Farewell to Arms

The hardest .10a I've ever climbed, but this little route is wonderful. The rating has got to be a sandbag. Jul 7, 2003

went here for the first time yesterday. delicious. since my footwork wasn't great, I ended up pulling myself through a lot of moves and strained my right bicep. be careful!

• *climbers before me left a yellow daisy chain. if that's you, go back there & you'll see it hanging from the fencepost next to the outhouse.

May 31, 2005

such a wonderful climb for a LITERAL backyard crag - bummer its not bolted. VERY sandbagged for .10a though Jun 7, 2011

All you need to setup on this is 4 locking beeners and a single 2-3 foot sling and you can connect to the two anchor bolts up top. I think 10a is fair. The first half is maybe a 5.9 if you go the left along the crack (or go straight up the face and its a 10a the whole way. The last part going into and coming out of the little "cave" above the ledge can be a bit of a challenge, a 5.10a+. I've climbed here a number of times, I don't think the girls have never made it passed the first half (even when heading to the left). I've made it all the way up a few times, but if its the end of the day the second half, into and out of the cave, is tough for me. Jun 14, 2012

There are 3 bolts now, whoever placed them could have placed one more bolt and done a little bit better on the placement. There are 3 glue-ins and the first hanger on the 11b is highly recommended as a first, even then don't fall between the 1st and 2nd bolt, hanger and glue-in, it will not be pleasant. As far as grade, sandbagged is safe to say. 5.9 maybe 5.10a to the cave, but getting past the cave maybe 5.10a+ but topping out is definitely not 5.10a, more like 5.10b or perhaps 5.10c. Jul 5, 2012

Jim Thornberg recently decided that he should bolt this, very unnecessary. The locations of the bolts are poor and its likely that a fall would result in injury. It's long been a toprope, I have no idea why this was bolted and I imagine that they will soon be removed.. Aug 25, 2012

The bolts are in pretty bad places so that you'll hit the ledge if you fall from pretty much anywhere before the last bolt. Also, they were a really weird kind of bolts that I had never seen before. There was no actual bolt, just one piece of steel that went into the rock and acted as the bolt and the hangar. I would not recommend leading this route. It was a really fun TR though. Aug 19, 2013

One more bolt has been added to the face below the ledge, kinda changing the dynamic of the route. The bolts used are wave bolts, they're glue-ins and pretty bomber stainless steal bolts, I've used them elsewhere. Unless someone wants to go through the arduous effort of sawing off all four bolts, I doubt they will be removed. Personally I have nothing against making it possible to lead, I don't value top-rope climbs that much, just think the bolts could have been placed better.

If you do the moves on the face avoiding the lie-back to the left below the ledge , I'd say it goes at 10d if you're less than 6' tall along with topping-out the anchors. Sep 3, 2013

as a 5 foot 4 inches person i had always had a hard time going over the face of the flake and would always revert to liebacking the left, but i finally discovered it IS possible (at least for me) with a foot switch and small dyno when you are on the undercling and flailing for the top of the flake. May 11, 2015

I thought the route was great. It has a lot of different interesting holds/features for such a short one. Bolt placement was..okay. Glue in wave bolts are very strong and sustainable glad to see them used and set properly. I think 10b or 10c is fair - Definitely the best route at the crag and a fun lead! May 8, 2016