The Vaporizer

The Vaporizer is a pretty new rock climb (I think the Fixed Hardware Review Committee approved it in 2005?) and is somewhat obscure, most likely because of its location, but it is excellent and should be on the list for any well-traveled Eldo climber.

The route is sustained and very interesting... typical Eldo-bizarro-weird climbing, but a lot of fun and challenging with multiple 5.11 sections, and only a few 5.10 "rests" here and there.

Begin by starting at the base of the Bulge Wall and climbing

Pseudo-Sidetrack

for a few pitches (if you're simuling, it is better to tie in close together to avoid rope drag) to the huge ledge with a large pine tree and a dead juniper. I believe this ledge is Juniper Ledge, and it is roughly 250' out from

terra firma

. From here, move the belay easily up the ramp 30' to a perch at a live juniper. The line of bolts straight up the face above should be obvious.

There's a scary move to the first clip and then the difficulties begin, a second clip, then a fixed wire (a #6 BD), then bolts the rest of the way up the wall and through a roof. This leads to easy but runout climbing up to a big roof system/overlap. Construct a gear belay here, and descend via the East Slabs.

The route is bolted (nine or ten bolts plus an essential fixed wire) yet a little spicy in places, although some gear might mitigate that. We brought a bunch of draws plus a 0.5, 0.75, and #1 Camalot for the anchor and this was fine.