This is another long-neglected Rifle "slab" route that is actually one of the better steep face climbs in the canyon. It is up and right of Rumor Has It, about halfway between the Sapper Cave and the Project Wall, and can be recognized as the prominent blue-grey streak up a vertical face above a pointed pillar.

Stash your stuff at Rumor Has It (on the dirt mound above, and right, of the Sapper Cave) and scramble up a 30-foot chimney (5.6) to a double-bolt belay atop the pillar. (Great views of the Project Wall and the Narrows from here.)

Clip a bolt, then another bolt, and move right along a silty crack, then up to the slab. Well-protected but tricky moves guard the bottom of the vertical face, which stays sustained to a little stance below the prominent finishing bulge. Punch through the bulge to cold-shut anchors that are just a hair right of where they should be. This exposed route offers great, tricky climbing throughout, with lots of good pinches, crimps, and vertical sidepulls. We brushed it pretty well, and it should get cleaner with traffic, but the rock, overall, is pretty damn good.

With a 60-meter rope, your belayer can lower you past the pillar all the way to ground, then rappel off the pillar using you as a counterweight (stay tied in!).

This is named after the Bret Easton Ellis book.

Less Than Zero

Crowd Pleaser

Cantina Boy

Left El Sapper

Peleliu

[Redacted]

Westerplatte

Cool World

Cooler World (Extension of Cool World)

The Kiss That Stings

Hand Me the Canteen, Boy

That One Climb

Handy Boy

Right El Sapper

The Butterfly Effect

Rumor Has It

By most accounts, this was the first route put up at Rifle and is, in my opinion, the best route of its grade in the Canyon.  The Wright/Tarrant combo have made some great contributions (largely unsung) to the climbing community, but their "find" near a small town on the Western Slope has to be their most important.  For more information, see the comments under the route

Never Believe

.

Looking at the Sapper Cave/Wall, there is an obvious light grey streak on the right side of the wall.  The grey streak is Rumor Has It.  Begin with burly lieback moves to gain a jug/ledge.  These are probably the hardest moves, but the route remains pumpy and technical to the finish.  Almost exactly a 30m pitch, so use at least a 60m rope.

A lot of people prefer

80 Feet of Meat

of the Rifle "warm-up" routes, but given the choice, I'd take Rumor Has It anyday.

Is this route a "crowd-pleaser" in the sense that, while on it, you're basically invisible because of a nearby tree, or is this route a crowd-pleaser because if you fall, you go shredding through the very same tree? I dunno.

Though somewhat chossy, this line has fun moves and a bouldery crux on decent stone (save a crucial layaway/kneebar pinch that you clip from at the third to last bolt -- if this hold doesn't get some glue, it's not long for this world!).

Crowd Pleaser begins just left of

Handy Boy

, then moves in to

Handy Boy

, clipping the anchors and continuing up and slightly right onto the orange headwall to another set of gold-shut anchors at 50 feet. All the hard biz is above the first set of anchors on

Handy Boy

.

This is a very atypical Rifle climb in that it's both short and follows a fairly monolithic face (as opposed to the usual blocky stuff). The climbing is fingery and sequential, with two distinct bouldery cruxes separated by a good jug. There is a hard clip up high that some people either skip or put long draws on. The air is clean -- it's just a long drop.

Cantina Boy is on the left side of the Sapper Cave and shares a common first two bolts with

Hand Me the Canteen, Boy

, the arching pod system/crack feature in the center of the cave. After the second bolt, move into a faint dihedral (very overhanging) and up to the lip of a small roof. Thin, cryptic climbing awaits you on the light grey face above. An easier corner takes you to the anchors.

Enter the Sapper Cave and head left to the top of a small hill.  This route climbs up the face before the trees come into the wall.  This route is a one move wonder, and the one move isn't that great.  It is an easy tick for boulderers.

Peleliu is an island East of the Philippines which was the site of a furious battle during World War II.

Large pockets lead to a horizontal break below an intimidating bulge.  Head straight up the middle on sidepulls until you reach better holds that lead right, towards less steep terrain.  Pinch and lie-back up the prominent, left-facing fins to the chains.

It is a good climb with lots of sideways holds.  Be careful getting to the first bolt, you might want to stick clip it.

Pull on some pockets to start, and quickly get into a tricky, hard crux at the fourth bolt. A long headwall stays on you with sustained 5.11 climbing that just keeps going and going and going.

Climb the technical face to a difficult bulge.

This is an extension to

Cool World

, bolted in of 2013. From top of the

Cool World

anchor, the line goes up thin vertical face with tricky balance moves. Climb past 5 glue-in bolts to the upper anchor at the same height at

Rumor has It

. Consensus on the extension seems to be 5.12b/c.

This route was offered as an open project to all. Maury named it Cooler World after his FA.

One of the few routes on this cliff without a confusing name (did ya climb "Handy the Cantina Boy?"), The Kiss is a short, power-endurance route just left of

Cantina Boy

and right of

Right El Sapper

.  It has supposedly cleaned up nicely over the years. So if you didn't like it 4 years ago, give it another try.

Maybe the grade at this one has settled in around 12d -- I'm not sure and I don't think it matters. This is simply a splendid climb on some of the sweetest stone in the Canyon.

Hand Me the Canteen Boy climbs out the middle of the Sapper Cave onto the slightly overhanging blue and pink headwall over the lip. Start on the first two bolts of Cantina Boy then move right along a jug horizontal, which leads to a very steep alcove. Fight your way up the pods through the alcove and over the lip. A brief shake gives way to crimpy, sustained climbing on the headwall, with plenty of thin moves all the way to the anchors.

Trivia: This summer a climber fell clipping high on the route. Unfortunately his pinky finger was looped through the carabiner somehow and was basically sheared off when he fell. If there's a lesson here, I suppose it's that you should do your best to let go and cast off if you think you're going to fall clipping.

This is located 100 feet to the left of the Sapper Cave all by itself.  This route climbs more like a trad route than the usual Rifle route.  I would have given it more stars, but a couple of the flakes on the route scare me a little.  I don't think they are going to rip off, but they are definitely hollow.  The bolts are pretty far apart, but they are closer when you reach the crux at 2/3 height.  It is easy for the grade.

The route holds the dubious honor of being Rifle's shortest route.  What's more, the clipping jug at the second bolt is often wet and the route arbitrarily ends 25 feet up at a set of hard-to-clip anchors.

Nevertheless, for being such a pile, this route has some weired sort of scruffy charm.  It is on the right edge of the Handy Boy cave and climbs through the chossy looking white and black stone onto the pockets and weird tufa features.

Stick clip the first bolt or get a good spot. Continuous, bouldery moves past the wet hole (often has a sock stuffed in it) get you to the "summit."

This route is just to the right of the

Left El Sapper

, and is much better.  Climb up a technical face to a small, right traverse, then back left and to the top.

This is a great new route on beautiful rock!

Long reaches between pockets (11ish) brings you to a ledge after three bolts. Rest up here; you'll need your juice.

Climb the techy face above the ledge up through the first crux, a long reach off an undercling with some intermediates. "Rest" on jugs and in a shallow dihedral. Strut your yoga stuff, lift your leg high, and fire the 2nd crux to the top!

This route is an awesome new addition. The rock is so fresh and so clean clean, so get it while the getting is good.

Description

Protection

Routes in The Sapper Cave