Like

Momentum Operator

, this route would be more popular if it were: A) cleaner or B) on Castle Rock, just 50 meters away.

Approach Broken Rock by parking at Castle Rock and going to the

Country Club Crack

area. Walk across the little bridge to Broken Rock, and go then 50 feet up the hill to the right. You will see an obvious pair of super-steep twin cracks that reach a bomb-bay chimney and then another hand crack with a a 2-bolt anchor above (Momentum Operator, 5.11a). Perhaps 10 meters further up the hill is a severely left-leaning, undercling flake/dihedral with a wide-hands crack running under it for its length of 40' until it goes vertical. This route, called 'Crack Up' is fairly obvious. What is less obvious is just how much guano you will encounter along the way--if you are easily offended by guano, don't bother climbing this line. After a few ascents of it, lead and follow, my rope had a faint guano odor. My second took a lot of hangs and got the rope pulled up into the crack, so a solid team might not have such a bad problem.

Climb the obvious cracks with wide hands and thin fists jams, protecting the solid rock with cams for a ways. There are a few stiff moves, but good rests via stems come frequently. There are more rests on good hands for those with no micro-biotic concerns, but I preferred to ignore the crap-covered holds 17 years ago, but times and climbs change, and it is cleaner now. After about 50' of climbing, the line hits a ledge and presents several options. You can place a directional and traverse left past bushes to the anchors on

Momentum Operator

to belay and rap, or you can continue upward on some cracks, or scramble uphill to a downclimb by going hard right. There are several good belay anchors for any option. The rock is great and solid, the climb is now a solid 2-3 stars since it has cleaned up and the poo factor is minimal.

Crack Up

Out to Pasture aka Momentus Fist Trainer

Sue's Song

Lichet or Leave It

Tree Trimmer

Muad'Dib

Undercling

Fit for Life

South Beach

Hung Jury

The Verdict

White Trash

Momentum Operator

Eulogy

The crux is near the top at the last bolt. Pumpy route with cool moves.

Start as for Crack Up...climb 15 feet up the crack and then go left to the first bolt...race you arms up the steep face to a series of technical moves getting past the second and third bolts.

The crux is the very overhanging hand to fist crack.

Sue's Song is a climb with fun movement, but some questionable rock and questionable protection at the bottom make this ill-advised for a beginner trad leader or someone anywhere near their limit.

Start off on a huge crumbling flake on the ground that serves as a starting platform to get into the flake system. Consider if any of the gear you see is worth placing, and get up under the roof to look for more or better gear. Observe that there are flakes behind the flake at the entry to the main crack, that none of the rock is fantastic, and climb carefully with a careful belayer. A Screamer or other load-limiting device might be advised here.  As you pull the lip, a #2 Camalot in better rock can be exchanged for what would have otherwise been the best jam before pulling a crux.

Pull into the main crack, if you are clever, into a no-hands rest, and find another placement and easier climbing above.

Cruise on up more moderate climbing for another 40' to the bolted anchors as shared with

South Beach

, passing that route's bolts out on the right.

This is the farthest left of routes facing the creek. Clint Casey led me up this on June 29, 2016. Because he hasn't posted this route, I am doing so.

Climb a short, horrendously lichened, right-leaning, right-facing dihedral, and surmount the end of the overhang (5.10). Continue up discontinuous cracks in the horrendously lichened slab. To enable communication and reduce rope drag, belay at the small tree.

Pitch two is also short and diagonals right to the base of the undercling, which is on the Undercling route.

Pitch three climbs the Undercling (5.10, unless you are TALL). To facilitate communication and to reduce rope drag, belay as soon as possible. An easy, low angle pitch takes you to the big ledge/platform that traverses underneath the Overlook.

Walk southeast, then west, down to the creek.

This ascends the roof behind the big tree, starting near a guano-covered hold.

This route climbs way better than it looks. Follow the line of bolts up the steep slab. Cool moves getting past the lower part of the route using flakes and pockets. The upper part has a reach move to gain a cool bucket and then the top.

Undercling is a 1-star route that would be 2 stars if it were cleaned up a bit. The mungy start can be skipped completely to make this route a better, cleaner, and safer route. Were it totally cleaned up, the moves and positions could make it 3 stars, but that would take some effort. For now, think of it as a fun route with no crowds but a bit of dirt. You'll have it to yourself.

The initial slab has no protection, some lichen, and some wild rose bushes. It goes 5.6, and is slick when wet. If you fall off of that slab, the injury will probably be serious. This does not detract from the route if you simply don't do it. You can skip the optional and unprotected slabby beginning section and just walk up the hill left of the slab to reach a left-facing, open book. At the back of that lies a set of 2 short roofs. Step up and into the corner on a set of jammed rocks and flakes, then up into a roof. Jam and undercling up and right out of the roof, and turn the corner onto a lower angle set of cracks. Take this up to a slab with a tree in a crack. A belay can be built here with the tree and 2x red Aliens or purple Camalots. You can also sling this long and then head up and right onto a slab placing a black Alien or two in a seam above. There is some PG-13, but it is probably only 5.5. You arrive at the base of a second roof and corner, like the first but bigger and harder. A 1/2 driven blade piton lies next to a green and yellow Alien placement for the belay there.

From the belay, start off on P2, once again heading out to the right under a roof. This second pitch is going to be difficult/awkward for climbers below 5.10, just to get started, so starting pro matters. A grey X4 Xamalot is a great first piece, then the purple Camalot or red Alien again before switching to hand-sized gear. Jam and undercling for about 10' out and right to the flake wedged into the roof, and then head up on this with solid pinches and jams to turn the corner and intercept another crack that will take you to the top on more moderate terrain.

The route starts on the far right side of the cliff at a lone, large pine tree. Cool climbing on good laybacks and edges get you past three bolts. Reach a horizontal crack and place gear. Layback up a thin flake and begin a series of hard technical moves past three more bolts to reach the anchor. Very good route with excellent moves.

Start left of "Fit for Life". Climb a hanging block. Reach a left-facing flake and climb that to a small ledge. Go left and then up crack/arete to the anchor. Coool route that should clean up with more ascents.

P1, (5.10a, 115'): start off from the edge of 'The Beach' if the water is low enough, climbing up the low angle rock headed for the inset notch in the roof, targeting its right side, coming in from to the right of that. As you reach the notch, a few opportunities for protection present themselves to the right of a dirty and very questionable flake trapped in the notch of the roof. Take these as they come, and protect well before committing into the roof climbing. Avoiding that flake insofar as possible, climb up into the crux roof. Cracks to the left (1.5") and to the right (2.5") can both take gear, but to the right is more above previous placements and probably safer to protect. Turn the roof, gaining better gear and solid rock, and gain jam-cracks above the crux. Continue up the crack on easier climbing (5.6) to reach a good belay ledge. A shark's fin of a flake presents itself as a belay opportunity. Throw a cordalette over this, and belay just below a dark, slightly acute slot in a left-facing corner, that surprisingly is NOT P2.

P2 (5.moderate, 130'. junky): from the flake belay, traverse left below a bulge, leftward perhaps 3 meters to reach a crack and corner system. Protect here and head up, and then go up and and right. Pick your way past a series of slabs, cracks, and an occasional tree to reach a big slab before the summit of the rock. Build a belay, and bring up your partner.

To finish up, scramble to the summit (on belay or off) of the rock by traversing further off further to the North and West.

The Verdict is an optional/variant 2nd pitch from the 1st pitch of

Hung Jury

.

The climb starts off fun and interesting in an acute flare, then it has a bit of moderate climbing before reaching a vertical crack section, then there is a bit more low angle climbing to the top. The good sections are well worth doing, and the rest is forgettable. At least it straightens out the line for

Hung Jury

and allows that to be lead as a single long pitch if so desired.

From the belay at the top of P1 of

Hung Jury

, look directly up into a dark flare. At the back of this acute squeeze, there is a hand and fist crack. A #4 Camalot or 4" Friend would protect the opening moves, but a #3 Camalot is also quickly available, making the #4 optional. Jam and slither up the dark corner to a lower angle section, heading for a dark band of rock directly above  At the dark band, some more crystalline rock forms a vertical section. While some of this appears rotten at first, the cracks on the right side of it are actually quite solid and take good protection. Climb up this and continue onward toward the summit, eventually hitting a lower-angle system that takes you behind a medium-sized tree before hitting the summit slabs (and belay opportunities) after well over 100' of climbing. The moderate climbing is not as well-protected, but probably it is not worrisome for anyone who can climb 5.9.

Belay up top, and scramble/walk off as for

Hung Jury

.

This route would be a classic if it were: A) cleaner, B) on Castle Rock, just 50 meters away. This climb would easily qualify for 3 stars if it were not for the guano on the bottom end of it. (Note - as of 2012, it HAS cleaned up nicely)

Approach Broken Rock by parking at Castle Rock and going to the Country Club Crack area. Walk across the little bridge to Broken Rock and go then 50 feet up the hill to the right. You will see an obvious pair of super-steep twin cracks that reach a bomb-bay chimney and then another hand crack. This route is obvious and has a 2-bolt anchor fixed biners.

Tape up.  Now climb the twin cracks via hand jams and stems to a tight-hands and fingerlock crux (powerful, and reachy if you are short). You can get the crux done either with brains or biceps, but be sure you have to have a lot of one or the other--it's a tricky sequence that you can power through if necessary, but beautiful if done correctly. Think footwork. This feels like a complex and gymnastic 5.10c, or a brutally muscular and insecure 5.11.  Reach the anchors and rap or lower off after 60' of climbing. If you lower off, you'll be quite some distance from the start, so I'd guess that cleaning on second would be hard.

Eulogy climbs the left-leaning dihedral/finger crack just to the right of

Crack Up

. The new Boulder Canyon guidebook gives this a rating of 9+. I disagree, it felt like it was in the low 10 range to me (that is what 9+ is is I guess)and is kind of hard to protect. It was quite difficult to exit the crack, once you do you are presented with a weird bulge you have to surmount. The gear is tricky, and there are not any decent stances. Once we surmounted the bulge, we cut right to the anchors on South Beach, I think (the anchors are obvious when you are up there).

Description

Protection

Routes in Broken Rock