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Three Old Farts Young at Heart

5.10c R, Trad, 230 ft (70 m), 3 pitches,  Avg: 3 from 53 votes
FA: Jeff Lowe, Mike Wiess, Jim Donini, 1977
Colorado > Boulder > Eldorado Canyon SP > Redgarden Wall > Redgarden - Tower One
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Description

The first pitch is dangerous, but is good climbing. The second pitch is popular as a direct variation to Psychosis. The third pitch is spectacular, but a little loose and grungy.

This is somewhere between 1 and 2 stars. The second pitch is very good. The first pitch could be popular with just one piece of decent gear for the 9 crux, but as is, it's a TR for most climbers. The third pitch is steep and airy, but with just a few moves of hard climbing.

See Psychosis for detailed approach info. Start about 10' right of Psychosis.

P1, 5.9vs: You won't hit the ground if you come off, but you could get pretty banged up. We top roped this pitch by leading P1 of Psychosis (10a) to the belay. Climb past some very loose flakes to below the ceiling. Climb the ceiling using a very thin flake on the face above and positive footholds. You can get some gear below the ceiling and perhaps a questionable micro cam a foot or so above the ceiling in the shallow dihedral. When your feet are a couple of moves above the lip you can get a decent microcam in the thin crack on the right. Another couple of moves gets you good gear. The rest of the pitch has adequate gear as you continue up an interesting right facing corner to join the top of P1 of Psycho.

P2, 10d: This is a sustained pitch with good gear. This was my second time leading this pitch. I'm thinking that there is no move harder than about 10a, but putting it together clean is tough. Climbing through the roof on the black rock is intimidating, because it's steep above and unclear where the next rest will be. Climb the crack directly above the belay to the ceiling at a short left-facing corner. A 3.5 Friend or #3 Camalot top ropes the move through the ceiling. Getting relaxed above the ceiling was the crux for me. Place a #2.5 Friend or #2/gold Camalot (hard to see, since you are right of the crack), and continue up steep but positive face climbing to a big ledge. Belay here with gear in the 3/4" to 2" range in the crack above the ledge.

P3: 10a: This pitch climbs the south face of the Psychosis pillar. Rossiter calls this S, but I don't think so. Don't do what we did which is to "step right around the corner" as per Rossiter. We ended up in the Pigeon Crack chimney, which we climbed via interesting stemming and not much gear to the top of the pillar. Instead, angle up and a bit right from the belay. Climb the small ceiling and up the center of the face to the first bolt. Continue up to a shallow right facing corner. Get decent gear and move left and up on big incut and fun huecos. A good cam protects a moderate move left. Lesser gear protects a 9ish move to the second bolt. At the second bolt pull up and finger traverse left (crux) to the arete. Chuck pulled two holds off the arete on the lead, falling both times. These disappearing holds may have been due to all the recent rain. Easy low angle rock leads to the top just right of the Psycho finish.

Descend via the Vertigo rap route.

Link-ups: You can easily connect P1 of [Psychosis] (or P1 of Old Farts should you choose to lead it) and P2. You could also link P2 and P3. With a long enough rope you may be able to link all 3 pitches, since the line is pretty straight. My recommendation would be to climb P1 of [Psychosis] and TR P1 of Old Farts. Then climb P2 and the first part of P3 to the first bolt and then traverse right a little higher to a big, comfy belay with a good view of the last pitch. Then do the last pitch by traversing back left above the first bolt (as we did, after mistakenly climbing upper Pigeon Crack).

Protection

Standard rack from microcams to 3.5 Friend or #3/Blue Camalot. Single set of nuts. There are two newly-replaced bolts on the last pitch.

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

Joseffa Meir leads up into the crux of "Three Old Farts Young At Heart (10d)" on Eldo's Redgarden Wall. Kre belays. Photo by Tony Bubb 4/'07.
[Hide Photo] Joseffa Meir leads up into the crux of "Three Old Farts Young At Heart (10d)" on Eldo's Redgarden Wall. Kre belays. Photo by Tony Bubb 4/'07.
Unknown climber 8-04-13 on Three Old Farts Young at Heart.
[Hide Photo] Unknown climber 8-04-13 on Three Old Farts Young at Heart.
Dave Stewart in the crux on P2 of 'Three Old Farts Young At Heart (5.10)' on Eldo's Redgarden Wall. Photo by Tony Bubb, 2004.
[Hide Photo] Dave Stewart in the crux on P2 of 'Three Old Farts Young At Heart (5.10)' on Eldo's Redgarden Wall. Photo by Tony Bubb, 2004.
Dave Stewart being chased by shadows on the Crux of 'Three Old Farts Young At Heart (5.10d)' on Redgarden Wall, in Eldo. Photo by Tony Bubb, 2004.
[Hide Photo] Dave Stewart being chased by shadows on the Crux of 'Three Old Farts Young At Heart (5.10d)' on Redgarden Wall, in Eldo. Photo by Tony Bubb, 2004.
Dave Stewart follows P1 of 'Three Old Farts Young At Heart (5.10)' on Eldo's Redgarden Wall. Photo by Tony Bubb, 2004.
[Hide Photo] Dave Stewart follows P1 of 'Three Old Farts Young At Heart (5.10)' on Eldo's Redgarden Wall. Photo by Tony Bubb, 2004.
Dave Stewart follows up to the crux on P2 of 'Three Old Farts Young At Heart (5.10)' on Eldo's Redgarden Wall. Photo by Tony Bubb, 2004.
[Hide Photo] Dave Stewart follows up to the crux on P2 of 'Three Old Farts Young At Heart (5.10)' on Eldo's Redgarden Wall. Photo by Tony Bubb, 2004.
Pulling the roof on P2. The next couple of moves are pretty committing.
[Hide Photo] Pulling the roof on P2. The next couple of moves are pretty committing.
Above the roof on P2. You can get a rest via a precarious stem or by moving further right. Notice the sling Chuck is removing. It's on a razor sharp very thin flake. It might hold body weight. The first pitch of Old Farts is straight down from Chuck's left hand.
[Hide Photo] Above the roof on P2. You can get a rest via a precarious stem or by moving further right. Notice the sling Chuck is removing. It's on a razor sharp very thin flake. It might hold body weight. The…
At the second bolt and the 10a crux. Move up and left to the arete on strenuous but positive slanting finger holds with mediocre feet.
[Hide Photo] At the second bolt and the 10a crux. Move up and left to the arete on strenuous but positive slanting finger holds with mediocre feet.
After the scary and dangerous step over the roof. The gear is a small cam in an expanding flake that is scary to pull on let alone put gear behind. The next gear is at the bottom of the photo. On TR a while back I saw a possibility of a brass nut to the climber's left at foot level.<br>
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The climbing remains hard above this, but there is good gear in thin crack on the right after another move or two.
[Hide Photo] After the scary and dangerous step over the roof. The gear is a small cam in an expanding flake that is scary to pull on let alone put gear behind. The next gear is at the bottom of the photo. On T…
Hanging out on the big Huecos on the approach to the crux. Good cam right of Chuck. Move left from here then up a few moves to the second bolt.
[Hide Photo] Hanging out on the big Huecos on the approach to the crux. Good cam right of Chuck. Move left from here then up a few moves to the second bolt.
Back on route at the start of the steep section of P3. Chuck is getting good gear in at waist level. The first bolt is about 10' below Chuck. We missed it by going too far right and into Pigeon Crack. The second bolt is up and left abouot 15' above Chuck. The rock up and right of Chuck looked quite climbable to me looking up from this belay stance, but from above it looks much less attractive--steep and rotten.
[Hide Photo] Back on route at the start of the steep section of P3. Chuck is getting good gear in at waist level. The first bolt is about 10' below Chuck. We missed it by going too far right and into Pigeon Cra…

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

Owen Silver
Boulder, CO
 
[Hide Comment] The photos from 2/6/05 are of me. Thanks, Ivan for capturing me looking so gripped. Ah, 9+ VS off the couch to start the day. The thin flake above the roof on P1 takes a good cam, but feels fragile as you yard on it. The book says to do the whole climb in 2 piches, but I needed the gear for the crux, so we belayed below the crux roof/crack as Ivan recommends. I remembered a friend telling me to bring a #3 Camalot (blue) right after stepping over the roof on P2. There is a wide shallow slot that protects the crux - a thin face move just after pulling the roof. Maybe I'll consult my own beta now before next time. :) Feb 16, 2005
Rob Kepley
Westminster, CO
 
[Hide Comment] I climbed this yesterday with my friend Joe to reach Psycho Pigeon. We did it in two pitches. I felt it went pretty smooth doing it this way. The first pitch has some pretty long runouts, standard eldo fare. The last pitch was climbing over really cool huecos with sparse pro. I highly recommend this one. May 7, 2006
Mike Munger
Boulder, Colorado
[Hide Comment] There is a largish block just above the roof on pitch two that is threatening to come off. I pulled on it and some gravel came out from behind it. If you are belaying at the base of the crack make sure that your belayer is off to the side as it could do some damage when it gets loose. May 20, 2007
[Hide Comment] On the first ascent of this climb. I led the first pitch, Donini led the second, and then I led the third pitch. On the third pitch we used no bolts. My last protection was below the little roof, but the huecos on the wall above were good and they let me climb straight up until it was possible to angle left around the corner into the very finish of Psychosis. Earl Wiggins watched the climb and came up with the name. Jun 17, 2007
Clint Locks
Boulder
  5.10d PG13
[Hide Comment] This is one of my favorite Eldo gems. Approaching via P1 of Psychosis definitely takes the edge off of this climb, the run-out .7 section above the overhang is all there, and gear is available if you're willing to spend the time to place it. On P3, don't pull the roof too early. The right-rising traverse is ~ 15 feet, first down slightly, then up, and the bolt is not visible until you've pulled the roof. Be gentle with the holds from there to the top! Oct 14, 2016
tooTALLtim
Vanlife
 
[Hide Comment] Heads up: my partner pulled a block off P2 while on lead! It was right above the roof in the suspect rock. I followed and cleaned more small stuff out, but be aware it's not great rock.

P3 is crazy and fun. Insane to think of it without those two bolts. Mar 7, 2021