The Nightcrawler 

This route has some of the best rock in the park and its spectacular position and moves make it a classic. I guess I agree with the grade but I would recommend that the leader be confident at the .10b grade when climbing this route.

If you bring along a 3.5 or new 4 camalot you would find several places to use it.

If you climb the 5th pitch go straight up the obvious crack and then angle up and right. If you look carefully you can see the anchors from the belay. I would say this pitch is 5.8 but no R rating is necessary. As for the last pitch I would agree with the post that the rock deteriorates as you move up. I would rate it R maybe just for the rock quality and lack of good protection.

The gunsight notch walkoff is super easy and DOES NOT require rappelling unless you can't 4th class downclimb.

One of the best routes I've done in Red Rocks, for sure!

Matt Ruppell and I replaced all ten old bolts on p3-4 last Thursday, except one pro bolt that had been replaced previously (it has an old JU hanger re-installed on it for historical sake - don't worry, they are actually pretty good hangers, and the next bolt is 3 feet higher). We didn't get to the p5 anchor.

The pitch 3 anchor has rap rings on the two new bolts.

We didn't mess with the original bolts left next to the newer rap anchors on top of p1, p2, p4 - so each of these anchors has 3 or 4 total bolts, but no one clips the old ones!

If you rap with a 70m, I suspect that the p2 rap wouldn't quite reach the p1 anchor (it would depend on how stretchy your rope is). Also, the first pitch is definitely over half a 70m and would require 5.5 downclimbing at the start of the first pitch.

By my measurement, p3 is more like 80-90 feet and p4 about 60-70, so you should be able to rap with a single 60 to a rope left on the nice ledge on top of p2. Watch rope ends as always.

Thanks for all the great work Greg. Those old quarter inchers didn't inspire confidence in me.

This route is definitely not rated 10b, and I find it strange that some people have rated it so, but to each his own. My brother led p2 onward of this route; he regularly onsights routes at 10+ grades and he got worked on parts of this line (as did I)!!

This route is very sustained starting pitch 2 on. The 5.9 chimney is quite unrelenting and vertical with some pretty thin face moves when chimneying isn't possible. Also, my leader was rather gripped on the chimney; most of the small pro during the first half of the route seemed mental more than anything else to him, so having a #5 seems like it could make the route a bit safer in the event of a fall--hence my PG13 rating of this route (a #4 should work too, but probably place it in the first half of the pitch instead of hanging on to it like my partner did...no better opportunity will arise).

P3 continues unrelenting vertical, sustained climbing at 10c or higher level. The new bolts are really nice, BTW, but be prepared to sew up the finger crack on the face if necessary before reaching your first bolt. I had to aid here on second, as my foot is not large enough to torque into the 4" crack to the left to assist one progressing up this section at a level below 5.11 (which is what I estimate climbing the off fingers crack alone to be...er, I have pretty slender fingers).

FWIW, my brother and I met and spoke with Jorge Urioste at length directly after climbing Nightcrawler (he was climbing another brand new 5.10 he just put up two weeks ago next to NC, so we met him at the base of our routes post-climb). He stated this route "has always been rated 10+" and definitely not 10b. YMMV.

One more interesting note about the route history: Jorge Urioste told us that he and Joanne named it "The Nightcrawler" because when they were putting up the route initially, they ended up sleeping overnight on top of the pillar (I believe they meant The Hourglass formation pillar).

Approach time is approx 2 hours and kinda burly. To avoid a bunch of the boulder hopping, once you are nearing the entrance to the canyon, you will encounter some trail divisions and a sign; it will indicate that continuing back north (from whence you originally came) is the Pine Creek Trail, whereas turning left toward the canyon is the Knoll Trail (if I remember correctly). Our guidebook (and our instincts) said to go on the Knoll Trail; this leads you very soon into the gully and up the tiring boulder-scrambling for a large part of the canyon's length. While following Jorge Urioste out at the end of the day, we found a much nicer way to go. So during approach, when you hit that sign, keep going straight on the Pine Creek trail. It will "feel" wrong, but you will be happier in the long run! Not too much farther down the hill, you will encounter another trail that intersects on the left but bears no sign marking. Turn left here and it will take you up the hill above and alongside the gully for quite some ways into Juniper Canyon (before you are forced to get in there and finish up with boulder-scrambling). However, it is mainly flat and allows you to avoid around 1/3-1/2 of the gully!

If this one is rated 10b/c, La Cierta Edad should be 9/10a in my humble opinion. 3rd pitch was hard & the 4th pitch was harder...maybe different climbing types suit different people but we really struggled on the last pitch. Beautiful climbing, rock & position though! Large cams seemed handy on 2nd pitch. Many thanks to Greg & Matt for replacing the bolts!!

rappelled 3 & 4 with a 70m yesterday- 4 was fine, 3 was as well, but close enough to make me think that a 60m would be really close. this pitch is probably exactly 100'- so be careful if rappelling with a 60m off of 3.

really liked this route- very thoughtful and rewarding, not to mention very aesthetic!