Another “unknown,” but we’ve got enough of those in

BCC

that I’ve given this a name just to distinguish it.  If someone knows the real name and FA, give it up and the glory will go to the deserving and justice will be served.  This is the obvious arête with two bolts just left of the “window” or gap in the

Standard Ridge

that one passes through on the way to

Rush Wall.

The crux is well protected by two bolts, but the easier climbing before and after requires solid rock sense and careful nutcraft to protect decently.  Worth doing if visiting the other trad routes on

Lonely Challenge

or on your way to

Rush Wall

.

The Notch Arête

The Slab

Broken Dreams

Eddy of Life

The Potato Chip

Lone Man Running

Gnawing on the Rind

Rubbing it Raw

Eternal Flow

Zen and the Art

Watermelon Tetris

This is the “lone two-bolt route” Boissal mentions on the main page for the Lonely Challenge Area.  It is yet another “unknown,” but the name given here seems appropriate until someone coughs up the FA party and the name they gave it.   You probably are snickering at the 35 feet, but get on it and I bet you’ll think otherwise, unless you are one of those gym mutants with no sense.  The two bolts protect the crux well, but the rest will maintain your attention as you fiddle with small gear to prevent decking on your way to the anchors.

Pitch 1:

Gingerly make your way up the blocky face to a lone bolt about 30' up, then climb straight up toward a ledge (below a roof) passing the occasional placement. The rock is a lot more solid than it looks but quite slippery due to a layer of lichen. It's probably a good idea to test holds before yarding on them as you're usually a long ways above your gear. Belay at a 2 bolt anchor on a spacious ledge.

Pitch 2:

Head out left on a brushy ledge to gain a broken crack system (the book shows another variation right) and follow it as it diagonals up and right towards the top of the buttress. Beware of a lot of very loose rock, especially when you traverse back over your belayer.

Build a trad belay in the great cracks that split the low angle ridge up top.

This is the obvious right-facing dihedral left of the second pitch of

Eternal Flow

.  It is approached by climbing either the first pitch of

Eternal Flow

or

Rubbing it Raw

to a two-bolt stance below the base of the dihedral.  Microcams protect the opening moves in the corner to a bolt, followed by somewhat thuggy climbing past another to a third bolt, then jam out a diagonal crack to the arête and up past two more bolts to chains.

The Potato Chip is a wild thin flake perched up the gully from Hollow Man. Novel macro laybacking and crispy thin jugs make this route a neat little adventure. Just don’t pull too hard on this chip!

Starting at a belay bolt, head up a short broken finger crack. Once you reach the flake, pull around the left side to a bolt. Punch it straight up the flake to a wide hands piece, then two more bolts higher up the flake. A wild hand traverse at the top leads to two bolts and chains.

Featuring amazing thin-face climbing on smooth quartzite, this route will keep you on your toes through 70' of bolt-protected edging and smearing followed by 40' of runout 5.8.

The climbing is sustained .10 until the 4th bolt where the .10d crux awaits and will send you wandering around for a while, trying to piece together a line of tiny edges and tenuous smears.

The odd horizontal crack provides a much needed rest as you make your way to the piton then angle right and launch up the exciting upper face.

The climbing eases up to 5.8ish but will keep your attention due to its runout nature; the route will attempt to thwart you one last time with a roof before you can top out one of the best 110' chunk of stone out there...

Gnawing

is one of the better 2-pitch trad lines in the area.  If it weren’t for

Watermelon Tetris

(thanks lads), we wouldn’t have been motivated to get on it – led from the ground up after seeing the first pitch would take gear while lowering off

WT

(and then vigorously cleaned on rappel).

The first pitch climbs the seam system in the steep, shallow corner just right of

WT’s

bolt line.  About thirty feet up, a move left from a friendly right-leaning flake will keep you on-line (see the beta photo of the first pitch).  Climb the seam system to its end, step around the edge and into a large capped corner, then turn the cap to a good belay ledge and gear anchors.

The second pitch shoots for the obvious overhanging handcrack 60 feet above the belay.  Climb the red face immediately above the belay, trending toward its right side, until possible to step right onto a greenish face that avoids huge stacked blocks (I couldn’t budge them on rappel, but why risk it?  Besides, the greenish face provides good climbing).  From the tip of the top of the greenish face, continue up the buttress above, protected by a RP crack to the right, to a good horizontal crack, then shuffle left along the horizontal crack, surmount the overhanging handcrack, and climb the short headwall to the top.  Belay from a bolt and gear in a thin crack.

In late June, on the second pitch at the top of the greenish face and before the step onto the buttress, swallows had an active nest on top of a bowling-ball sized protrusion that looks easily dislodged to the left of the line.   We left them in peace, and hopefully you will do the same if the nest is occupied.

If you carried up only draws to the Lonely Challenge Area,

Rubbing it Raw

is worth a quick ride as another warm-up (in addition to

Watermelon Tetras

) for

Eternal Flow

.  It is also the most direct way to reach

Eddy of Life

.  Start 10 feet left of the first pitch of

Eternal Flow

and follow bolts up and left to chains.  Spy a good landing for the first set of moves.

Pitch 1:

10a, 6 bolts

Crimp and high step your way through multiple blank sections, gaining an easier juggy portion in the middle. Finish up with steep moves between good holds and a right arete as the wall kicks back. Walk left on the comfy ledge for two bolt and chains.

Pitch 2:

10c, 9 bolts

Step left from the anchor to the corner, then climb the rippled dike features on the smooth wall. Technical crimping and edging leads to a cryptic sequence through the triangle shaped merging overlaps. Easy terrain gives last reprieve prior to the sustained traverse involving hands free high stepping and smearing smooth milky ripples. At the roof, off balance undercling and layback holds swing one around to a final desperate stab for secure finger locks. All too short glory laybacking finishes out the pitch with equally fantastic exposure over the storm mountain area. Belay sitting on the edge at two bolts and chains.

Decent:

Two rappels with a 60m. Rap straight down from the pitch two anchor to the anchor and chains on Broken Dreams (hidden under a roof, perfect plumb line while rappelling). One more gets you to the ground. Alternatively, one can rap the route itself. When rapping the first pitch, head climbers right over the clean edge to avoid loose rock straight below the anchor.

If you thought the holds on

Lone Man Running

were huge this line has your name written all over it! It features very similar climbing at first but before you know it you're desperately trying to stick to a mirror of rippled quartzite.

Between the 3rd and 5th bolt (crux) there's barely anything that qualifies as a hold. The rock is compact, without texture, featuring gentle ripples. Don't despair, keep bumping your feet on microscopic divots and crimping barely visible edges. If you manage to keep it together and you picked a low-gravity day, you might be able to snag the thank-god hold

(yes, hold!)

and make the impossible 5th clip.

Don't get too excited though or you'll blow the moves en route to the piton or the 6th bolt!

Above this you'll re-enter familiar terrain (if you've warmed up on Lone Man that is), start looking for a spot to unload the heavy cams that almost cost you the send...

A lovely way to begin the day at Lonely Challenge area. A shallow right leaning dihedral system with comfy bolts and airy toes. Careful footwork will stem you up with little difficulty.

Begin at the smooth face with slopey ledges ramping in from the left. A few tricky buldges carry you through the midway technical crux. Blind jugs are hidden throughout.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Lonely Challenge Area