Qs 

This is a great climb, I really enjoyed leading it.

I loved this route, even though I usually climb hard sport routes, it is fun to climb a route once in a while that is just fun.

While a real fun climb with great holds - I found the old hangers (two of which spin carelessly around the old expansion bolts) a wee bit disconcerting!

A really grat route, although I am not sure why the nostalgic anchors are still in place, those are scary. This route has a SUPERB photo-op on a beautiful sunny day, blue sky behind the arete looking down the canyon around the 4th bolt. A beauty..... Enjoy.

A fun, thoughtful little climb. The "anchor" at the top is shite and in dire need of an upgrade (Fred??... Heidi??). It would be considered a bad anchor in the desert!See the gear alert.

The anchor consists of three rusty quarter inchers, equalized with slings. This would be considered a bad anchor even by obscure desert tower standards. Back things up with small to medium cams if you plan on TRing. For cleaning: best not to lower off the anchor... rap instead.

8/9/03 Nice climb. I would rate it more of a 5.9 than a 5.9+.

It's peculiar that whoever put the bolts on this climb left the dubious anchor at the top. The anchor is scary, and it's a shame for such a nice climb. I would replace the anchors if someone loaned me a drill.....send me an email if interested. It would only take a few minutes and would make the route so much more pleasant.

I climbed this route today and found it to be a top quality route, blemished unfortunately by the sketchy three bolt top anchor. I found the slings currently in use to be too short, putting the rings over the top edge leading to bad rope drag. I'd suggest removing the old top anchors and placing new ones a couple of feet down or using long chains. The final bolt on the route, just below the top anchor is a quarter incher due for replacement as well. Otherwise a real pleasure of a sport route.

Hey Joe B., how tall are you anyways? This route goes at a solid 5.9+ in my book. The tiny side-pulls and crimpers from the bottom to the third bolt aren't exactly 5.9 material. Granted, after the third bolt the holds are comparatively huge... Either way, great climb to try out. The bolts are nice and close for the crux (the first is even easily skippable). If leaders are TR-ing this one for friends, leave one or two QDs on the route so the second doesn't swing way south after a fall. They'd have to be lowered all the way down to get back on route generally.~Wm

Dale Haas and I, with approval from the first acent party, fixed up the anchor on top of this route. We left the original three anchor bolts in place and added two 3/8" Rawl 5-piece (Torque) bolts at the crest of the top of the climb. We addedtwo 3/8" quick links to each bolt for rappelling and lowering.

This work was supported by the American Safe Climbing Association (ASCA).Look them up at www.safeclimbing.org. They appreciate your support.

A couple of notes on the other bolts on the climb. The final protection bolt has, mistakenly, been called a 1/4" bolt. It is in fact a 3/8" wedge anchor. Also, the three bolts that comprise the old anchor are Rawl "Spike" bolts. It appears that they are 5/16" in diameter.

Happy climbing!

Good work Bruce. Are there now 5 bolts at the anchor? Could you have removed the existing bolts and re-drilled the old holes and placed 1/2" bolts? Either way, thanks for the replacement. Are the RAwl (aka Power) bolts you placed stainless steel or plated, and how long 21/4", 3", or 31/2". Do you think it's necessary to place SS bolts in granite? I've heard different opinions on this issue. THANKS AGAIN.

Not to diminish the importance of the fine work you did by placing 2 bolts at the crest of the top, but why not remove the other three when you were there? I can understand not using the old holes as unsightly slings would still be required to reduce rope drag over the edge but why leave the old bolts that have now been rendered obsolete?

You set a good example of community service for others to follow. Any takers?

In response to the comments about the new anchor....

3/8" bolts are absolutely fine for belay/rappel anchors. They have a pull-out strength of over 5000 pounds if properly installed and are not subject to the dynamic loading of a protection bolt.

We left the original bolts in place because some people still belay from the top of a climb, rather than lowering off, and the existing bolts are fine for that. We did not just pull the existing bolts and re-drill because the bolts were too far back from the edge and would have required 2+ feet of chain on each bolt.

Reasonable, small holds on beautiful rock. I climbed the left dihedral until the second bolt, then traversed right about 10' finishing on the more steeply overhung right edge. Maybe my fingers are just weak, but it felt like solid 9+ territory. An easier route was found by sticking in the left edge for another ten feet then traversing over in the middle of the bulge.

If you toprope this one, watch the swing from the left side. It's scary, whipping your rope across the rock (from the admirable, new anchors) and dangling you above the traffic. Exciting to say the least!

Like "Smaller Fish" I started to the left of the bolt line, flagrantly ignoring the route description given above and avoiding any "tiny side-pulls and crimpers from the bottom." I'm hardly a confident 5.9 leader (more of a 5.8 leader) and I get pumped pretty fast, but starting to the left made this climb feel very secure, if rather tough.

-Joe

I led this route two different ways: starting at the left as well as going to the right of the bolt line. I thought both ways were of comparable difficulty. If the route was longer I would give it another star but as it stands there's only about twenty feet of interesting climbing.

- Dave

Awesome climb! This was one of my first climbs that I did during a climbing class offered from C.U. The only problem is that the Boulderado is quite a bit crowded. If you do not mind the population density in the upper end, then I would definitely recommend this climb. Lots of different lines can be taken and makes an awesome top rope for squeamish significant others to try their own skills on. I prefer to take the crack on the left side up the first third and then traverse over to the right to follow the bolt line up. Any way you take though it is an awesome rock!

The three original 5/16" anchor bolts have been removed leaving only the two 3/8" SS bolts and quick links on top.

Bruce

Oops! The three original anchor bolts I pulled were 1/4" Rawl compression bolts and not 5/16" as I originally reported. An even better reason to have replaced the anchor!

I really liked this climb it was fast and easy and right off the road, definitely a must in Boulder Canyon.