P1 & P2: Crux pitches. Traverse right over 2 bolts underneath the obvious, thin crack (optional belay). Climb the crack to the first belay of Athlete's Feat. Logical to combine as 1 pitch.
P1 variation: climb straight to the crack past 1 bolt 20ft up (a bit spicy but secure). Adds up to 1 letter grade to the climb.
P3 & P4 (I haven't done them): follow dihedral left of belay to P2 of Athlete's Feat, then move left again to easier climbing.
Good job on sending this rig! Did you really think the 1st pitch traverse was 12a? I've climbed a lot of slab routes and that is one of the most technical bits of climbing I have ever tried. It is at least 12a/b:)
Brink, I think this is the first time I've heard you say a Bo-can route is harder than the grade given... Are you ok? :) PS - I have to give you back Jess' pack, sorry for the delay.
I think I might be getting weak and old, that's all. To do the slab and crack as one pitch with no falls took me about 5 days of work (and that's on toprope!). It's one challenging pitch. I think it is at least as hard as The Evictor. Maybe someone who has led it recently could correct me.
I guess I can't comment on the original start since I haven't tried it. I've always used the newer direct start. I thought I finally was going to send this thing last Sunday but was denied again at the top. I was pulling that awkward exit move when I fell, ripping the gear just below my feet. When I finally hit the end of the rope I was back down at the bolt near the start!
Adam, I've not been back on the route since you & I were there. I shameless took the grade from Rossiter's book; how am I to judge what the grade of the original traverse is if I haven't been able to do it? Still, I don't think doing the traverse would add any pump to the rest of the route. In that respect, I'd think Evictor is much harder.
This is the only climb (original traverse) I've been on where I think I'd have a better chance of making the move if I strap some weights on my ankle (to shift my weight balance).
As for BoCan grade, Rossiter called both Arms Bazaar and The Spoils @ 12a and I'd think the latter is easily 1 letter grade (if not 2) harder than the former and would be a bit sandbagged for 12a.
I would say the slab moves on the first pitch are 12a...staying low past the second bolt seems to be the way to do it. The crack on second pitch is the business and quite hard with a pump factor to consider. I would think with modern gear this pitch protects better than when I did it back in the early 80's.
Maybe it's just another case of routes feeling different to different people. I sent both Arms and Spoils in a couple days of work while Never A Dull Moment is still spanking me. Never A Dull Moment (slab linked into crack as one pitch) feels miles harder than any 12a or b trad I have done anywhere in the Front Range.
Grade discussion aside (as it is a rather silly dicussion in the first place), this is one stellar chunk of granite with beautiful movement, excellent rock and continiously difficult movement. Further proof that Alec Sharp had a master eye for finding routes.
Adam...I first did Arms in 1981 and thought it was easier than Manic Depressive, Enemy of the People and several other Boulder Canyon 11d's/12a's.
Never a Dull Moment is a sandbag for the grade. As to Alec Sharp...he lit up a somewhat dormant scene during the late 70's and early 80's and really put up some classic obvious routes on well traveled cliffs.
Castle Rock
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