This route is as roadside as it gets -- in fact, it's literally on top of the road, so anything you knock down, including yourself, is likely to cause a catastrophic pile-up of unimaginable dimensions on traffic-choked Route 6 a mere 50 feet below.
Use caution -- there is a giant boulder bolted to the ledge with a bit of chain. It's actually a piece of the route that was trundled off with the bolt in place in order to keep it from going the distance. Try not to knock this -- or anthing else -- off the ledge.
Evil climbs out the short but very overhanging cave up and left of the road just before you cross the bridge and enter Tunnel 2. Park at Sonic Youth, walk up the road and scramble up dirty ramps near a black-and-white streaked wall on the left (south) side of the road. Pick your way across the choss-covered ledge and look up (out). This is Evil.
Or is it? While seemingly a fitting route name for such a roadside monstrosity, "Evil" actually derives from some graffiti that Eric Johnson saw one a bathroom wall in the Norlin Library on the CU-Boulder campus. The kicker is that this graffiti was written with human shit. Go figure . . .
Despite the road noise this is a pretty cool route. A hard boulder problem low gives way to more powerful climbing on positive holds and a crimpy lip encounter. This route defines bouldering with a rope.
I think Evil holds as one of the more solid climbs of its grade in the canyon, and as one of the best. It has some great moves with the overhanging climbing being both technical and powerful. The lip crux however has repeatedly shut me down, and I think it must take some stronger fingers than mine to get it. The caution is well advised due to location and loose rock on the belay, but this route is superb.
I am getting a little tired of all the lame reinforced / modified hold comments. Lets just go climbing; there are bigger issues in this world to be concerned with besides a little epoxy on an obscure rock face, out of sight from anyone but climbers.......
River Wall
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