When you arrive at the base of Glass Ocean, there are 2 bolted routes.  The right climb is Left Tributary.  Thin beginning followed by a tough mini-roof.  Enjoy

Left Tributary

A Fish Called Wanda

High Dive

Tsunami

Thar She Blows

Open Water

The Pane

Delta Y

The Seam

Troubled Seas

Lord of the Long Arms

Hydroplane

Right Tributary

Atlantis

Get the Net

Northwest Passage

Glass Ocean

Sail Away

This route is fantastic every time!  One of the best 5.8's in BCC!!

There is a ledge about 25 feet up from the start.  On the descent it is important to stop on this ledge and walk off around the side.  You can NOT lower all the way back down with a 60 meter rope!!! So be careful.

Stuart & Ruckman's Wasatch Climbing Guide simply describes this climb as "Smooth as glass, vast as the ocean.  The upper face is beautiful and continuous."

There are some excellent puzzles to solve on the way up, and it feels very, very exposed.

Some of the bolts feel pretty far apart as a result of the exposure.

Dreaming of Jamie Lee (yeah, way old).  Head up toward the first bolt of

Thar She Blows

but stay in the crack system to left until it steepens and ends at a bulge.  Clip a bolt, surmount the bulge, and stay more or less on the blunt arête to the anchors.

High Dive is a really cool route.  It can be done as one or two pitches, and has a couple of different approaches.  One way to get up to it is to get on top of the large block on the left side of the Glass Ocean wall.  Do this by either climbing Lord of Long Arms, Atlantis, or scrambling from the left.  From here, the route climbs through some fixed pitons.

The other approach, which I used, starts from the anchors on top of pitch 1 of the Northwest Passage.  I reached these anchors by starting up Glass Ocean, and traversing between routes after maybe 6 bolts.  Either way, the route merges just left of these anchors.  Climb up through a thin crack, which has a crux bulge when passing a good bolt.  Traverse right using an easy crack system, then straight up a really fun finger/hand crack to the top.

One rope rap (60m rope) off of bolt and piton to the anchor on Northwest Passage.  One more one rope rap to the ground.

Left of Glass Ocean is a gully with a wide crack at it's terminus.  Tsunami climbs this, angling right to the bolts that are left of Glass Ocean.  It then surmounts a series of roofs.  Footwork is, as always, integral.  This climb utilizes thin edges all the way up through all the roofs.  This is probably the best way to start High Dive.  There is one additional bolt than what the Ruckman guide shows.

Row faster lads, there's money to be made.  Well protected face climbing past five bolts leads to slabbier rock protected by a cam or two and one more bolt to the belay ledge.  First part of the route is three-star climbing, methinks.  Easily top roped from

A Fish Called Wanda

.

Located just right of Sail Away.  Ascend steep face, using bomber cam placements to lower angle area, clip bolt, continue up, placing gear where available.  Pull onto arete (sparse if any pro) and climb up to Glass Ocean anchor.

The Pane

or

the Pain

...? Big things come in small packages. About as tall as it is wide,

The Pane

is a powerful beast with good movement and tough climbing. This smooth faced line is big on suffering and small on holds. More of a stupid human trick, this route will still take some time to figure out. Bouldering with bolts.

This route is very short.  Basically just a problem to solve, and everyone likes a challenge!  Very thin hand moves and tricky footwork make this climb worth the tremendous amount of effort it took to get up the short face.

Make sure that you take enough slings etc to fix anchor around a relatively large rock.

The paper thin crack on the right side of the face, just a sliver... it goes!  Labeled as "seam" on the topo in the Ruckman Guide, this improbable looking line is a riot of a route and a true test of gear fiddlery. Mildly sequential, this technical climb takes small, but good protection.

Scramble up a chossy step feature to an off-set seam. Hover up the crack using finger tips, pinches, and thin, thin edges. The route's crux comes at about a body length off the ledge and is fairly manageable. A precarious move or two more and you can reach a rest below a shallow roof. Pop over the roof and finish on the ledge above. Build an anchor and walk off, or continue up

Glass Ocean

or

Sail Away

for a nice rope stretcher.

You're likely to find two cruxes on this one, a rather devious, somewhat scary slabby face down low, and a more straight-forward, but more difficult face up high.  Climb a short crack to a face with a seam that takes a really good micro-offset (e.g., HB), and find a 5.10 way around the blankness above to easier ground.  Continue more or less straight up until it is possible to step slightly right to a bolt and puzzle out the moves for a body-length to a nice ledge and anchors.

On the south end of Glass ocean are 3 routes with bolts.  This is the middle one.  It climbs a smooth edgy face to a ledge and continues up a nice but easy crack.

Will you stay in control?  You'll find the middle section a little licheny (as most new BCC routes nowadays likely will be), but the upper slab will more than make up for it -- think the last part of

Northwest Passage

, but with more exciting exposure.  Might be somewhat reach-dependent, but I've minded grk's admonition to "fight grade creep."  (And after top rope rehearsal, it really seemed 10c, but let's hear.)

Start ten or so feet right of the obviously older bolts of

Get the Net

.  Face climb past three bolts to the blocky pillar, then work up either the dihedral formed by the pillar or the more sporty but easy climbing on the face of the pillar to its top.  Step across to two more bolts, and diagonal right to horizontal cracks (cam) and up to a third (slightly hidden) bolt.  From here, climb more or less straight up past a little apex roof to the left edge of the

Northwest Passage/High Dive

headwall.  Ignore the urge to climb the cool looking but much easier left-facing dihedral to the left, and step right and trust yourself past three more bolts to Metolius rap anchors.

As you reach Glass Ocean there are 2 bolted routes.  This is right of them both.  It starts in a thin leftward trending crack.  Then you can clip bolt 2 on the right-line.  Continue up the bolted line staying right of the line.  Undercling the roof to success.

On the far left of Glass Ocean is a thin 2 bolt route.  Center of balance and good finger tips will lead to success.

A little rough but a good climb with very good rock in places and an awesome little summit to end on! Most of this climb is 5.9. Loose rock is, however, a concern.

P1: Face climb past two bolts (crux 5.10c) to a broken horizontal ledge, watch for loose rock. Step left and pull an overhang past a pin to a bolt (5.8+). To minimize rope drag on the second pitch it is probably a good idea to set a belay anchor here.

P2: Climb a stellar finger crack above the belay (5.9+) then trend right past a couple bolts, WATCH FOR LOOSE ROCK. From the last bolt continue straight up leaving a left facing corner to the right and past a pin to a final small headwall. Climb past a final bolt to the top of the headwall and small summit (5.9) This lies ABOVE and behind the Diving Board (rock at the top of High Dive). Chain anchors at the top.

This is probably a much better climb in the later afternoon and evening.  We made the mistake of climbing this on a hot morning in direct sun.  We were planning on climbing both pitches, but ran out of water (and time).  The first pitch is continuously difficult  with the hardest climbing in the lower two-thirds.  The small roof below the belay ledge can easily be overcome with good footwork.  This is a good climb for those that don't get pumped on Glass Ocean and want to top out next to the "diving board".  I'll have to add more details once I complete the second pitch.

This climb is right of all the other Glass Ocean climbs.  Hike right and then clamber up a crack system to a ledge.  Traverse left to gain this climb.  A couple of long slings are handy for a base anchor.  This climb is a nice climb to start off the Glass Ocean day.  There is 1 tricky bulge. and some space between bolts before joining Glass Ocean.

Description

Protection

Routes in Glass Ocean and Environs