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Rincon Light

5.10a, Trad, 5 pitches,  Avg: 2.8 from 25 votes
FA: unknown
Colorado > Boulder > Eldorado Canyon SP > Rincon > Rincon - Center Route…
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Description

This route is for those of you who lead at 5.9 to 10a level and always wondered what's on top of the Rincon crag.

P1: climb the same as for the first pitch of Rincon (5.9+, G).

P2: climb the same as for the second pitch of Rincon (5.9-, G). Pitch 1 and 2 can be combined into one stellar long pitch.

P3: from the two-pin and bolt anchor on Rincon, traverse left around the arete, then diagonal up left to join, and complete the third pitch of Center Route to a large ledge with a house-sized boulder (5.8, PG). This pitch is graded 5.8 R in Levin's guidebook, but evaluate the holds in the broken section, and you'll find plentiful of stable holds and good gear placements.

P4: step around the house-sized boulder, and climb pitch 4 of Rincon (in Rossiter's guidebook). This is a separate pitch in Levin's guidebook called Rincon Direct Finish. If you're shorter than 5'9", you might have trouble clipping the bolt (from standing on top of the boulder) mentioned in both guidebooks. Bring your small offset RPs for this pitch, otherwise you'll have a 25 foot runout at the top of the slab (5.9-, PG-13).

At the top of the slab, you have a few options:

A) with a 60m rope, you can step left about 8 feet, and continue up a corner system (about 5.6?), or you can step right 5 feet, and pick up a left-facing corner (also 5.6ish and a little cleaner). After topping out, there will be a 100 foot 3rd Class downhill and another 100 feet through looseness, and you're at the base of Gambit

B) if you're not a fan of long pitches, you can head over to a belay ledge on the left with a tree. If you prefer to skip the easy finish, you can walk off to the left (north), which brings you down to the walk-off for the Over the Hill area.

Protection

Some smallish RPs for pitch 4 (I was very happy to have a red offset DMM peenut here, which I think is about the same as a #2 or #3 offset RP).

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

[Hide Comment] I do not recommend pitch 3. It's a traverse through a choss pile and is difficult to protect, but more important, there is a high likelihood of dislodging soccerball-sized rocks onto people at the base of the crag. You could kill someone. Dec 31, 2016
Dan Raymond
Longmont, CO
[Hide Comment] I think I went the same way as Tom Waits which was probably off route, because I never found a ledge with a "house-sized" boulder. I started up P3 of Rincon, threaded a runner through a piton, and then moved left around the arete. This deposits you on a small ramp underneath a blocky vertical section. I couldn't find any good gear here, so I moved directly left 15 (?) feet or so to a dirty corner that took gear. Then I headed straight up on suspect (loose) holds. The climbing wasn't particularly hard, and I was able to place some more gear, but it felt sketchy. I started traversing left again on another ramp, and at this point, the rope drag was getting too much, so I passed one small tree and built an anchor between another small tree and a large boulder. From here, my partner led up and left until we reached the walkoff trail that takes you above Over the Hill. May 30, 2021