This route used to be a 5.10b until a key hold in the crux broke making it a 5.12a. So, essentially the route is a hard 5.9/easy 5.10 with a 5.12 move on the roof section. The route begins in a crack just to the right of a large overhanging roof. Climb the crack to the roof and traverse to the left. Here you will find a critical series of 3-4 moves to conquer the roof. There is a bolt on the roof which you may want to clip on toprope to avoid an undesirable swing (especially if you might be there for awhile). Once you conquer the roof, follow the crack to the top where you will make a zigzag to the left before reaching the anchor.\

Rattlesnake warning!

Per

Alex Morris

: there was a small rattlesnake in the horizontal slot under the roof at the top of the low corner.

Rush Hour

Seein' Double

Skid Row

Last Laugh

Bad Sneakers

Dementia

Nightcap

Tipsey

Left Side

Are We Not Men

The Great Race

Teetotaler

I, Robot

Malign

Twofers

The Big Spit

Hands Off

Twofers Gully

Perched-Pillar Pile

Are We Not Robots

Cheers aka Thrill of the Chaise

Last Call

Twofers  Bypass

Baby Aliens

Cruel Shoes

Bent Faith

Grins

To the right of the

Twofers

route, there is a large inset that looks and is quite dirty.  A short ways right of that there is a small, right-facing dihedral that starts at the ground and ends below the left-hand-side of a large roof. Climb the corner/dihedral to the bottom of the roof, step left at a few flakes, and then work up and right through the roof to access a good crack system above.  Follow said cracks to the top of the cliff.  This system is reasonably easy at the given grade of 5.9 and reasonably protected.

The attached photo is INCORRECT, I believe, and sends a climber off into the dirty chimney and crack system (5.7).

Instead, from where the line disappears around the corner, pull onto the crack visible at the left side of the face above and climb that.  It is much nicer anyway.

This route climbs the arete right of

Dementia

.  Great position and terrific movement are marred by a slightly contrived start on the arete.  The best opening climbs straight up the arete with your chest at the bolts.  It starts with the left hand in the Dementia corner for the first move or two.

Start 10 feet right of the

Dementia

/

Malign

start.  Climb past 2 bolts and angle up and left to the roof at the base of the

Dementia

corner.  Climb straight up the arete.  Going straight up at the last bolt is slopey 12c (desperate in summer). Cutting right for a move at the second to last bolt and then moving back left again past the last bolt lowers the grade to easy 5.11.

This climb is one of the better lines at Happy Hour Crag, in my opinion.  My partner shared this opinion.

The line wanders up and left the whole way, across cracks, face, corners, overhangs, and knobs.  Rossiter calls all of this "improbable terrain."  I called it "fun!"

I also made an 'improbable finish' to the route that goes solid 5.10 and was excellent but runout.  This will be discussed at the end of the description.

Start this climb just to the left of the finger of rock protruding from the ground at the base of "

Grins

."  From the left side of this finger of rock, work up and left for a few moves onto a small ledge.  There is little good pro available here, but the moves are 5.8.  Move up and left on a sloping ledge and place a few good wires in a crack above your head.  Next start moving up and left arond an arete on knobs and edges, through the slight overhang and up.  Any gear placed here needs a 2-foot runner.  You will reach a left-facing corner (as for

Nightcap

) and climb that for a few feet before reaching the top of a huge flake, where you merge with the climb

Malign

.

Finish as a 2-star climb as for

Nightcap

and

Malign

, by climbing the left-facing and then right-facing corner system *OR*...

Go out with a Bang!  For a better finish (3-star in all), lean back and look hard left.  You will see s series of small edges and knobs.  This is well above "

Tipsey

."  Place gear from the ledge, up and right in the left-facing corner, from here there is no more gear.  Head out left, towards the anchors of "

Thrill Of The Chase

."  Reach up and hard left for a crimp and pull through This left-hand traverse is solid 5.10 and would be a thumber fall, as the last gear will be about 20 feet to the right and 15 feet down; the flake you'd hit if you blow it looks HUNGRY.  The moves are hard, and somewhat long but secure.  This is reasonable for a 5.10+ leader as it is solid rock.  Clip the "

Thrill Of The Chase

" anchors with a long runner and then continue up and left to the cliff top.

I called this finish "Thrill of the Skid."

This line sounds like it wanders a lot, but it continually moves left. Thus, the rope will run more or less in a nice line with judicious use of 2 to 3 foot runners.

This is not a very good top-rope due to the swing potential from the bottom and top moves.

This climb is pretty fun and pretty technical.

Start this climb as for

Grins

, climbing that route to the top of the "tooth," about 50 feet up.  Step to the left and clip a bolt, or

vice versa

, and do the crux move to establish yourself just left of the arete.  Climb up at the edge of the arete past two more bolts with a second crux above the last bolt. Finish on a ledge with a 2-bolt anchor & walk off or rap.

What a dumb route and the recipient of our first-ever BOMB evaluation.

Start in the second dihedral from the right, looking for the nice ledges halfway up the route. It's a difficult one-move-wonder one move up. The rest of the route is cake. Dumb.

Begin beneath the obvious left leaning V- slot roof near the middle of the crag. An awkward mantle brings you into the short but technical crux - the narrow V-slot with a thin fingers crack. Good smears and bomber fingerlocks through the crux. Solid 10a.

This is a wonderful route. Start about 10-15 feet right of

Dementia

, work up nebulous terrain to gain a right-facing area with easy cracks. Work up into a thin crack that follows through a bulge. Stem and shimmy your way up and gain a nice, albeit short finger crack to the top. There is now a 2 bolt anchor from which you can watch the sun set over the canyon.

This is one of my favorite routes in the Canyon, and it is better than its neighbor

Grins

.

Climb as for

Dementia

until you reach the small blocky roof just below the cool arete/dihedral.  Go to the right, under this roof, then up a short distance to something of a ledge.  From there, look to the right again and climb the left-facing corner for a short distance. A left-leaning crack will appear on your left, which is not as hard as it looks.  Climb up and left on this crack to bypass the overhang (good pro), then from a ledge up to the top of the crags on easy cracks.

Although this line wanders a bit, the drag is not too bad with judicious use of 2-foot runners.

This route doesn't appear in Rossiter's or Rolofson's Boulder Canyon guidebooks, but I'm sure it's been climbed for a long time.

The route is a good beginner lead as it can be sewn up. The crux is brief and well-protected.

Climb the larger right-facing dihedral of two, directly below the tiny roof. Climb up, turn the easy roof, and continue straight up the face.

This route is just to the right of

Hands Off

.  It is short, sweet, and hard.  The long list of hard men that put this is up probably tribute to that.

The hardest moves are right from the beginning with very small fingers and marginal feel (for a 5.8 climber anyway).  It gets easier (ha) as you ascent with a good shallow hand jam to rest on half way up.  It's only 40-50 feet long, but it gives a good workout.

This climb is pretty fun and quite technical.

Start this climb up and right of

Grins

, just left of a series of short, right-facing dihedrals and pillars.  Climb up some so-so rock to get to an arete with 4 bolts.  Clip the first bolt and then work both sides of the arete.  The multiple crux moves involve heel-hooking the arete and palm-smearing around it at times. The moves are more insecure than

Last Laugh

, in my opinion, but pretty fun!

Start in the shallow, right-facing dihedral, about 2 feet to the left of the tree. Climb up to the ledge 10 feet up and slightly left, and then follow the crack running up and right to the top.

Climb as for

Dementia

until you reach the small, blocky roof just below the cool arete/dihedral.  Go to the right, under this roof, then up a short distance to something of a ledge.  From there, look to the right again and climb the left-facing corner to a left-facing flake/corner, then up a right-facing corner above the flake to the top.  Although this sounds like a wandering line, it is actually quite direct, and little drag will result if you use a few 2-foot runners.

Twofers is a neat roof problem. Start on the left side of the gully, below the obvious roof about 35 feet up. Scramble up to the left corner of the roof, layback, reach, and move out through the left corner. Continue up directly above the roof.

Start right of

Teetotaler

.  Follow the path; you can set the belay on a couple of different flat spots.  You can't miss this dihedral.  Climb easy terrain (with good pro if you want it) up to the base of the dihedral, perhaps 40 feet.  Now head straight up.  The pro is good, and you can stem or layback your way up it.  I thought the pitch was harder than

Grins

(to the left, a 5.8), perhaps because the protection is not as easy as

Grins

. Regardless, this is a fun pitch, well worth doing.

This is an easy gully to the [right?] of

Twofers

.

On Oct. 18, David Light led me up this arete, which lies between

Malign

and

Nightcap

.

Climb directly up the short wall to the blunt arete. Stay on, or close, to the arete for its entirety. Stay on the right side of the hollow, perched pillar. Above it, avoid the big indistinct, perched block, with a hard move barely to its right. A short, left-leaning crack above the top of the arete is the other crux. At the very top, place directionals, and protect the traverse right to the bolted anchor atop

Nightcap

. This is not a bad climb, but the big block is looser than it looks.

Here's another line in Boulder Canyon that I am sure has been climbed for years but is undocumented as far as I know.

Climb a shallow dihedral just left of the start to

Are We Not Men

and climb straight up, avoiding the small roof by climbing around its left side.  The faces moves are on good quality rock but might feel a bit spicy on lead.  Continue up as for

Are We Not Men

,

Twofers

,

et al

.

Rossiter calls this route "Thrill of the Chaise", but "Cheers" seems slightly more in line with the crag "naming conventions" (if there is such a thing).

Begin as for

Dementia

, but move right into a big, easy, left-facing corner (I remember going a few feet right of the line shown in the photo here).

From the left-facing corner, clip a bolt on the face to the left (this is a bit of a stretch). I find the crux is getting onto this face. Once on, climb straight up past another bolt to the top. You can place wired stoppers above the last bolt. Rossiter's topo has a two bolt anchor, but I do not remember one in 1998. These would make toproping Cheers convenient.

Per

Carl Schaefer

: this shares a two-bolt anchor with

Tipsey

."

The 3rd edition of the D'Antonio guidebook incorrectly shows

Dementia

going to the same anchor .

Last Call starts in the crack just to the right of

Rush Hour

(5.12a) and avoids its overhanging section. Climb the crack until you encounter a slight overhang a third of the way up. Here you need to traverse to the left where you will climb the upper portion of

Rush Hour

. The traverse is the crux of the move. This route provides a good alternative for those who are unable to negotiate the crux of

Rush Hour

.

Start as for

Twofers

, on the left side of the gully underneath the large roof 35 feet up. Approach the roof, then follow the hand crack around the roof to the right. Follow up, and then move out left over the top of the roof.

This ascends a thin, splitter finger crack between

The Great Race

and

Bad Sneakers

.

It doesn't really look like a route, it's so short. Follow the dihedral up, occasionally using the opposite face to stem out. There's a fair amount of lichen on the route - it must not be climbed often.

This is pretty fun although short; good if Happy Hour is a zoo.  This route is found below the

Grins

area on the right side of the crag on a short separate buttress.  It's the only crack.  Sneak up to the hand crack, and then pull jugs through a fun roof to a ledge.  Now balance up with no pro to the top. A fall from the top could be bad.

Begin about 20 feet below a big "tooth". Climb along the right side of the tooth and then head up right along the flare. This is a good "arm" jam. Finish off the face for the last 15 feet to the two bolt anchor. This is an excellent route for the first time lead on trad and for beginners trad practice!

Description

Protection

Routes in Happy Hour Crag