolt anchor at the top. There are actually quite a number of natural placements "near" this route, and it can be done relatively safely [no more than ~15 ft. between placements] if you have a good head and the correct gear. I would not recommend this route for someone climbing 5.8 at their limit. In fact, I do not think the original route is possible [safely anyway] w/out the "missing bolts". According to Rossiter, there use to be a total of 6 bolts on this line, so instead of taking the line where bolts use to be (?), it feels more natural to traverse a little to the right over to P2 of Tree Roof/Schoolmarms in Space. This takes away from the route, unfortunately. Does anyone know what happened to the original bolts? I couldn't find any trace of them (though I probably didn't look hard enough).

Gear BETA: I used everything from micro-cams (BD 0.1 and TCU #0) up to a BD #3 Camalot, and almost everything in between. Definitely bring the #2 and #1 Camalots, and a 0.4 Camalot, or a yellow alien.

All that said, I think once you hit the "ledge" you are basically on the upper 1/2 of P2 of "Schoolmarms in Space". Then you head up, clip the POS 1/4" bolt, make a cruxy move and hit the anchor. Guy Humphrey's advice above is right on. Feb 22, 2007

Amos Patrick
Estes Park

5.8- R

Pretty sweet route. The gear can be a bit tricky and spaced out though. Definitely have your head on. I found 3 bolts and the last one seems to have been replaced because it is solid now. Mar 22, 2010

Guy H.
Fort Collins CO

5.8-

Are you sure you didn’t climb Rambo Santa which has 6 bolts? Or veer right to the new route on the right? New bolts shouldn’t be aded to this route. The new anchor is for the new route to right, which is on MP. May 24, 2022

scotticusmaximus
Fort Collins, CO

Guy - the new route description does match what we did, so I rescind what I said. I'll have to go back and see if I can pick out this line in between Rambo Santa and the new set of bolts then. May 24, 2022