The route climbs the rainbow-colored, bulging wall right of Boys with Power Toys, on the northwest flank of the Slab, Fern Canyon. Kurt Smith and Chris Beh installed the original anchors and two directional bolts circa 20 years ago, before the ban, but were unable to get back in time to finish the climb. It's been a long wait, but well worth the effort! Props to Kurt and Chris for their eye for a line, and thank you, Chris, for letting us finish it.
Climb two bolts up a thin vertical face on crimps to the base of the bulging section. From here, two nice-and-close clips take you up into the business -- five bolts total of very sustained climbing to get up under the big roof. Lots of slopers, lots of crimpers, lots of tech Beta on porcelain-hard rock that's some of the best sandstone I've seen anywhere, with none of the features quite as good or positive as they look from below.
Rest well under the roof (clip a long sling to this bolt), maneuver to the lip, then clip your final bolt and establish on the slab, to the anchors. Nice views of town from here, so take a moment. ... Both myself and Ted redpointed the route for its FA, today.
Many thanks to Open Space and Mountain Parks, the Flatirons Climbing Council, Flatirons FHRC, and the Access Fund for helping keep new-routing alive and well in the Flatirons; muchas gracias, as well, to Paul G for helping hump the big pack up the hill and with the equipping work. We used entirely stainless-steel half-inch bolts (some are 3.5" long, the others 4.75") and hangers, which should be good for a long while.
For my money, one of the best 5.13s in Colorado. The route is shady all day, save in the summer from 3 p.m. on.
Enjoy!
Note to armchair grammarians and climbing historians: the correct spelling is: s-zero-zero-k-r-capital E-capital E-m. "s00kreem": Supreme like Diana Ross; creamy like half-and-half.
Location
One route right of Boys with Power Toys, on the northwest flank of the Slab, Fern Canyon.
It's nice to have a new .13 in the Flatirons and this route is worth doing for that reason. However, I was not particularly blown away with the climbing on this thing. It's basically .11- to an eight-move boulder problem with a hard clip to very sharp .11+ to a no-hands rest to a fun .10+ roof and then the weirdest, most awkward lip encounter you will ever do.
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