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Podophobia

5.13a, Sport, 80 ft (24 m),  Avg: 3 from 3 votes
FA: Josh Wharton, Jacob Fuerst, and Madaleine Sorkin, 3/25/14
Colorado > Boulder > Upper Dream Canyon > Lost Angel

Description

Podophobia is a cool pitch if you like techy slab climbing. The grade is an early guesstimate. It might feel easier if you're a tech master, or harder if you've been hanging out at the gym too much.

Edit 1/25/15: I've decided to upgrade this from 12+ to 13a. Seems like people are finding it significantly harder than Arch Angel, and I suspect more folks will be interested in trying it if it's rated 13a.

Solo up a dirty 5.7 seam to a high first bolt just above the obvious ledge system that splits the wall, or climb a cleaner 5.9 slab with one bolt to the left. A few bolts lead up into the obvious roof feature. Undercling rightward on somewhat flaky rock, until it is possible to pull over the roof (this happens a bit farther right than you might think). Here things clean up. Follow techy slab climbing up and right, with a cool finishing sequence at the second to last bolt. Eventually gain the 2 bolt anchor shared with the Arch Angel extension.

Apologies for the schizophrenic bolting. This section of the wall had some random exploration bolts, and I felt it was better to leave what was there and add what was needed rather than drill more bolts just to make very minor adjustments. I'd recommend putting long slings on bolts 3 and 5 to help alleviate the issue, and also ignore the second two black bolts in the roof. (I'll try to remove these at some point.)

Enjoy!

Location

It is the first route to the right of Arch Angel. You can toprope, or hang draws on the majority of the route from Arch Angel's anchor.

Protection

12 bolts to a 2 bolt anchor.

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

Scott Bennett
Western North America
[Hide Comment] Sweet route! Cool variety of hard moves, some powerful pulls under and over the roof and some tech-9 slabbing up high... felt 2-3 letter grades harder than Archangel. May 16, 2014
reboot
.
 
[Hide Comment] Agree w/ Scott, really sweet moves, even though I didn't finish the entire route (decided to bail a few bolts above the roof w/ feet on fire). The face is still a bit dirty, w/ hard to find holds, making the climb a bit "exploratory" in nature. I probably don't have good slab technique anymore, but just the moves below/through the roof felt like a sandbagged 12+ in the Platte, let alone in Boulder Canyon. Sep 28, 2014
ScoJo
Boulder, CO
[Hide Comment] The hold that enabled the move to the anchor for me disintegrated some more today. There's still a small crimp there, but it makes the final move to the anchor a bit more desperate. Nov 5, 2023