Start at the giant eyebolt and head up to sweet, fairly sustained crimpy climbing. Some teeny holds, but you earn a nice rest in the middle of the hard stuff. A really fantasic 11a, but if you want to work even harder, the second pitch ("Porn Queen") is rated 11c/d.
R.M. extension, Porn Queen has decent moves but be prepared to be climbing bird poop. Also, reaching the last bolt before the chains is a dicey for those under 6' and a #0 TCU protects a fall onto the ledge and beyond.
I wouldn't discourage people under six feet from trying this route. I'm 5'9" not a hot climber by any means and the last section, though definitely out of character for the area (slopy and balancy) was not a sandbag, and I found it doable.
A great route, I give it three stars. I think it may be a little bit harder from someone that is shorter than say 5', the crux sidepulls may be very hard to get to and be very balancy, will no doubt be harder than 11a. Next time out, ten digit dialing, looks superb... Cheers
Great route, tons of fun all the way to the chains. Great holds and interesting moves. Definitely harder for someone shorter than around 5'10". My partner had a hell of a time pushing through the crux sidepulls and is about 5'9" with a fairly average reach. The section right before the ledge in the middle is also somewhat reachy. I'll definitely be coming back for more.
Fun route. Definitely not 11. The hardest move is no harder than mid 10 and there are plenty of very good rests before and after which should make the overall rating mid 10. Fun climbing with lots of bolts.
Thanks AC - I was hoping someone would put this line in its place. I was thinking 5.8 for side pulls on marginal feet and maybe 5.7 for long reach at the end that burls out to the slopers at the finish. So, 5.8 plus 5.7, looks like 5.6 overall. What do you suppose that Alan was thinking? My Grandma could do it, and she has been dead for 45 years.
I did not mean to offend anyone. I was not trying to put anyone down. Route grades should be consistant. I think it would be a bad idea to do this climb and go to another area and think the grade would be the same in difficulty for another route. CCC is notoriously over rated especially compared to other nearby areas (Eldorado canyon, (part of) Boulder canyon, South Platte, Lumpy, RMNP). This is my own opinion on the difficulty of the route, you can give yours (it is harder than 5.6). It is a fun climb.
Casey Bernalc a s e y b e r n a l @ h o t m a i l . c o m
The notion of the "Gold Standard" has been batted around on this site several times, and I think that everyone agrees that refernce to a Gold Standard is a good way to come to agreement on a grade. For Reefer Madness, one could pick the crux of Superslab (easier but harder to protect), or P1 of Animal Magnetism (bit harder) to bracket RM. That places it between 10C and 11C. How about Evangeline, seems a bit harder, so not 11b. Sea of Dreams? - bit harder, so harder than 10d. Suparete? - similar in difficulty and continuity. I think he got it right on the nose.
Are there routes around here graded 10c or 10d that seem harder? ... Definitely are there routes around here graded 10c or 10d that seem easier? ... Definitely are there routes around here graded 11b or 11c that seem easier? ... Definitely are there routes around here graded 11b or 11c that seem harder? ... Definitely.
My point? Grades as we all know are not an absolute ... does a route or problem really have to "seem harder" to us than every route we've done of a lower grade or "seem easier" than every route or problem we've done of a higher grade before we are willing to settle on a grade or willing to leave a grade alone that's not completely out of whack? Every route if different for every person and to paraphrase a quote from John Gill, "every ascent is different" ... even for the same person.
Secondly, we also know that people's ideas of grades become skewed by the areas they climb at regularly. Unfortunately, ratings at different places here in CO are all over the place and often times make no sense at all (there are places in the US that grades make total sense, but that's another topic). Yeah, a lot of routes of the same grade in Eldo and Lumpy will seem hard when compared with a lot of routes in CCC (BTW ... comparing traditional ratings with sport ratings is a bad idea anyway as it is an entirely different ballgame even if you preplace and inspect all your gear first). Anyway, does that make Eldo & Lumpy right and CCC wrong???
After climbing all over the country, I've come to the conclusion that the truth is somewhere in between, but its definitely not worth using anymore cb.com bandwidth over.
Whatever. The grade felt right to me. Realizing that the grades in the canyon can be sometimes soft, Reefer Madness felt right on. I'm a short, skinny little bastard who is not much of a sport climber so take my comment with a grain of salt. I'm comparing this to other 5.11's at Wall of the Nineties.
Great route, good rock quality. I am around 5' 5" and it seemed about right for the grade.
By Jeremy From: Boulder, CO Aug 3, 2004 rating: 5.11a
Man, you guys are taking the wind right out of my sails. This was my first 11 onsight and I loved it! I was really pumped at the end even with the good rests. May be a light 11a but much harder than any 10d I've done.
If you can reach the sidepull on the lower move (I can and I'm 5'-9"), you may take for granted a very tough move to get to that hold for a shorter person. Same goes for the top.
Superb line. The thinner section around the fourth bolt (?) was the crux for me. The route includes nice thin climbing then somewhat rounded laybacks in a crack system finishing with sloping holds to top out.
Such a Great Route! The Rock is Amazing. Crisp Edges, Slopers, Jugs........Awesome. The Undercling at the huge ledge after the CRuX seemed to have been broken but it doesn't really make a difference!
Perhaps it was the blazing sun mixed with greasy holds, the contrived nature of the climbing, the choss I had to navigate my way through, or the grid-bolted face I was looking up at, but this route left much to be desired. If this is the best rock in Clear Creek Canyon, I think I've seen enough. Bomb!
Wall of the 90s
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