Paul's Boutique 5.11b
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| Type: | Sport, 55 feet |
| Consensus: | 5.11b [details] |
| FA: | Cam Burns, Mike Schillaci |
| Season: | year round |
| Submitted By: | Jason Halladay on Apr 3, 2007 |
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Description Very nice arete route with hard, thin moves down low to more enjoyable climbing above on the arete. It's recommended to start in the crack to the right to clip the first bolt. Then move down and back to the arete. Neat mono undercling between the first and second bolts in a pocket that feels really sharp if you use more than one finger. R
oute tends to be dirty as it is a natural run-off line during rain storms.
While it's rated 5.11b, it's not nearly as sustained nor difficult as other classic White Rock arete routes like Wailing Banshees or Flesh-Eating Gnats.
Location The first prominent bolted arete line you'll find when you climb up on the lower boulder/wall. (That's not a great sentence but it'll make sense when you're down there. I think.) Shown as route number 5 on the Overlook route topo photo. Accessed by the easy scrambling on top of the Lower Buttress.
Protection 5 bolts to bolted anchor. Most all of the bolts are spinners or loose and are fine candidates for replacement. That said, I trust them. They're just difficult to clip sometimes.
| Comments on Paul's Boutique |
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By Daniel Trugman
From: Los Alamos, NM / Stanford, CA
Dec 4, 2009
rating: 5.11a/b
| "Paul's Boutique" doesn't get climbed too often because of the cruxy (and unnerving) second clip, but it is a worthy route. I'll give it three stars if the bolts/anchors ever get replaced (I'd be happy to help with that).
If you aren't up for leading it, it is easy to set up a TR by traversing from the "Left Headwall Crack" anchors (clipping the PB anchors as a directional, of course). |
By Joshua J. Williams
From: Tempe, AZ
Jun 9, 2011
| This route would probably get climbed more if the bolts were up to today's standards. But sheet metal hangars, spinning nuts, and some thin bolts can be unnerving. |
By Jason Halladay
Administrator
From: Los Alamos, NM
Nov 27, 2011
| The first four hangers have been upgraded to Petzl steel hangers (no spinners anymore!) I'm no metallurgist, but the bolts appeared to be in good shape with little to no signs of rust. Most were sleeve bolts so I could pull out and inspect the bolts themselves but not the sleeves and cones, of course.
The fifth bolt, with the worst-looking SMC hanger, is also a sleeve bolt but the sleeve and cone are spinning in the hole so I couldn't remove the bolt/hanger. Thus, it hasn't been upgraded yet. I suspect it'll require drilling a new hole nearby and then working to remove this one with a lot of elbow grease and a crowbar.
The climbing is easier up there, though, and even in the unlikely event of a full bolt/hanger failure in a fall, the climber will still be plenty off the deck.
We also beefed up the anchor a bit and added lowering biners.
(Edit, 1/14/2012: We were able to remove the fifth bolt, but not the sleeve so we hammered it back into the hole and drilled a new bolt placement a few inches lower.) |
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