Hot Flash 

"FA: George & Joanne Urioste, Bill Hotz, Larry DeAngelo "

There must be an interesting story behind this one - would love to hear more.

I did the route yesterday and discovered that somebody has placed a number of bolts. The dust from their placement looks quite new. It appears that someone was rigging the route for rappelling.

Those who are interested in this route should be okay with some real run-outs. Leaders should be comfortable with some decent run-outs on 5.6 terrain and some extremely long run-outs at 5.5.

Be sure to move fast. Though the descent isn't really unusual for Red Rocks, it may feel a bit sporty to those who don't climb newer routes very often. It wouldn't suprise me if there are a few unplanned bivys on this route.

All that said, I really enjoyed the route and would highly recommend it. I will definately be doing it again.

Jason

Bolts??!! makes me ill. . .

Good little route:)
Remember to step left when starting the sixth pitch this is the best pitch on the route and is the beautiful varnished crack pictured in the new guide book. All the pitches above six are blah. Not worth it unless of course your peak freak.

I agree with Larry. The beauty of that whole area is the commitment factor.

This route is EXCELLENT. Lotta Balls Wall is totally crowded and loud, and this route is 200 yards away and completely empty and silent (and 3 times longer!). All of climbing pitches are really fun and offer a mixed terrain of cracks, liebacks, face climbing, roofs, and feces on the first belay. Well, after a good rain the feces will be gone and the route will go back to 4 stars. A few 4th/5th class pitches in the middle with limited pro, but very easy. Great protection available overall for the competent leader. The route finding is easy, and we (Bruce Lacroix and Brad Bartick) did the route in 5 hours over 10 pitches. The descent blows. Bring your hiking shoes in a backpack because it is just a bushwhacking mess over steep terrain (at least it was that way for us) to a final 200 foot rappel that ends just right of Romper Room. Enjoy!!!

So is this feces human?

If there truly are bolts on this climb it is an outrage. Besides it being illegal under the current bolting ban I find it ridiculous. Does every damn route that is fun to climb have to have bolted belays when natural anchors are abundant.

I have stood by pretty silent on this site as Killis and others rant on and on about ethics but this is in a pristine area that remains pretty much boltless besides the romper room and lotta balls area. I guess I should be reserved until I actually see the bolts but if this is true it really pisses me off.

We did this route this past friday 11/9. The route was really fun with very easy climbing most of the way. We did notice the pile of poo on the first pitch belay. Other than that the climb was great. Really nice variety throughout with crack, corner, overhang, slab, face. There was only one protection bolt on the whole climb. After pitch 3 there is a belay on a slab/terrace, you have to do about 20 feet of unprotected slab climbing to reach a crack where you can get good gear. The bolt is at the base of this slab section. Not at all necessary, but for those where a 5.8 route is pushing the grade they will be happy that it is there. There was also a bolted station at the end of pitch 6 consisting of two bolts just after you go over an overlap. While this was also not necessary the rock in this section was questionable and I guess they wanted to make sure of a solid belay although the pitch off of this is 4th class so it is highly doubtfull that this belay would take a fall from above. We had 4 people in our group and climbed the route in parties of two with a 70m single for each. I would recommend running the last 5.7 pitch into the 4th class finish to the top with a 70M. I also would not worry about the runnout 5.5 pitchs towards the top of which there are two. On one pitch I had two pieces in about 160 feet, but the climbing was really easy low angle and I am not sure I there was actually any 5.5 on it. It was very similar the the ramp pitches at the top of Epi.

While the climbing was fun an easy, we did the whole thing in about 4 hours, the decent was long, arduous, not always clear and not always totally safe. Our path involved two rappels along with a good deal of what was probably easy 5th class down climbing. I'm pretty sure we went the right way as both raps were a sling stations. I would definitely reccomend this route to anyone competant and 5.7 or 5.8, but leave pleny of time for the walkoff as you do not want to be doing it in the dark. We climbed really fast as we started the climb at 11:30, but with an earlier start anyone should be fine.

A fun route. The bolts are not necessary, hope someone removes them.
scavenged 3 chocks, hee, hee, hee, hee.

I finally climbed this fantastic route. Definitely a new classic! Many great pitches up interesting features. The last 2-3 pitches were a bit funky but a small price to pay for the first 6 pitches of sweetness.

We found 4 bolts on the route as listed below:

• 1 bolt on the slab just above the 3rd pitch anchor

• 1 bolt at a belay stance on the right side of the slab at the 4th pitch belay. It was linked to a "fixed" nut (can you say booty).

• 2 bolt anchor with chain at the 6th pitch belay just after moving around the left side of the roof below.

Just curious, if you found the bolts so offensive why did you clip them?

I did not personally clip any of them but my partner is probably less of a purist. I am also not so stuck up to force her to not use them if she felt like it.

Ultimately though, I am saddened that on this vast wall many routes have went up without a single bolt and then someone who wasn't on the FA and did not consult the FAists went up and decided to add bolts in somewhat questionable places.

Another wild place has been tamed by the least common denominator.

I agree with you Karsten. Just had to ask the question.

Even a woman who is pure in heart
and says her prayers by night
may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms
and the autumn moon is bright.

Those convenience bolts will make sinners of us all.

And here was a climb that was fast on its way to becoming well-traveled, without any bolts and with a less-than-convenient descent. What will they do next, start adding more bolts to "Cat in the Hat?"

A must do route in First Creek Canyon.

Thanks for putting this one up Larry, Jorge, and Joanne, and Bill!

What a happy climb!

We found 2-bolt belay stations at the top of pitches 3, 5 and 6. At this point in may be possible to rap the route with double ropes from the top of 6 but this has not been verified.

Personally, I don't believe the bolts are necessary and I feel that the standard descent is safe, scenic and quick. Furthermore, if the FA team puts up a route without bolts, I don't think that anyone should come in behind with a bolt gun without permission.

And by the way, I don't believe the bolter did a real good job. See comments here.