New Colorado Climbs, 1982. Despite the intense new-route activity of the last few years, climbers in the Boulder area continue to find first ascents on both new and established crags. In early spring, Alec Sharp and Matt Lavender climbed Victim of Circumstance, a 5.11 + crack just right of the Campaigner on Castle Rock in Boulder Canyon. The same team also squeezed Dangerous Acquaintances (5.10 + ) onto the face between Temporary Like Achilles and Scary Canary on Eldorado Canyon’s Redgarden Wall. Sharp and Dave Weber inserted Unnatural Desires (5.10 + ) between Temporary Like Achilles and Evangeline. John Sherman, with Sharp following, put in Tube Sock Tanline (5.11) between Scary Canary and the Wisdom. Jeff Achey and Randy Leavitt freed the first pitch of Apple Strudel (5.11 + ) after replacing an old aid bolt. The second pitch had previously gone free to Joe Kaelin and me (5.11). Also in Eldorado, Bob Horan led Johnny Belinda (5.12), which climbs out of the cave on the Whale’s Tail. Skunk Canyon, in the Flatirons area on Green and Bear Mountains near Boulder, saw much activity. Horan found Anthem to the Sun (5.12) and Under the Influence (5.11), both overhanging cracks. On the north side of Seal Rock, Jeff Achey, partnered by Roger Briggs, led Archaeopteryx. Achey spent 3½ hours on the poorly protected 5.11 face-climbing of the third lead. The south face of the Matron yielded Warlocks, a 5.12 hands/finger/fist problem with a four-foot roof to cap things off. Guerin and Ruckgaber made the first ascent. On the Veil slab on Bear Peak, Sharp added Way Honed and Gnarly. In July, Dan Hare and John Warren climbed You’ll Go Blind, an overhanging, diagonal jam-crack on a rock near the Matron. The crack permits no rest for 80 feet and fades temporarily in the middle, forming the 5.11 crux. In March, Jeff Achey and Chip Chace climbed a two-pitch direct variation on Eavesdropper, in the Flatirons near the Maiden. The route follows the Eavesdropper arête all the way. In June, Guerin freed the Boot Lead on Castle Rock (5.12) in Boulder Canyon, then continued straight up the wall above to the right of the second pitch of Corinthian Vine. The third pitch forced Guerin and partner Ruckgaber to use one bolt for aid. Also in Boulder Canyon, Dan Hare and Alfredo Len climbed Acrophobia, a one-pitch 5.10 face-climb on Chrome Dome, near Boulder Falls. Mark Rolofson and Eric Eliason completed a 5.11 + face-climb leading straight up to the Wounded Knee roof on Blob Rock. Hare and Joel Schiavone climbed Specter, a hand-crack on the Black Widow Slab. The crack led through a six-foot roof with an overhanging dihedral above (5.10 + ). Guerin and Ruckgaber climbed Frogman (5.12), a short face and finger-crack problem near the Elephant Buttresses.

New route activity has continued elsewhere in Colorado as well. Roger Briggs and Leonard Coyne climbed Inner Limits, a new 5.12 on an unnamed crag near the Barking Dog in South St. Vrain Canyon, north of Boulder. In the Garden of the Gods, soft sandstone pinnacles near Colorado Springs, Bob DAntonio and Peter Gallagher climbed Mission Improbable, a 5.11, thinly protected face-climb which partially follows an old bolt ladder. D’Antonio and Ed Webster free-climbed the upper north ridge of Keyhole Rock at 5.11. The same pair also climbed Patty the Pig, a 5.10+ to the right of the Waterchute Route on Keyhole. Just off Rampart Road in the foothills northwest of Colorado Springs are a host of newly developing granite crags. D’Antonio pioneered three new 5.11s, Scorpio, Lust for Kicks and Lost Cord, all one-pitch crack climbs. On Sheep’s Nose Rock, a granite dome near Turkey Rock in the South Platte region southwest of Denver, D’Antonio and Bob Robertston climbed Sheer Sheep Attack, with 5.11c face-climbing. The same pair climbed For Wimps Only (5.11a), Space Cadet (5.10 + ) and Complications (5.11- ), all one-pitch face and crack climbs on Sheep’s Nose. Malcolm Daly led Lumpy Ridge’s first 5.12, Red Man, on Sundance. In Glenwood Canyon in west- central Colorado, Mike Kennedy and Jeff Lowe freed International (5.9 + ), a 10-pitch route that follows two granite buttresses and one limestone buttress to the top of the canyon. To Kennedy’s knowledge International is the only route that climbs all the way to the Canyon rim. Kennedy and Gordon Banks also climbed Night and Fog, 5.11 Al, a route on the Night Buttress in Glenwood Canyon, near Glenwood Springs. The four-pitch route has two pitches of 5.9, a pitch of 5.10 and a pitch of 5.11, Al. In the Telluride area, in the southwest comer of the state, Bill Kees and Barry Rugo climbed a new three-pitch 5.10 called Emotional Rescue on the Wimpering Wall, a section of the Ophir Wall. On the same rock, Dave Bell completed Nerf World, an A4 that follows a network of incipient cracks. In the Independence Pass area, Mike Kennedy and Chip Lee climbed The Hose Monster on Pass Walls. The one-pitch route climbs a 5.11 finger-crack that took several attempts. In August Dan Hare and Joel Schiavone climbed the Odessa File, a three-pitch 5.10 near Odessa Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. The crux was an undercling under a roof. Dan Hare also climbed Secret Agent, two pitches, 5.10, Al, on Secret Crag south of Eldorado Canyon. This fall the notoriously desperate Genesis (5.12c) in Eldorado Canyon finally received a second ascent three years after it was first done. Britisher Jerry Moffatt made the second ascent, soon followed by Chris Gore and Skip Guerin. Though Jim Collins had devoted months to a rigorous training routine, then days of effort before making the first ascent, the repeats have been done in a matter of a day or two. Collins’ 5.12 route on the Psycho Roof was also repeated by Moffat and Guerin.

Glen Randall