I enjoyed this apparently neglected gem more than Lizard Warrior. I would give it 4 stars, but the second pitch which was quite engaging on its own terms, felt a little contrived since easier climbing existed nearby to the right and left.
P1: Start a little bit left of Lizard Warrior and follow a left-leaning weakness/offset/crack (marginal pro to start, then good pro at a 9+ crux, then pin & bolt) for about 50' to a right-facing corner. Up the corner for a bit, then traverse right under a long, narrow flake, then up to the bottom of an ugly, water-stained or wet, left-facing corner. Step right at the corner, pull over a roof (5.8 as Gillett says, but where's the handcrack?) then up a little bit more and arrange, with difficulty, a belay just below a steeper headwall/roof. This meandering pitch comes together quite improbably, somewhat reminding me of a top quality pitch in the Black Canyon.
P2: Follows a thin crack a little right of the belay through two roofs, at both of which it is very tempting to plug the best hold with gear. Gillett shows two pins on this pitch, though only one (at the 2nd roof, hard to clip if short) is currently in place. The first roof (5.10) accepts a bomber #0.4 Camalot but I needed the hold so got by w/ a 000 C3 and a micro nut. At the 10+ 2nd roof, I couldn't clip the pin without initiating the crux sequence, so I opted to plug a decent, yellow Alien into a pocket a few inches below the pin. The sequence over the 2nd roof has a sting in the tail and no good pro above the pin, so plan accordingly. After dispatching the 2nd roof, cruise up about 25' on easy ground to a primo belay ledge, about 10' right of a well set up chain anchor.
We had double nuts from RPs to medium Rocks, single 5-7 Rocks and cams from tiny to cups with doubles in the fingers range; overall this seemed about right, bolder folks could safely eliminate some of the doubles. The first pitch took at least 15 pieces, almost all of which were on a draw or a long runner. I was very glad I had a yellow Alien for 2nd roof when I couldn't reach the pin, though a yellow TCU or the largest C3 would probably also work in that spot.
By Aaron J. Shileikis From: Dysfunctional, CO Jul 19, 2007 rating: 5.10a
I climbed something close to this line yesterday. We were completely sure that we were on route for P1, but as David says, P2 is rather contrived, and I think that takes away from the route. For P2, I opted to clip the old piton immediately above/left of the belay in the right facing corner that is just below a large roof that would accept a #4.0 Camalot if you brought one. Pulling this roof felt like 5.10a to me, but it looks like you could have chosen a line out to the right of the belay (looked harder to me?). Once you clear this first roof, the have the choice of going left (5.easy), up the middle (via the hard to clip pin), or out right (5.easy). Since I saw the pin, I thought that was the route, tried it once, thought it was harder than 10a and said screw it, and went out to the right. That took away from P2 for me personally. P1 was quite nice though.
Combat Rock
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