As far as 5.8 sport routes go, this one is close to as good as it gets.  This route is located on the first section of the Olympic Wall and just to the left of

50 Yard Dash

.  It is also the 2nd route to the right on the Olympic Wall.  Sweet climbing past 8 bolts, I think the crux came surmounting the bulge halfway up.

Fox Trot

False Start

Ball Four

I've Got Skills

Len's World

Standing Eight Count

50 Yard Dash

Cookie Puss

Steroids or Bust

Horny For You

For Pete's Sake

9.925 One Strike and You're Out

My Favorite Martin

Fear of a Punk World

The slightly convoluted face to the left of

Fox Trot

. Numerous ledges and bulges makes for fun climbing but slightly dangerous fall potential. Seems harder than 5.8 to me, but that was the FA's rating.

Stick clip the first bolt and start on jugs from the ground behind the huge boulder.  A funky mantle below the roof leads to a cool roof encounter and good pumpy climbing above.  One final exciting move before the anchor completes your journey.

The crux comes low on this one as some long reaches through the first 2 bolts.  Run it out on easy ground to the 3rd bolt.  Traverse out under the roof and around the corner to meet up with '

One Strike You're Out

' and a somewhat-scary 4th clip.  Interesting moves from there get you to the anchors.

The left side of OW has a huge boulder that provides access to a couple of routes on the left. Skills is the second or third of these.

My notes from 1998 indicate a funky first clip followed by powerful steep climbing on excellent stone. A nasty little note suggests that I should get my tail back up here and get a clean redpoint ("straightforward, just pumpy. Do it."). Bob also has a pair of more moderate routes on the right side of OW that were terrific as well. As I recall, Skills seemed pretty long and did not offer much rest.

Start up the face 20 feet left of the large chimney on the right side of the main Olympic Wall.  Head up extremely thin face moves (crux) to the large roof above.  The roof itself is moderately pumpy with good holds (~11+/12-).

Short bouldery and steep crux at the start transitions into an incredible face on made to order incuts followed by a one move wonder out a bulge at 2/3 height that leads to the anchor. Doesn't get much better than this for the grade at Independence Pass.

50 Yard Dash starts off the angled boulder, working over a small roof for the first clip.  This may be a long reach for some with a potentially bad groundfall.  Those who dont like the risk should stick clip it.  Once established over the roof, run the wonderful face for multiple clips.  At mid-height, place a #2 cam in a horizontal crack, then mantle onto a ledge, reach up to a high bolt (micro cam available just below if wanted) and do the awesome final moves to the anchor.  Wonderful route.

A solid climb for the grade, Cookie Puss climbs up the thin black streak dead center of Olympic Wall.  Stick clip the first bolt and get established on the starting jug.  Make a big right-hand move to get started.  Get used to this type of move, because there's plenty more to come!  Sustained climbing leads to a stopper crux move above the 3rd bolt, and it's not completely over until you clip the 5th bolt and get established on the very welcomed rest ledge at 2/3rds height.  Hang on through the final 5.10+ laybacking and jamming up a flake system and you will be rewarded with a send of this testpiece!

Think all the hard climbing on Indy Pass is too techy and not powerful enough?  Hop on this route and be humbled!  Although just slightly overhanging from bottom to top, big interesting moves will capture your attention and keep you occupied until you pull over onto the slab below the anchors!

Start under the roof to the right of the first bolt (stick clip recommended) and yard/campus your way up and left until you can get fully established on the face.  The crux begins in earnest at the second bolt; shoot for the horizontal above that turns out to be way more slopey that you'd hope, clip the third bolt and traverse directly right on the horizontal into the black streak (place a long sling on 4th bolt to reduce rope drag) until it's possible to go up and back left on jugs and to a good rest at the 5th bolt.  From here, more big, powerful moves deposit you in a well-protected v-slot.  Figure out how to get unstuck and roll over onto the slab to clip the anchors.

From the left end (west) of Olympic Wall, walk down and then uphill along the cliff to its right end.  This route is the second bolted line from the right edge of the cliff.  It follows a distinct, zigzag black streak.

Start a tad right of the first bolt, angling left initially and back right to a tricky third clip.  Crank the interesting, technical crux and savor the two mini roofs up to the anchors.  The route is surprisingly more pumpy and tricky than it looks from the ground.

One the right side of the cliff are the only two warm-up routes, and they are just behind the tall fir tree. Pete's is the right of the two, and it climbs a dead vertical face to a small overlap and the anchor. Pete's has tricky moves on good stone that hardly felt like a warm up. The route on the left (Horny) is a bit easier, however, neither is very long and it's well worth taking the burn through each. More cool climbing from the hardest-workin-man-in-climbing-biz.

This is a fun route to the left of

Horny for You

. Start by gaining a bolt on the arete; the crux is moving past that bolt to get a horn on the arete. Once you're on the ledge above the arete, climb the right-facing corner to the top. The climbing eases off after the initial arete but is still fun. It's hard to see from the ground but solid gear is available throughout the pitch.

Just left of the big roof, but still on steep rock, are two routes that share an anchor.

Ball Four

(5.11) is the right of these and One Strike is the left. One Strike has powerful, steep, run-out climbing that gets more spooky the higher you get. My notes from 1998 indicate some gear might be possible higher up, but I did not record what if anything we did use. It has good stone, nice position, and it is well worth the hump. It would be smart to bring the rack up here or at least a range of small cams.

Towards the left side of Olympic Wall lies a neglected route, one that could be pretty decent and challenging with a little clean-up.  After clipping the first bolt, the climbing becomes a bit cryptic and very sustained with a crux throw getting to the rest ledge.  Reach high to clip the bolt from the ledge and get through another boulder problem to great jugs and the anchor.

NOTE: All old bolts and anchor replaced on 6/2014.  This route is now again safe and ready for your clipping pleasure!

Description

Protection

Routes in Olympic Wall