Desolation Angels is located on the left (west) side of Rock of Ages. It ascends the obvious clean right facing dihedral. Scramble up to the base of Tipendicular and boot up. The 1st pitch climbs out right and up a pretty loose, ugly, unprotected corner. The pitch is rated 5-6 but feels more like 5-9. Don't let your pal from the rock gym lead this one. Luckly, there are two new bolts at the belay. Pitch two is killer! It climbs up the corner and out a roof (reachy). The gears looks like it might suck but there is a hidden crack on the left wall (under the roof). The pro after the roof is solid but is pumpy to place. The upper crack is not a path! I thought it was harder than the roof. Save some guns for the summit mantel. Overall a very interesting route. Rap from a tree or hike down the east slabs.
Protection
The pro on the 1st (5-6) pitch is bad. Small cams and RP's are helpful. There is a two bolt anchor on top of pitch one. Pitch two takes small to medium size cams. Double up on the small stuff. The pro on this pitch is good. No fixed anchor on top!
This is an awesome route. IMO, it is one of the better single pitches in the Estes Park area. There is some lichen issues, and it needs some more traffic, but I've been on it 3 times in the past 2 months, and it has gotten exponentially cleaner. The route takes great gear and has clean falls. The three cruxes are getting underneath the roof, turning the lip of the roof, then the upper dihedral. A great way to do the route (and truly test you stamina) is to climb the slightly overhung finger crack between Tipendicular and the chossy chimney. This crack is about 11b. You can link this to the upper half of the rout by using long draws and bringing a few extra tips and finger size pieces.
Rock Of Ages
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