Big Bro's Watchin' (AKA: Luebben Memorial Route) 

Looks like an excellent tribute.

Thank you Derek for sharing such a special and memorable route with me and all your patience, help, and hard work!

"You will pass by a bolt at the beginning of the traverse (unknown abandoned route?!)"

Raises hand....that was me. I too envisioned a route going up and through those roofs....that bolt was the belay for my first pitch. I abandoned the project....

Anyway this route is now at the top of my list...anyone want to go with me soon?

Good stuff, boys!

josh

We thought that was yours, Josh!

First off - Big kudos to Darren for spying this line and putting forth the idea of continuing Craig's initial route. While I might have provided some direction (i.e. can't you just push through that next roof... it doesn't look too hard...) The main impetus was all Darren! Thank You for bringing me in on your idea!

Second - Re the rating.... It seems that exposure adds a couple of letter grades to me. (I don't think that's the case for Darren....) It sure felt to be on the + side of 11 (but still 11). Looking forward to hearing what others think.... (I have left my rating at just 5.11 until I can go back up and check it out again....)

Just to clarify the R rating further, there are no runouts harder than, say, 5.6. So, calling the route "5.11 R" is a little misleading (and only temporary), BUT we just want to emphasize in any way possible the seriousness involved with treading lightly over loose rock in spots, descent logistics, as well as familiarity with trad climbing and placements in Clear Creek stone.

And as Derek noted, I can see the overall difficulty rating being anywhere from 10c to 11b. Subsequent ascents will nail that down.

My buddy Dave and I climbed this route today so I thought I'd help with the ratings:

P1 5.9-
P2 5.9
P3 5.10c/d
There's a slight advantage if you're taller and there's a
fixed nut that takes away a pumpy gear placement that helps a lot
P4 5.11a/b
The roof before the crux is a little dirty, but the moves are really good and really exposed probably 10d. The actual crux is straight forward if you're tall and tricky but no tougher if your not (mantel).
P5 5.10c/d
This pitch is really cool great moves, and there's another fixed nut that makes the gear easy and staightforward and the finishing hand/fist traverse is awesome, too.

Overall, great route. It will be 4 stars if it cleans up.
The descent is no problem and was set up very well. Just follow the directions. Wear a helmet and climb carefully.

Congrats and great feedback, Ryan. Glad you two enjoyed the route.

This is a super tribute & I love the name of the route. Out of curiosity...any Big bros placed? ;)

Hi Ida! glad to see you checked out the description.

Ha! I did indeed come prepared with a Big bro on the FA in case the overhanging crack dihedral looming on P5 turned out to be wide. I judged from the ground it to be at least hands but imagined it to be wider. Would it not have been fitting if there were some heinous overhanging OW to cap it off!? But we were pleased to discover once we got there that the crack doesn't get much wider than #3 Camalot. But nonetheless, our Big Bro's presence was there for our ascent, and I would like to think of him grinning along with us about how each pitch manifested.

-darren

Hey Ryan - glad you & Dave enjoyed the route!! You seem to confirm my belief about how exposure affects my ratings - but I'm fine with that! :)
Mostly just like hearing how you think it is a great route. As I'm sure you know, that matters way more than ratings! Thanks

This is really, really, great with a smattering of stellar all over it. Very few places and routes in CC hold a 4 pitch climb of this quality. Yes, my partner pulled off 20" x 8" block leading pitch 3, held it against his chest and then launched it away from me. I like him. The route is actually pretty clean and takes great gear. Well done, Darren! The loft alone is worth the price of admission.

It was indeed, a stellar route! We tied pitch 1 & 2 together (5.9 and clean as a whistle. Pitch 3 was 10+ and we cleaned it up a little. Pitch 4 has some really sharp edges in the right-angling crack that could be a problem for some. Face climbing at the end of pitch 4 was definitely 11 in my opinion and the loft was surprisingly solid rock in the hard 10 range. Thanks again for putting it up, Craig would have loved it.

Multipitch trad in Clear Creek! I had to give this a try... and it didn't disappoint. Lots of good climbing on a cool mixed route high above the river. Linking P1 & P2 works really well. As does a single 70. A single rack from blue Alien to a #3 and a set of offset nuts felt sufficient to supplement the bolts. From the anchor atop P2, we rapped to the end of a 70 and downclimbed a little to avoid the extra rap. Some loose rock in spots but as this thing cleans up it will get even better.

Thanks for a great addition to the canyon! Even better that it's a tribute to Craig! Nice work guys.

Approached from the tyrol and thought that it's pretty chill in approach shoes, especially if you leave the pack at the car. Maybe not a great idea if wet but fine when it's dry.

Yeehaw! Thanks, Clayton for checkin' it out, and glad that you enjoyed it. We sure did.

This is "THE" adventure route of Clear Creek. Great position and CRAZY exposure. Pitch 3 is rad. Pitch 4, the crux pitch, made me want to contribute more "skid marks" to the all ready plentiful pigeon poo. Great work guys! 2 stars for now, more once it cleans up.

Don't expect a casual day out in CCC if your hoping on this one. It feels more like a wild Black Canyon Adventure. Props for finding a line up this intimidating wall, especially in the style you did it.
Cheers to Craig

A real adventure route. Plenty of looseness remains!

Moving off the belay on pitch 4 is no big deal and you can plug in a big cam (C4 #4). The real business is a bit higher.

The traverse over to the Solid Gold rap anchors is easy. That descent is very straightforward.

It's hard to compare this route to other CCC offerings, so I'm going to say 5.11 and a soft R, but it felt pretty burly.

Climbed this w/Darren on Saturday, and I have to say it was awesome! Seems like from previous posts a lot of the looseness has cleaned up. Pitch 1, 2, 3 are simply classic and pretty clean except for some occasional grittiness, pitch 4 (burly) was the hardest for me on the roof and those thin slab moves, pitch 5 was sweet except the birds in the crack this time of year freaked me out. We rapped down the Solid Gold anchors. Awesome vision for this line guys, and Craig would of been ohhhh soooo proud! Cheers!

This is more Black Canyon than Clear Creek, and if you love the Black, you'll love this route. I'd have given it four stars except for the bird shit on the crux of pitch 4, as well as some potentially nasty looseness on the pitch 4 roof. We thought the first, third, and fifth were the money pitches, though the fourth was the hardest. The third is one of the best pitches in CCC (I'd give it 5.11-), and the fifth is brilliant and well-protected, and not has hard as it looks, though it's still pretty hard (5.10+). Two bits of advice:

1) Bring a 3.5 or 4 Camalot-size piece for the move off the belay at the start of pitch 4. It was also nice to reach back from the belay at the end of pitch 5 and place this piece for the second (the leader just wants to keep moving at that point!).

2) Rap Solid Gold. The top-out is simple, and it's actually quite cool to stand on the rim of Clear Creek Canyon. The SG anchors are easy to find under the tiny pine near the tip of the next point to the east on the rim. We placed a piece and long sling to protect the reach down to the anchors, but once there, it's five totally straightforward single-rope raps to the ground.

If you like adventure climbing and can climb 5.11, do this route.

If you don't have substantial height or wingspan, I believe that the pitch-four crux is excrementially more difficult than 11-. Otherwise, reaching the key sloper is an iron-cross to the left from bird land's slippery sloughing (and that's only the beginning). The crux's bolt, nesting in crumbly rock, could be upgraded to a half-incher, for humans emulating violet-green swallows.

Excrementally... I like it. I'll have to add that one to my vocab, particularly when describing Eldo routes.

George, cool to see that you and David checked out this rare adventure! Despite early cleaning efforts around the time this route went down, I think that skid marks pitch may always have grafitti left by the swallows.... Regarding the crux bolt, though a 3/8" stud, I am pretty sure I sailed in a longer one despite the tedious drilling stance, if that gives ya any kind of piece of mind.

Darren -- Good to hear you put it in deep. I wasn't leading, but I was still stretching for excuses... maybe it (the bolt) would blow if I stepped on it.

Darren, thanks for the hard work in putting this up!! This route was fantastic, each pitch with varied climbing and amazing exposure! Offset Mastercams worked great on the third and fifth pitches, a #4 was handy protecting the first bulge on p.3 and p.4

Route is well protected and not really any seriously loose rock (did knock something off p2). Has a great feeling of adventure, despite being right off the road and bolts where you want them!