Eumenides 

I agree Charles, I've heard mixed reviews about Euminides, and since there are plenty of other routes on Sundance I want to climb, I doubt I will get on Euminides again anytime soon. The Nose looks awesome!!!!

I guess to me, "meandering" equals "aesthetic" if it happens on a steep wall. Then again, "straight crack line for 100 feet" means the same thing in the same place. On the other hand, put either of those on an overhang and substitute "hangdog" for "aesthetic" as the only word that really applies for me. Seriously though Matt, if your friend told you that, then you will probably do yourself a huge favor (with that long approach, thunderstorms, etc.) if you never get on Eumenides again and do another route every time you go up there. The more I think about it, P3 was really the only pitch I liked on the whole route--P4 was blah, P5 was dirty 5.4 with one 5.8 move. There are loads of routes up there that I have been on (Turnkorner, Sidetrack, Grapevine, etc. etc. etc.) that everyone who's done them tells me are super, super classic. And I still have to finish up the Nose. Hell, nobody ever does the Guillotine, but it's easily the best route I've done up there so far, and the 10c shouldn't scare anyone-it's pretty short and you could easily yard through, creating a great 5.9 route.

My buddy said that pitch 1 was the only pitch he liked on the route and that the rest of it was meandering and non-aesthetic....no matter, I just love big dihedrals with jamming and stemming....Right Dihedral on the Pear is very similar but much harder. I wanna do Grapevine, Guillotine, Mainliner and a bunch of the others also.....Kor's Flake was a blast.

I loved pitch 1....almost 200 feet of steep jamming and stemming to the roof that takes a #1 Camalot and then you traverse straight left with no pro for 30 feet to large ledge with tree anchor. I loved this pitch but my partner at the time invited his "girlfriend" and she fell at the steepest section in the dihedral and got a bit banged up (rope stretch and she took an upside downer cuz her foot got stuck in the crack) and then, after recovering, she climbed up to the roof, pulled the #1 Camalot and clipped it to her harness, started the traverse and on the first step she fell/let go and took a 30 foot pendulum....UGH!! After getting to the belay and bawling for 30 minutes she said she was ready to go on....HA, I said sorry we need to bail. The whole approach I was asking her, "so you can follow sustained 5.8, right?" She went on and on about 5.9s at Lumpy she's done.....wasn't too happy with my partner either for inviting her along for me to lead a party of 3, and the 3rd was lying about her ability and almost got hurt because of it......I'd like to go finish Eumenides sometime.

Jeez, I thought P1 was the worst on the route! Honestly, I don't even think I could bring myself to give it a single star. If you liked it that much, Matt, you'll probably think the rest of the route is the best in the whole Boulder area! Pitch three is indeed a great one at any rate. Overall, I'd recommend the other routes I've done on Sundance more. Eumenides does kind of have a neat "adventure" feeling, though--big face, long approach (for a "crag"), wandering, sometimes dirty, often very steep pitches...

Well I guess it's about time I got to looking around this page. I was the one that told Matt that pitch one was the only one I liked. I really don't like the route Euminides at all. The last time I did it I kept wondering why we didn't just go straight up the dihedral and stop wandering around. Why did I do I route that I don't like twice? Well the first time was my first "big" route, seemed very epic and scary so I thought I would do it again sometime. The second time we got caught in a delightful sleet storm just before the last pitch, was so cold I just aided it. Definitely my least favorite that I have climbed on Sundance.

I did this route last summer and felt like the long approach wasn't really worth it. To this day, I am confused as to whether I was even on route for P3. I am solid on 5.8, and I couldn't get up this pitch! I thought that maybe I was off on the 5.10a, but based on the topo I really don't think I was. The topo describes a discontinuous crack on the face - I felt like I was there, but I could barely get enough fingers in the crack to aid the damn thing! P1 was definately the only one I enjoyed. -Daria McKay

P3 was awesome, I can't believe that no one else liked it. Exposure, good pro, when you can find it, and how about that belay on the arete. I guess that I am in to wandering "adventure climbs" coming from the Teton area. Any other suggestions?

After my near epic on this classic moderate, I enjoyed reading all the other comments. To the "unprotected" left traverse at the top of the first pitch, I sunk three great pieces before the belay. That girl should be pissed that she wasn't protected against the swing. I thought the first and third pitch were worth the approach. Yes, there are other routes on Sundance, but Euminides offers a long route with interesting features and a shaded first pitch if you start early. Sundance is all about the approach and descent. If you don't like to earn your climb, go get on one of the helmet parties on the Wind Tower. As I sat on the last grassy ledge taking in the view of the Diamond late in the afternoon, Mark Winstead was getting into the 8+ roof. A curtain of rain, south across the valley, began to move toward us, trumpeted by the thunder and wind. Suddenly, we were being soaked by great bullets of rain and blasted with high speed winds. I looked up over Mark to the darkening sky, a horizontal bolt of lightning crackled right over his head. I started yelling at him to leave gear, rap off to the ledge so we could weather the storm with our metal gear far away from us. He said nothing, but instead of lying back the right roof, made tenuous moves, unprotected onto the arete at his right. Up and over, my turn to climb the soaked last pitch. The sun reappeared as we crested the false summit, pushing back the storm clouds and drying my near tears. A day on Euminides, unforgettable, made us happy to be alive. BTW: The west descent from the top of Sundance is probably not the funnest (cleanest/safest) way to go but it works. George Hurley and Walter Fricke did the FA in 1970.

I loved Eumenides. The sleet storm we encountered certainly added to the epic "flavor" of this great adventure route. Great practice for route finding if you are planning on climbing big walls. We stumbled upon it because Kor's Flake was crowded... and we were psyched. Great fun.

Climbing Sundance *IS* an adventure and a route like Eumenides epitomizes this. The only pitch that sucks is the fourth. The fifth, although dirty in places, still has some good climbing. The third pitch is definitely the best. Make sure to add your route-finding skills to your rack.

Just climbed Eumenides yesterday (9/12). Due to the winds of 40 mph, cold in the morning and the wandering nature of the route it was a near alpine experience. We did the route to the very top in 5 pitches. My partner (Todd) and I would agree on the ** rating, but we had a great time on all the pitches. I would recommend it as an alpine primer. P1, 3, and 5 were challenging 5.8s. On the last pitch, I went up, then out left to just under the last rise. At this point the climbing straight up looked dirty and uninteresting, so I traversed right for about 30'. At this point there were two parallel hand cracks going up a wide chimney for about 20'. It was one of the best sections of the entire route, but I am not sure if it was even part of Eumenides. If anyone is familiar with this please respond. By the way, I carried a #4 Metolius all the way to the top and never used it. Micro cams to #3 Mets, nuts and few smaller TCUs were all very useful, but I would recommend leaving the big gear at home.

Did this route last summer (June 05). Hiked up to get on Mainliner but encountered an AMGA class already on that and a few other routes. One of the gentlemen recommended Eumenides.

Turned in to a routefinding epic day. I think we were on route for the first 3 pitches, but traversed left into a dihedral for pitch 4. The 3rd pitch was quite nice. Up high, it had a committing friction move well above my last pro (slung horn 20 feet below me) and a fall would have been ugly. Then it required an uncomfortable hanging belay.

After looking at the terrain above, my partner decided to check out a left-facing dihedral off to our left and made a short pitch over to it. Our 5th pitch up the dihedral turned out to be difficult and wet necessitating a pendulum left to another feature. After another short pitch, I think we got back on route--we were never really certain. Adventure climbing indeed. In all, it took us 7 pitches to summit (including the short pitch to get in the dihedral). We kept wondering where the heck the summit was!

We were moving pretty slow and spent a good portion of the day on the wall. Silly me forgot to stuff a rain jacket into my camelbak. The clouds and wind kept moving in and blowing back out all day. Was a bit chilly, but at least we didn't get wet. Most dogs learn not to crap on the floor after a good spanking. How many cold belays must I suffer before I remember to always carry something to keep warm and dry!!

At the time we were a bit displeased with the guy who recommended the route, but afterwards appreciated the nice pitches and enjoyed the effort. Still, wouldn't say that it justifies the hike out there.