The Bat Guano Sightseeing Route

I've looked at this potential route every time I've driven Boulder Canyon, which I've done maybe a thousand times. This route has never appeared in a guidebook, nor has it been listed on MP, until now.

On Aug 6, 2016, I suggested it to David Light, as we were driving toward another objective. After we waded the creek and waited out light rain, David launched up the dirty first pitch, finding occasional pro. The crux was an awkward long reach for a wiggling block (about the size of a cookie jar), then yarding on it to reach high and left for a stable hold (9-). It stayed in place when pulled to the right. After clipping an old, wiggling army angle, David belayed on a ledge below the base of the distinctive short slab, which is visible from the highway.

The second pitch went up the slab, which forms the left wall of a big, left-facing dihedral into which is tucked (you guessed it) the previously unnoticed thick hanging glacier of bat guano. Speed was definitely safety here, but, once safely above it, David felt compelled to attempt a long traverse to the right, past a fixed KB, under an extensive overhang. After retreating from the long traverse, he continued upward in possession of his new, rusty KB, turning the overhang at its left end and belaying on a big ledge, seven meters higher (9-).

One could easily scramble off to the right along this ledge, but David led up the good rock directly above. It looked improbable, but he found occasional placements and belayed on the summit ridge (9-). We third-classed south, along the summit ridge to (you guessed it) the summit of Eagle Rock.

After trying to think of a name for this previously partially ascended route, we kept with the previously established theme around flying objects, such as eagles, big birds, and (you guessed it) flying mammals.

Start about seven meters left of

Eagle Tricks

.

SR, including tiny cams, such as C3s.