Nice three pitch route with surprising climbing. On the left side of Blob rock--start twenty feet or so down the hill from a large detached flake (on the ground) and climb an easy ramp up to a small ledge.
P1. Start the roped climbing here--a thin crack that angles to the right. Then head back to the left around the corner and up the the steep dihedral. This takes good gear and is solid 8+ stemming--belay on a small edge up a ramp after the dihedral.
P2: traverse right to a R-facing dihedral and move up the thin crack (9) that also has some bomber holds. After the crack ends, traverse left slightly, place a #2 Friend or similar at your feet on a narrow ledge, then make some runout moves up the dike system. A small TCU can be placed about 1/2 way through this slab section in a shallow pocket. Now angle up and left toward the large chimney. Climb up the chimney a short way and locate two bolts. This pitch will create a lot of rope drag if you're not careful.
P3: Take the right-hand face/crack out of the chimney for a short way until a large ledge. Now you can 4th class across the top of the chimney to the left, angle left up a ramp with several dead trees, then 4th class back down ramps, always traversing West. When you see the chains for some sport routes, keep 4th classing above them and walkoff.
Good route for those beginning to trad-lead. Crux can be well protected with a small cam (.5) and/or small nut. Great views from up top...5 parties on Cob and Blob was entirely empty.
P1 from the ground to the ledge felt like the crux to me. While the start to P2 was difficult to protect there is no way this is 5.9..airy but not 5.9. Two ropes *might* get one down to the top of Bolt Cola if you want to skip the last pitch or finish the climb, walk NE around the ledge to the rap anchor that puts you down near the start of Bolt Cola, 1x50m rope is plenty for this (2 raps)...The anchor is down and over the edge but there is a single bolt on the wall next to the ledge to offer some protection while threading the rope...slings are a little crispy (as of 8/3/02) and need to be replaced.
By Ron Olsen Administrator From: Boulder, CO Oct 27, 2004 rating: 5.8+
An excellent climb with an inobvious line; almost as good as Bitty Buttress. Take some time to study the route before you set off.
The first pitch has good pro at start and finish, but has an easy run-out slab in the middle. The steep upper corner has some great stemming and an airy step left at the finish; solid 5.8 to 5.8+.
Traverse straight right to start the second pitch, and use small cams to protect the airy moves into the right-facing corner. Lots of good holds keep this at 5.8, not 5.9. The slab above is a little scary; you have to make several thin face moves with pro below your feet. I got a #1 Camalot for pro before launching onto the slab. You can then get two finger-size cams for pro as you move left to the chimney.
The third pitch is short and leaves you on a big ledge; thread a block for a belay anchor.
The rappel descent described in a previous comment is the easiest way off. Traverse right several hundred feet, passing an exposed section, to the first rappel. Look for a bolt just above the ledge and two bolts with slings and rings just below the ledge. The slings were replaced on 10/26/04 by Bruce Hildenbrand.
Rappel to a good ledge with another bolt anchor, and do a second rappel that drops you in the gully on the right side of the rock.
An alternative to the 3rd pitch is to climb "Erickson's Crack" up the vertical wall to the left. This is rated 10c in Rossiter's guide and felt to me at least that hard. This climb is not in the current database (I'd add it myself but I can't remember much more than this).
By Leo Paik Administrator From: Westminster, Colorado Oct 27, 2004
Must be getting old...but the pictures don't stir memories. Nonetheless, if you don't like "walking off," you can rap from a good anchor L of the chimney at the start of the walkoff ledge to the 2 bolt anchor of P2 and then to the ground with 2 ropes.
We climbed this as a party of three yesterday. We all concurred that the first pitch had the most difficult climbng on the route, maybe because the "crux" on pitch 2 is just so damn fun-!? Steep climbing, but clean moves on good holds made it seem no harder than 5.8 to me. We walked right at the top as described above by Ron Olsen and did one double rope rap with two 60 meter ropes and easily made it all the way to the ground.
For posterity . . .a pretty good route and longish for Boulder Canyon to boot. There were some bolts out left (part of another route, i suppose) for a slightly steeper start. As stated above, small to medium cams are nice at the crux, runner them long and watch out for some loose rock getting out of the overhang. There were a couple holds that probably shouldn't have had any chalk on em. That's it.
Re: the "interesting" slab move on the second pitch. After the ledge, a #2 BD stopper can be had in the slab. Maybe it would hold, maybe not, but it's something at least. It's still a pretty heady move.
I found a pair of soiled panties tucked under a rock at the end of the second pitch about four years ago. Other than that, a very good line. The second pitch is exciting, sans panties.
By Leo Paik Administrator From: Westminster, Colorado Mar 25, 2007
Me panties...now if I could only remember where I left my black Alien. Kiddin' about the panties.
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