Colonial Ambush
5.11+,
Trad, 280 ft (85 m), 4 pitches, Grade II,
Avg: 2.7 from 3
votes
FA: Jason Seaver, Bob Wallstrom 4-22-01
New Hampshire
> Cathedral Ledge
> Central Wall
Description
This really is a kick-ass "hybrid" line of unique Cathedral face climbing with some traditional crack climbing flavor to keep it real. It starts 60' right of Remission and 100' left of Diedre.
Pitch 1. Stick-clipping the first bolt is a wise option. Make powerful moves up into the corner, and then pull right, around the outside corner onto the face (5.11+). Climb the face, following a faint, diagonal dike, past four bolts and a knifeblade. Belay at a two-bolt anchor on a ledge on the left. 60' 5.11+
Pitch 2. Step back right and face climb diagonally right, at first, then straight up the wall, past five bolts, a knifeblade, and a few gear placements. Interesting face climbing with a troublesome bulge at half height. Belay at the two-bolt anchor on top of the second pitch of THE BRITISH
, under a small roof. 80' 5.10+
Pitch 3. Freeclimb the first 20 of the third pitch of The British Are Coming: climb the short corner above the belay to a ledge, then move right past an old bolt to a stance. Protect, and then move further right around the corner to gain the slab leading back up and left. With significant exposure, regain the steep wall on the left by climbing onto the sloping ledge. Carefully traverse left to a knifeblade in a thin crack, and continue left to a left facing flake on the top of Warlocks crux pitch. Climb the flake to the horizontal crack, get some gear in, and then make hard moves up and right onto a ledge (5.11). A short, overhanging set of thin cracks (5.11) leads up to a pine tree, and from the pine, make a difficult traverse left (5.11+) to a short finger and hand crack. Jam the crack over the final steep bulge and belay, on nuts, on a sloping ledge. 80' 5.11+
Pitch 4. Climb the enjoyable finger and hand crack up a low angle slab and join Don't Fire..., and The British.... to pull onto the summit slabs. Belay at a tree 25 higher. 60' 5.6
Location
Start 60 feet right of Remission, and 100 feet left of Diedre, below a horizontal roof 15 feet off the ground. Above the roof is an overhanging, left-facing, left-slanting corner, the line of Frenchman's Fury. Colonial Ambush shares the opening moves of Frenchman's Fury, then breaks right and follows a line of featured dike rock for 140 to join The British Are Coming at its second belay. From there it takes a wandering line up the steep wall between Warlock and Don't Fire Until You See The Whites Of Their Eyes, and finishes up a moderate crack to join Don't Fire..., topping out.
For the sake of clarity, it seems appropriate to make the following references: Frenchman's Fury was climbed as a direct start to The British Are Coming, at A3/A4, in November 1999 by Paul Cormier and Brad White. In the spring of 2000 I received permission from Paul to replace his first fixed pin with a bolt to get Colonial Ambush started. That same spring Tim Kemple began working on freeing The British Are Coming using the Frenchman's Fury direct start. In 2003 he completed Candidus - 5.13b/c: Frenchman's Fury, to the remainder of the first two pitches of The British......, to Warlock's crux pitch, to the end of Colonial Ambush's 3rd pitch.
Protection
Standard rack. The third pitch is quite a journey and wanders quite a bit. Youll want to carry many long slings or lead on half ropes. The 1st and 2nd pitches, and the 3rd and 4th, could certainly be strung together, but the route flows well the way I described and it keeps the leader and second in sight of one another much more effectively.
The anchors atop the first and second pitches are fixed with bomber modern bolts. The climbing on the 3rd pitch is almost entirely gear-protected and its belay also requires gear.
Make two double-rope rappels from the tree at the top of the 4th pitch, or walk down.
The route was cleaned and equipped on rappel. 9 protection bolts, 2 anchor bolts (1st belay), and 3 knifebaldes were installed in total.
On the full redpoint first ascent all pitches were led clean by Jason Seaver. He received a lot of help establishing the route during the preceding year. Thanks to AJ Jones, Paul Rowe, and Christy Mackie.
Estes Park, CO
Jackson, WY
I just climbed the first pitch of Colonial Ambush the other day for the first time. There is a blue or green alien slot on the left side of the sloping ledge after the crux which, with a shoulder length runner, would protect the next moves adequately. I had no gear beyond QD's and found the runout manageable without the units or old knifeblade, since their is nothing but air below and you won't hit the ground if your belayer is paying attention. I think the route, at least the first pitch, would retain it's Cathedral character without an added bolt so I hereby invite you to retract your permission to add a bolt.
BTW, I look forward to doing the rest of the route after the Crag Turkey closure lifts.
Hope things are going well for you in Boulder!
Cheers,
Frank May 29, 2008
Estes Park, CO
I'm psyched to hear you got on it Frank, and that you plan to go back for the rest. Look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Hope all is well for you and yours in NH. Life here in Estes Park is good. The high peaks are drying out....the Diamond should be ready soon.
Thanks for posting that info,
Cheers, Jason May 31, 2008
Plymouth/ North Conway (NH)
First two pitches have neat slab cruxes which are a lot easier if you're seconding on chalked holds :). Sure wish that knifeblade on the first pitch was still there.
If you're only doing first two pitches, rack is single set of small cams 0.3 through 0.75, and 12 draws (at least one of them double length). Jun 20, 2012