This spectacular route starts just left of the end of the first pitch of Left Side (page 115, route 17 in Rossiter's guide) on the Wall of Winter Warmth. Access the start by climbing the first pitch of Left Side or hike down a steep gully from the top of the rock just above the Berlin Wall. A new two-bolt anchor has been placed at the start for a better and safer belay.
Pitch 1: Follow a line of bolts up a steep wall. The first moves off the ground are the crux (lunge) and lead to steep, continuous climbing up past a "tooth" to good holds and the end of the first pitch.
Pitch 2: The repose pitch! Climb up on good holds to a small overlap. Crank past the overlap making technical moves into a shallow corner. Stem up the corner moving left on extremely thin holds (crux) into another shallow corner. Make hard layback moves up into a shallow corner over a steep section that leads to a good rest. Follow bolts up to the anchors on great holds with spectacular exposure to the anchor.
Rap the route to the ground. This is a great climb in a beautiful position high above Boulder Creek. I think it is one of the best sport climbs in Boulder Canyon.
Protection
Seven bolts to a two-bolt anchor for the first pitch. Twelve bolts to a two-bolt anchor for the second pitch. Carrying twenty-two quickdraws if you do the route in one-pitch.
If there was a Pulitzer Prize for routes, I'd nominate Bob D'Antonio for finding things that are classic in ground already well traveled. Now with that preface, I'd have to say that Angle of Repose, while a very interesting route, is also one of the weirdest routes in Boulder Canyon. On the one hand, it is very appealing because over its three pitches it seems to be going somewhere - a bit unusual for a sport route. On the other hand, it has some pretty weird sequences.
The approach is the trad line "The Slot" which at 5.9 seemed stout for the grade, and it needs a double bolt anchor at the lower ledge for rappel purposes. Angle of Repose proper begins from a double-bolt stance at the top of The Slot and above a stunningly loose and cobble-filled slot. This is a warning to be careful!!
P1 of Angle of Repose starts with a nice ballistic dyno to a very sharp edge that has been glued back in place (N.B. we filed off the sharpest part of the edge). This is followed by a reachy gaston and some pumpy moves in largely juggy, interesting terrain. Cop a rest between moves and this comes together nicely.
P2 is the weirdness. It took a bit to suss out the beta, shortly after the start, which is a tad inobvious, and I won't give it away. Things got a bit weird again somewhere near the 30' mark where we went up to a clip and then dropped back down for half a dozen feet to set up a traverse left on disappearing feet that coupled with a totter onto a good fin. Swim up the small fin to a nearly invisible jug and pull into a shallow corner for the route's only significant runout. And it's all 5.7 after that.
I'd go with three stars (two for the route, one for the weirdness) as well. Good solid rock, although it needs some serious flake removal, nicely designed pro, and a killer setting. The unusual hangers look as though you could rap from almost any point without fear of trashing the rope. The slightly surrealistic turrets at the top add to the line's appeal. Kudos to Bob and Vaino.
Richard, thanks for the imput and your comments about Angle of Repose. It great to read some nice words about the route. I think as I stated before that the route is one of the best in Boulder Canyon. With that said I wish that I could take all the credit for the route but must make it known that Vaino rapped the route and made the effort to put the rap-stations in and do the first cleaning of the route. I first looked at the route when we were working on routes down canyon and kept telling Vaino we had to go check it out. I led the first pitch and Vaino led the second. We both thought that the pitch we followed was the crux. I still think the second pitch is the crux with a bizzare set of moves in a great position. Vaino and I have been somewhat active in Boulder Canyon and I must give most of the credit to Vaino. He is a great climber and good friend who is willing to do his fair share of work unselfishly. We are good parnters and we seem to leave our egos at home when climbing together. We both want the other to do well. Now back to route. We glued the hold in question just to reinforced it. We both thought that it might break sometime in the future, its a big lunge to the hold and it has to hold all you body weight. The hangers in questions are new "Trango" hangers and seems to work well. Thanks to Malcolm at Trango for the design. FYI: the route to the left of the first pitch is also 5.11d/5.12a and ends at the anchors before the start of the "repose pitch".
We accessed this route by climbing the Berlin Wall (Fall of the Wall), and then downclimbing the gully to the start. There is a two bolt anchor setup above 'fall of the wall' for rappells back down (need slings replaced.) Great route, although a little crumbly. Have your belayer wear sunglasses.
Pretty nice climb. Its on the west face, so it not as warm as you might hope given the formation's name. The two pitches are very different in character... the first, steep and juggy, with the second, slabby with friction being key. V3? dyno to start the first pitch. I thought overall, the second pitch was unquestionably harder than the first, especially with the fact that the two cruxy sections involve friction on quite flakey/licheny rock.Weird moves. Solid 12a, I thought, though with some more cleaning the friction might be more reasonable. Watch the ends of your rope if you rap from the top of P2 to base of P1, and also on the rap down to the ledges at the base. Small rack of cams with a #1 and #2 Camalot for the 5.9 approach slot.
Great route. Angle of Repose is an excellent descriptor for the moves on the 2nd pitch. Not many hand-holds on that pitch -- when you get a 1/4 inch edge it feels like a jug.
We did a (new?) bolted route as the approach pitch that starts at the big pine tree to the right of the 5.9 slot. Climb past 4 bolts and then traverse up and left towards the base of Angle of Repose. You can also sling a horn midway so that you can do the approach pitch with no gear.
Wall of Winter Warmth
RSS Feed
