Warpaint 

Agreed, this is a really fun route! If you can do pitch 1, you should be able to finish off the route, I thought it was harder than any of the later pitches. We also rapped the route with two 50m ropes no problem.

An excellent public service project would be to upgrade the majority of bolts on this route, especially the rappel bolts. Many of the 5/16th buttonheads have blown out the lips of the holes behind the hangers and are spinners. I found the rappels especially badly rigged, with pound-shut links unable to lay flat in the chains, and thus producing a solid outward torque on the double bolt anchors. Rapping with a party of three past the hanging stance was just plain frightening. At a minimum, a Fixe rapide should be added to each belay, although I would suggest total replacement of the anchors (a lot of work but better than a mini Dolt Tower accident). The lead bolts should be evaluated and replaced on a "need" basis, or err on the side of caution and replace the ones that protect the longest runouts. Larry Coats, Flagstaff.

Climbed this route in November of 2001. The bolts looked ok then. The anchors had one buttonhead bolt and one bolt with a nut. My partner who is a great friction climber lead P1 which was 10c. Don't slide on that really rough grit granite. We climbed Paleface (5.9) the day before to warm up on friction. P3 is mostly 9+ with a few thin moves to anchor. P4 starts with a thin friction section but could be really hard in middle for short people. We were both 6 feet tall so no problem. The start of P5 is 10c for three moves then it eases off slowly to 5.7 near top. This route was awesome. This climb is a classic. Better than Prince of Darkness at Red Rocks. Never saw a sole out climbing on a perfect November weekend.

great sustained climbing, I agree with many others that most of the buttonheads need to be replaced, particularly ones protecting runout sections.

In my opinion, suspect protection does not add to the thrill of a route. If someone out there wants some help replacing these bolts, I would be more than willing to spend a weekend helpin out!

--stellar climb!!didn't use gear on any pitches other than the 2nd... but there are a couple places where gear would have made the runouts non-existant.ex.. p3 in low angle crack --start of p5... have those tips in shape for pulling on crystal pockets(.10c) and move right from 1st bolt. be aware of chains (up and head height) at top of P5 easy to climb past them--rack small to medium with nuts and lots of quicks...rap back down the route w/ double ropes...and take the top of second pitch to the ground

Eric Rhichard did the first ascent. I think he was with Bob Kerry. He put the route up with only a couple bolts and added many of the bolts on rappel as a public service. Thanks for thinking of us Eric.

as of december 05 there are no more POS bolts on the route. most are high quality new style bolts. a few are older style (unfamiliar with the design of these ones, they have a large domed head- some sort of pound in expansion perhaps?). but there are no manky, rusted, or quarter inchers.

FA Was done by me and Bob Kerry. A lot of the bolts (all of which were 5/16 or bigger) on Warpaint have been replaced as of late 2005. All of the anchors now have two 3/8ths bolts with stainless hardware. None of the old bolts were found to be faulty or in bad shape but most if not all spinners were replaced. All were difficult to remove. There is now at least one or more 3/8ths bolts between the climber and the belayers anchors. All remaining 5/16th buttonheads appear to be in as good a condition as those that were replaced. The rock here is sound and those buttonheads are more than adequate to hold any fall you are willing to take. Our thanks go to Climbing Magazines Anchor Replacement Initiative and the folks that did the work. ARI provided the bolts and hardware for the revamp.

Don't let your irrational fear or ignorance control you. Get informed on what is safe and use your rational thought to overcome your irrational fear! Finally think about this when you do the first pitch of Warpaint. After the first 20 feet, the first pitch has been climbed without grasping a single hold. By using your palms for balance and trusting your feet you don't have to pull even once.

Awesome route. I fell and fell on the first pitch. I finally made it. The rest of the route was a cruise, except for the wind up high, it made it a bit of drag. I hugged the arete for a long time waiting for it to die down.

Here is a bit more info on Warpaint. The original route was done with a dozen bolts. The original first pitch climbed a grungy crack system 70ft. to the left of where the route now starts. The second pitch continued straight up from the crack/corner to the ledge halfway up the 3rd pitch, moved left to the route as it is now and belayed in the same place. From here to the top the route is as we did it during the FA. Afterward we drove to the east side for the beanfest.

My all-time favorite route, so far. Awesome climb and view!
Eric, thanks for putting up the route.
Mary, thanks for telling me about this climb and climbed it with me.

A GREAT route. I thought that the shallow pocket pulling at start of final pitch was harder than anything else on the route. Don't recall any runouts on it?