This is a super-fun trad climb, with nice holds.  It looks like a chimney, but you'll use some cool face holds as well.  Get off those crappy slabs, and do this route!

Mark's Crack

Dive Right In

Mission in the Rain

Illegal Alien

The Nature Of The Beast

Color Blind

Twist of Feet

Sitting in Limbo

Apocketlips

Mr. Wind

Dos Hombres

Drill Seeker

Quetzalcoatl Comes Through

May-B-Nueve

To Err Is Human

Loony Toons

Forbidden Fruit

Queso Cabeza

Mysterious Redhead

Captain America

French Lesson

Alien In My Underpants

Hummingbird

Colors Of Emotion

The Sangrador

Camino De La Sonia

The Shitty Gift

Tangerine Dream

Lovesnake

Cassandra

That's the Way

No Regret

Mr. Breeze

Milo

Black is Beautiful

Abrazos y Chingazos

Color of Devotion

Art of Suffering

Unknown Easy

Iron Cross

Persephone

[Redacted]

Morning Glory

Laura

Hareless

Stemoroids

Self-flagellation

Wages of Sin

Boltergeist

Twist of Fate

Rocket Man

Glutton for Punishment

Hand Jam Crack

BBC?

What The Hey

Mission in the Snow

Wearing the Inside Out

The Serpent

Dynosaur

Que Pasa

Prick Pocket

Yah-Ta-Hei

About 100 feet past

Colors of Emotion

, the trail passes close to an obvious orange wall with a large, black, water streak.  This climb is the rightmost route on the wall.  It has a bouldering start up a small overhang to two bolts on slab, then easy runout climbing to upper three bolts and more fun face climbing.

Another overlooked Penitente classic.  Unfortunately, the requirement to place a couple cams has relegated this fine route to obscurity.

The route starts in a hand crack (some poor rock), which is climbed for 20 feet until a bolt is reached and the face can be climbed.  Perhaps a direct start is possible?  Once on the face, long reaches between good huecos characterizes the climbing.

This is located immediately left of the popular "

Forbidden Fruit

".

This route might be a bit contrived.  It starts out steep on some nice jugs, then quickly turns into a steep slab.  I felt compelled to avoid using the crack on the right ("Apocketlips") which made for a couple hard slab moves.  My friends used the crack, and it probably makes sense to do so.  The crux comes about mid-height with some small pockets on great rock.

Being a nice route next to two of the canyon's most popular, I don't see why this route doesn't get more traffic.

Crisp edges all the way are indeed-" The Nature Of The Beast".

Color Blind is a short climb left of

Colors of Emotion

. Start on a ramp and fire up right of a crack. It is a little contrived because the crack is there for the bottom of the route. Make one throw for the top.

This is the 5th route encountered on the right, when entering the canyon, on the next little "blob" after the "

Mysterious Redhead

" blob.

This is a good route for it's height, and I recommend it.  Relatively speaking, it is not sharp, it has nice, positive holds and a powerful little boulder problem crux.  I don't understand why this route sits in obscurity, while other, sharper routes get lots of traffic.

If you're looking for an 11+ to try, get on this one...it's better than it looks.

It gets early morning sun or afternoon shade and is sunny in the winter.

The routes starts off decently with a semi-lieback and a bit of a reach to the horizontal crack, then hike your feet up on the thin nothingness and get ready for hell, stretch for the mono, crank hard and you might end up at the top, the route gets easier after the crux, only one or two more monos and some fancy footwork and you're at anchors. A very powerful yet elegant route. Try it.

A great route, but unfortunately it has been made obsolete with the addition of Forbidden Fruit and Illegal Alien, which are better routes anyway.  I found it very hard to ignore the bolts on either side of me while I was trying to place trad gear, and crux moves are essentially the same as Forbidden Fruit...at least the way I climbed it.

The crux is at the first clip with nice sustained friction after that.

Start in a dihedral about 50 ft. right of Ya-Ta-Hei and 50 ft. left of Bucket Slave. Pull up on the finger crack and stem the sustained and technical dihedral past two bolts to a stance. Move past two more bolts through a bulge to the anchor. Pumpy, fun and aesthetic climbing.

This is a nice warm-up, because it gets early morning sun. It is not a great route, but there is nothing bad about it either. There is some nice slabbing. They completely screwed up the anchor though...bring some six foot slings if you're going to TR.

This 4 bolt route is located between

Tangerine Dream

&

Mission in the Snow

. The route consists of 2 really good boulder problems separated by a full rest.

This is a good route up a slab split by a crack.  Go up the slab to the left of the crack to the first bolt.  Step right at the bolt or slightly above and straight up to anchors up top.

Eds. Per

Nick Esker

: a little history: Alex Colville explained that when he first climbed this route he considered naming it [something] Ocho (because he thought it was 5.8). On his third time up the route, he fell on the top part of the climb and decided " eh... maybe it's nueve" 5.9).

This is a weird route.  It's close enough to the crack (Hareless) that you are tempted to use it.  The moves are nice, and the rock is outstanding, but  it felt very contrived.

Twenty feet left of

Persephone

is a nice, little, sandy spot with several of the most moderate lines in the canyon, and with bolted 5.7, and 5.8 to be had, these routes are oftentimes the most crowded routes at Penitente.

Loony Tunes is the furthest right of the bunch and involves a bit of bolt protected crack climbing that leads up to some nice, clean crimping typical of the just under-vertical rock here.

Now, since my own belay-spot in Hell has been solidly reserved in advance, I can pose the question "How did Kevin come up with this route name?" Was it, perhaps, that you could coax the word "laugh" out of his own name, was it derived from blots near a crack, or was it perchance a personal moment somehow related to the first ascent? Since I don't know Kevin, I may never learn the answer to this puzzle, perhaps someone else knows.... (Did I just get a Gold Star?)

This route goes up a large orange wall just off the trail about 100 feet past the

Colors of Emotion

wall.  This is the third route to the left, past

No Regrets

and

Whipping Post

.  Face climb up the face between two cracks.  The climbing starts out easy, and steadily gets harder to crux near the top.

Thirty ft. right of Persephone and around the corner is a sweeping  line that approaches dead vertical near the half way point. Clean stone with excellent edge and shallow pockets can be found initially, and this is followed by more superb edge climbing up to a horrizontal seam. Crimp to the anchors and the technical crux, but get some good chill below the seam since it will be the last rest. The seam provides very little by way of rest, and the crux is still above. Good stone, excellent pro, and technical crimping kick up another very worthy line in this sector.

From the parking lot, follow the trail in. Mysterious Redhead is the [

second

] bolted line on the right. The total approach time is about a minute.

Start just right of

Nature of the Beast

, 12a. A couple huecos down low to help you get started and then thins out as you get higher. [It angles right and then up after the start and is continuous with tricky, and small, crimps throughout]. This is a fun climb.

Eds. Note this route has been confused with

Morning Glory

, 10c, for some time on this website. With clarification from Angela Lee, from SLV Climbers Alliance (www.slvclimb.org), we've edited in some clarifying information.

After following the main trail, there is an obvious branch to a side canyon on the right.  Immediately on the right is a 'hueco ridden' buttress.  This is Captain America.  Do a very short 3rd class scramble up to a belay ledge.  Note there is a very helpful hold (perhaps glued?? Bob - history??) to aid in this ascent.

The first clip is easy - step up, clip, step down, and then readdress the problem straight on.  Note that peeling while clipping bolt 2 is not good.  It is not a hard move, but stupid people like myself will hurt their ankle.  Bob D's guidebook says not to lower or TR off the anchors - we did not see this as an issue...???

Just left of the Whipping Post area, this route starts in a dihedral then veers left onto a bulge to avoid some bushwhacking. Getting to the first bolt is committing, so consider stickclipping. Once there, the second bolt is pretty far away, and you have to clip it off of a crumbly hueco! The crux is well-protected bouldering over the bulge above.

Typical of sport routes of this era, this climb is an adventure! The moves are interesting, but there is some back rock, and it's not a very attractive route. It is not a "must-do" route!

Immediately right of

Persephone

is a fine line that starts up on some steep, edgy rock. The technical crux comes off the deck in passing the first two bolts. Continue up on classic Penitente edge climbing. I'd go with two stars for the interesting opening, clean stone, good edges, and rasonable protection. If you are here, it is worth a buzz.

This is a superb pocket climb on some of the cleanest stone in Colorado. It climbs up the center of the smooth black and orange wall up and right after breaching the mouth of the Canyon, just past Mysterious Redhead. It can be recognized by its Mammut ring bolts (unless these have been replaced) and by a large pocket/hueco about 12 feet up.

Start on the ramp. An opening boulder problem gives way to yet more bouldery moves. Generally, each cruxy sequence is capped by a nice clipping/resting pocket until you reach a hard traverse left and some finishing business on tiny crimps where the wall begins to rear back.

Hit this one early in the day while it's shady or else on a cooler day -- otherwise you'll totally schralp your tips on the tiny pockets.

A powerful boulder problem off the deck with bad feet gets your attention right away, then a beach-sized ledge provide some much needed R&R before the headwall.  This has classic Penitente face climbing on the upper wall with nice moves on brilliant stone. The midway ledge is the only thing keeping this thing from four star euphoria.

This is very nice line with a hard boulder problem to get started. It has great rock and great climbing.

Start as for

French Lesson

, but continue straight up the corner/groove with the crux coming at mid-height. Cool moves lead to the anchor.

This is a great adventure!  It has a squeeze chimney, perfect handjams, a hueco-d arete, and a crimpy bulge, all on great rock.  Few will venture onto a route like this, but it's worth it!

Just right of Bucket Slave, find a wall with graffiti that says "pink cows fly at night"  This route ascends the dihedral with interesting sometimes reachy moves.

About 50 yards into the canyon, this route is just around the corner from the popular route "

Whipping Post

".  Look for an astonishingly blank swath split by a thin crack...that is "

Sitting In Limbo

", "Cassandra" is just to the right.

This route is a welcome change from many of the hard routes in the canyon, in that there are actually holds!  Many of the hard routes in Penitente require straight down pulling on microscopic shadows, but this route has holds that don't go straight down, and the first 30 feet or so are actually overhanging.

Boulder up the overhanging section to a no hands rest before a final slab crux that keeps you honest.

There has been some funny business on this route.  Some of the pockets are not in there "natural" state.  I think the pockets themselves are original, but they probably were "comfortized", or "aggressively cleaned".

Nevertheless, it is a beautiful line that has fun and interesting moves.

This is a decent slab/face climb just right of (the better)

Yah-Ta-Hei

.

The route is tucked into a corner on the right side of the canyon before you reach the Virgin painting.  You'll see a 5.9 (

What the Hey

?) on a separate rock to the left and another line of bolts (

Yah-Ta-Hei

) up the middle of the slab.  That's the Way is on the right and heads up the edge of the slab.

Just to the right of

Captain America

are 4 slab routes.  If you need a warm up below 5.10, this area is where you should be.  Mr. Breeze is (by far) the easiest of these routes.  If you're in a party of 3, this is a great way to keep yourself occupied while others climb / belay.  It is very fun as well.  This is pretty obvious once you are there.

Milo is a great route on excellent holds. The crux is getting past the 3rd & 4th bolts.

This route is on a large orange wall just off the trail about 100 feet past the

Colors of Emotion

wall.  The route goes up a sort of shallow gully right next to a large black streak.  A fairly hard start leads to easier but really fun climbing up the gully and across the black streak to anchors.

This route is located at the end of the "French" Wall, right around the corner as you enter the canyon.  Start by scrambling up some choss, then step out left to a reachy clip (easily stick-clipped).  The crux is in the first 15' or so...traversing out left to the rounded prow, then up to the ledge.  From the ledge, slab up some mossy jugs to big fat chain anchors.

I don't know why nobody climbs this...it's a good route, with good rock and fun moves.  There are TONS of good 11+ routes in the canyon, and it seems like 90% of the traffic sticks to "

Rocket Man

" and "

...Weenie Way

"...try these routes, they're good!

Weird, hard climbing and not-so-good rock.  Definitely not a must do.

Anyone know what "OPS" stands for?  Something vulgar, I hope...Open P**** Syndrome?

As you enter the canyon, this route is located just around the corner from the first routes you will encounter (mysterious redhead, et al).  It encompasses just about the most beautiful 25 feet of rock you have ever seen.  It is the clean orange face with an arete on the right side, formed by a chimney.  About 20 feet right of "

Color of Emotion

".

In his guidebook, Bob D. eclectically describes the opening moves as a "B2 boulder problem".  I don't know what that meant back in the day, but these days B2 would be upwards of V12 or so don't you think? ...based on the original definition formulated by Mr. Gill.  In more static terms, I would guess it is around V7 or so.

Anyway, some extremely thin moves on very small pockets get you up to and past the first bolt.  I imagine the perceived difficulty will vary with height and the size of your fingertips...and how well you can cram them into tiny pockets.  A fun long moves gets you to a good pocket and the 2nd bolt, then relatively easier climbing (11+?) leads to the top.

I didn't really use the arete at all...I tried it, but I found it easier to stick to the face.  The Bob D book calls this 13b, the Stewart Green Book says 13a.  Who knows?  It is likely similar to many routes from this time period which were not frequently repeated, and so no true consensus was ever reached.  It is short, so expect the intensity of the moves to make up for it.  If you don't mind pissed-off boulder problems, I think this is an awesome route.

I haven't RP'd this thing as of this time, but it seems like every time I go to Penitente, I'm seduced by this tempting boulder problem.  This route is singularly unique for the area.  It always seems like a good route to try when my fingertips have been schralped (to borrow a phrase).

Located about halfway down the trail to the virgin painting, you can't miss this sharply overhanging roof with two distinct pockets in it. Stick clip the first bolt, then reach for the first big pocket, dyno to the positive two finger...then start the crux...mantling over the lip.

Make sure your tendons are ready for this thing, as the dyno to the two finger could seriously injur you.

I placed a #0 TCU at the very start to keep the rope out of my way.  This thing really needs another bolt down low to serve that purpose.

This very short route surmounts a small bulge and follows a shallow, right-angling crack up a slab to a two-bolt anchor. Although by no means an area classic, it will have value for first time leaders, young kids, or anyone who wants to do

Mr. Breeze

but finds it too busy.

I don't have any information about the route other than what I gleaned scrambling up in my sneaks while my wife attended to our dog. So I'm guessing at the grade, etc. Please submit corrections/more info.

This route climbs a short dihedral left of the popular "Bucket Slave".  Start by mounting a triangular boulder at the base, then pull up into the dihedral for some technical stemming moves that lead to a roof.  The roof can be climbed directly, or on the right via a nice crack.  I'm not sure what the intent of the FA was on the roof....

This is another great route that doesn't get the traffic it deserves.  Great rock, and very fun moves.  Stick clip recommended.

Shortly before the drainage enters the main canyon from the right at

Captain America

is a cluster of slightly longer than average routes. Persephone is one of this cluster and is interesting inasmuch as it climbs to something of a distinct "peak" (right, peak bagging at Penitente).  Typified by thin edges and a few shallow pockets, Persephone kicks up enjoyable moves on excellent stone. Climbing is largely continouous with no single move uniquely difficult, while most of the moves tick in at 5.10/5.11.  Worth a deuce for the stone, the continuity, the rationale pro, and the "peak".

This is a fun climb & a great reason to haul some gear in.  I find the exact location a bit hard to explain....  This is about 1/2 way to

Captain America

and on the right (like most routes).  A short vertical crack that quickly mellows in angle and soon becomes a ledge that slopes up and to the right.

From this ledge, there is a great bolted line that climbs huecos up the steep wall.  We were immediately attracted to the bolted line & then followed it down to the trad crack start.  The .10d is (I'd guess) the bolted portion, but the crack down low earns some respect as well.

Start off on some good huecos, and climb up through some crimps. Get a good pinch with your right hand and reach up to a nice crimp to clip the last bolt. Grab a crimp 2 feet above your head, clip the anchors from there or go up to the jugs at the top.

This is not the best looking line, but it climbs well.  It is another of the many overlooked trad routes in Penitente, remnants of a bygone era.

At one time this was a trad climb, now the crack is filled with moss and bushes. It is not a good route.

I've wanted to do this route since I first saw it back in '97!  What a spectacular line.  Not as "stemmy" as Bob's book would have you believe.  Some hard moves with the first two bolts, then bail out left onto the arete.  Some "less-than-perfect" rock at the very top, and it's short "business district" drop it down a notch to 3 stars.

According to Bob's guidebook, this route was one of the first in the canyon. Note that this route was previously listed as "When the Whip Comes Down."

It starts in an overhanging dihedral just left of the beautiful lichen-covered wall that hosts "

Sitting in Limbo

" and "

Cassandra

".

The crux comes at the beginning and involves powerful stemming up the overhanging corner to reach a gigantic pocket. The route above climbs up a pleasant lichen-covered slab.

This route was originally climbed on gear, which was very bold, considering the nature of the rock. It has been retrobolted...by whom, I don't know...and now should be a popular route. The climbing is excellent, and the rock is very good too.

This is a super-nice 5.10.  First led without bolts?  Impressive.

This is another great route that gets no love.  Super nice pockets on a beautiful wall, with gradually increasing difficulty to some tiny pockets.  This is a great route to do when it's hot out...it's shady all day!

There are some funny looking pockets on this, but I know Bob D had nothing to do with that.

This is the best of the four routes on the entrance boulder.  The route climbs beautiful stone starting on a few pockets, and turning to crimps for the crux at the third bolt.

This route is just to the right of

Bucket Slave

.  A tricky start leads to a big ledge.  Above, climb the cool giant hueco type feature that looks like a rocket to a final difficult sequence and anchors.

This route climbs the rounded prow just right of "Cassandra".  This is a great offering for the grade.  Start on the detached boulder by cranking some sequential pocket moves...a stick clip is a must!  The redpoint crux comes between the second and third bolt where you have some reachy moves and a nice pump.  The bolt placements are all screwed up...long draws are helpful for the 2nd and third bolt.

This route follows the Penitente paradigm that the harder they are, the better they get!

Ugh, not a good route.  Mossy rock, painful jams, and lots of vegetation.

Bob's guide lists three routes (BBC, Stray Cats, and the Separator) in a side canyon past the picnic pavilion, but after lots of fun hiking and scrambling, I could only find one.  I'm assuming it's BBC, but who knows.

Stick clip the first bolt, and probably the second too, if you're smart.  Climb up a crack to some huecos, where you will be scared, if you didn't stick clip #2.  It's a tough clip from sketch rock.  Gaining the prow is probably the crux, then there are some super-nice huecos for about three moves to the top.  I jumped off from here and lowered off the last bolt.

This is a nice warmup route that's just to the left of

Yah-Ta-Hei

. The 1st bolt is high. Stem out onto the

Yah-Ta-Hei

wall up to the 1st bolt to keep this at 5.9+. Climbing directly with no stemming to the 1st bolt seems a bit harder than 5.9+. The moves involve sidepulls and foot-trusting balance.

This is a wandering slab climb with two boulder problem cruxes.  It has sharp and tiny crimps on less-than vertical rock.  This is not the most compelling route in the canyon, but it is worth it if you like slabs.

The crux is a series of thin moves from the third to last bolt.

This is another good warmup in the easy alcove area of slabs on the right as you walk in (underneath and to the right of

Captain America

).  It may not be as interesting as its 5.7 neighbor to the right, but it is worthy nonetheless. There are interesting slab moves that steepen at the top.  The direct start is harder than 5.8.  Expect a mob scene of families clambering away on busy weekends, but it is worth a visit when no one is around.

What a great name!  I wouldn't say I did any "soaring", but there definitely was some dynoing. A powerful and desperate boulder problem getting to the second bolt defines this route.  Vastly easier and enjoyable jug hauling gets you to the top from there.  The guidebook warns about blowing the second clip, but the clip can be made from huge jugs.  I think you could make the argument that most routes anywhere would put you in a bad spot if you blew the second clip!

Nice moves, but bad rock.  Many of the edges up high are crumbly.  The rock around the third bolt is also blowing out...yikes!

Just right of

Bucket Slave

, find a wall that has graffiti that says "pink cows fly at night"  This route heads up cool pockets on this wall.  The start is the hardest, but the climbing doesn't let up until you get into the crack near the top.  This route is also probably easier than it is rated, but it is still really good.

This is a fantastic slab/face climb that remains fairly sustained throughout its length.  A bouldery (but easy) start leads to the gradually steepening slab.

The route is tucked into a corner on the right side of the canyon before you reach the Virgin painting.  You'll see a 5.9 (

What the Hey

?) on a separate rock to the left and another line of bolts (

That's the Way

) to the right.  Yah-Ta-Hei heads up the center of the slab.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Penitente - Entrance Area