Author:
Larry Earley
Trip Participants:
Larry Earley and Ron Diederichsen
Cob Rock is a granite
buttress located on the south side Boulder Canyon about seven miles from
Boulder, CO. Cob Rock is a popular trad area with moderate two pitch climbs. Ron
is a long time local Boulder climber. The excitement starts right from the car.
You must first cross Boulder Creek using a Tyrolian Traverse on a fixed line.
The crossing was only 50 feet but it was interesting and fun.
We started on North Face
Center (5.7). It is the obvious line up the center of the rock. Great cracks
with excellent pro anywhere you want. The second pitch goes a little right and
is (5.7). Classic text book hand jambs most of the second pitch on clean
granite. Cob Rock must be around 250 feet tall. A nice comfortable summit with
one large tree with views down to the creek. The roar of the creek makes
communication difficult so know your rope signals. A good trail brings you back
to the start in a few minutes.
We next climbed North Face
Left (5.8). Start at same spot but use the left crack till it ends and face
climb left to a large ledge. Pro is thin at crux. An old piton protects the last
20 feet to the ledge. The second pitch felt like (5.7) and had a nice finish to
the top. Good pro on second pitch.
We did a third climb which
is the right side arete between climbs Northwest Corner and Empor. Start (8) in
a hole behind a large boulder. The guide calls this start Empor (7+). There is a
direct start called Hurley (10a) but had very thin feet and a thin finger crack.
Ron lead the second pitch which he thought was (5.7). The second pitch was quite
dicey and had two run out sections. A very committing move around a blind corner
(8) was almost 20 feet above your last piece. The finish is steep with a final
few stiff moves to the summit. A very exciting climb for the grade. Highly
recommend this route for leaders looking for a good moderate with a little
thrill. The descriptions in Rossiter guide and
http://climbingboulder.com are a little
confusing in this area of Cob Rock.
Cob Rock faces north so we
had good shade in morning. There were a dozen friendly climbers out for a
beautiful Saturday. This area is highly recommended for a day of moderate two
pitch trad.
