Boulderado and Animal World
June 27th, 1999
I spent the afternoon climbing with Homie. He had just had his wisdom teeth removed and didn't want to climb anything hard. We chose a Boulder Canyon crag called the Boulderado. Our first route was Jam It (5.8). We scoped the route from the belay ledge at the base of the rock and decided it looked wide and hard. The main crack goes over an overhanging section. It looked harder than 5.8, but I carried two #3 Camalots and a #3.5 to protect it. I climbed unfettered by placing protection up to the crack. It was an illusion! The crack was very short and perfect hands. I placed a #2 Camalot and a #1 Camalot, did two jams and was over the roof. John followed easily.
We set up a fixed rope so that we could rap back down after each route. Next, John led Idle Hands (5.6). This is an outstanding route on excellent rock. John had no trouble and I followed. Next, I led a bolted route called Qs, first put up by Fred Knapp. This route was rated 5.9+, but seemed a bit harder to me. Powerful moves on very cool rock led up past six bolts to a three bolt (all rusted 1/4") belay/rappel anchor. I cleaned it on rappel and John toproped it, confirming the difficulty with a few hangs on the rope. This caused John's mouth to bleed a bit from the effort and he wanted to take a break. We decided to head up to the crag above called Animal World. This is supposedly one of the best "sport crags" in Boulder Canyon. John led up Ho Hum (5.4), another fun route and we hiked the short distance to Animal World.
Here I flashed Cannibis Sportiva (11a). This is an excellent route with trad climbing on the lower half and then six bolts on the top section which becomes quite steep and overhangs for the last few moves. This is by far the easiest 5.11 in the state of Colorado! Anyone looking for a 5.11 flash should try this route. Not surprisingly, it was put up by Rossiter, who is know for his "fair" (some would say "soft") ratings. In Rossiter's latest guide he rightly upgraded Decade Dance on Blob Rock from 10d to 11a. If Decade Dance is 11a (and I think it is), then this route is 10b. There is one hard move on this climb and I did struggle with it, but it is over so quickly. Nevertheless, the climbing is quite fun and recommended.
John declined to follow the route and I then flashed Joint Venture (5.11a). This route was a bit harder than the last. Maybe 10b/c. It also was quite fun and half trad/half sport. There is another 100' 5.9 route up there that I wanted to do, but with only one rope and John not wanting to follow, we decided to head back down. We rapped down the Boulderado yet again and I discovered that the sheath on my 8.8mm rope can completely off in one six foot section. Yikes! This has never happened to any rope that I have owned. I've seen fixed ropes like that before, but this was my rope! Needless to say that the rope is now permanently retired.
John led up Mons (5.5) - yet another fun climb with face and crack sections. This is an excellent crag for teaching climbing. Without our rappel rope, I belayed John as he downclimbed and protected Fistula (5.4). I then downclimbed and cleaned the route. On downclimb, this route feeled more like 5.6 or even 5.7 for the final face section. We packed up and headed for home.
Back on the Sharp End:
Nip and Tuck
October 6th, 1999
Hardly and I did some climbing in Boulder Canyon yesterday. We went up to the very forgettable Nip and Tuck crag. The approach was just right: maybe a hundred feet. Hardly the led the starred but uninspiring looking dihedral called Hypotenuse. This actually had some cool climbing on it with tricky stemming protected by a blue Alien and an RP.
We hiked down and I led Dan-D-Line, a 5.6 route over a small roof and up an incipient crack. The protection wasn't great and I dorked around for a long time placing some gear around the corner. I wasted way too much time on this trivial line. Hardly then led the best line of the day with the worst name: Finger Crack. This 5.9 crack looks 5.10+ from the ground. It is dead vertical and appears to be very continuous without many footholds. It turns out there are some hidden jugs which save the day and keep the grade reasonable. I felt solid following this short route. All the lines up to now had been less than half a rope length.
Next I led another 5.9 with a bad name: Left Angling Crack. This had a difficult, but interesting start and then some fun, moderate granite slab climbing. Run-out well above gear up on easy ground I remarked to Hardly that my leading head seems to be completely unaffected by the fall. "Well, you didn't fall climbing. You fell rappelling," he responded. "True," I said, "and I already knew that it would be a bad thing to fall 75' onto my back. In fact, I previously thought that such an accident would result in death. Heck, now that I know it's only a minor set-back I can climb even bolder than before!" Just what my mom and wife want to hear...
We hiked back down to the base. Our light was fading fast, but we had time for one more route. Hardly cruised up the five-bolt sport climb called Arete. The naming at this crag wasn't a creative high point for Boulder climbing. This route is rated 5.10d, but Hardly swam up it so easily and so quickly that I said, "That looked easier than the 5.9 Finger Crack." "It is!" he said. I followed cleaning and we wondered how it could be 10d. Did we cheat and use some off route hold. I hate routes like that. We concluded that it was just mis-rated. 10a at best.
That was it. A short afternoon
Practice Rock and Broken Cliff
October 9th, 1999
I went climbing with Erik Corkran today. Erik and I had never climbed together before and we only had a few hours. We went to Practice Rock and I led Thin Crack and Erik followed. Then we toproped the Regular Route (11b). I came off once while ascending this crack. I then led Lieback (10a) which seemed much harder because it was so hard to place gear. I hung three times, but Erik didn't come off following.
We then went up to Broken Rock, which is right across from Castle Rock and Erik led Crack Up (5.9) which he felt was a lot harder. I thought it was reasonable, but that's the difference between following and leading.
You Ain't Nothing But A Hound Dog
October 14th, 1999
I went climbing with a new partner yesterday. Mark "BTO" Bockmann had been reading my trip reports for years and was finally prompted to Email me and ask to climb together. Mark just recently redpointed his first 5.13 (?? at Rifle) and was hoping I'd give him pointers on how to lower his leading level to 5.10. Obviously he contacted just the right guy.
We met at the Bell Buttress in Boulder Canyon at 5 p.m. and I immediately diagnosed his problem. He was too lean and too strong. I recommended a steady diet of Ho-Ho's (not those cheap imitation Little Debbie's) and DingDongs. Apparently his wife also redpoints 5.13 so clearly his home environment is a problem also. I stopped short of recommending divorce.
Mark is a friendly, laid back guy and didn't seem to agitate about who led what. He graciously let me have first try at the route called "Hound Dog." This is a ten-bolt 11a sport climb which ascends the well featured but steep granite of the north face of Bell Buttress. I had heard that the lower section was more like 5.9 and hoped that I'd warm-up before hitting the crux. Mark suggested we try something easier to start with, but with very limited daylight I was afraid that trying something else would just give me an excuse to avoid this route.
I headed up the route and took advantage of the great rests on this route to de-pump. The climbing is very fun and not too bad. I got up to the crux and told Mark to "watch me." I balked once. Then tried a different approach and got it! A 5.11 flash! I don't have to many of these. I haven't led anything harder than 5.10a since my accident so this was a big jump up. My enthusiasm was subdued because I couldn't help thinking that this must not really be 11a. I wondered if I had even done the correct route. The line of bolts splits after the 7th or 8th bolt. We took the right line up to a two bolt/chain anchor (later Mark was positive we did the correct route). Does anyone know what the route on the left is? It is not in the latest Rossiter guide.
We pulled the rope in true sport climbing fashion and Mark quickly dispensed the route. He went up so easily that I was sure when he came down that he said, "You were right, Bill. That's not 5.11. I'd say 5.9, maybe 5.9+" Thankfully, he didn't and confirmed that it seemed 5.11a to him. Of course, climbing 5.13, there might not be much difference between 5.9 and 5.11 for this guy. Hardly climbed it and called it a 5.11a move so maybe it is. Heck, I have to take everything I can get.
We moved around the corner and Mark led West Crack (5.9+). Mark hasn't done much hard trad leading (only one 5.11) so there is a disparity between his sport and trad leads at the moment. This is just because he does more sport climbing these days. He'd soon be leading 5.11+/5.12 trad if he put in the time. He cruised this tricky lead with ease. I followed in fading light and cleaned the gear. We packed up and just made it back to the cars before full darkness. I feel no ill effects from my back injury. My elbow continues to be my biggest climbing problem. But I feel I am ready to start working the 5.11 routes again. Anyone up for CCC - Round 6?