Squatter's Rights

The best way to find the route is walking north, northeast along the base of the cliff. Halfway along there are two short cracks to choose from-- the one on the right is a diagonal off-width that heads up right for twenty-five feet before disappearing from sight. You'll need 4"-6" cams to protect it.... We chose the crack on the left, a supposed 5.8. It's short but not exactly a walk-up. After 30 feet you gain easy ground with vegetation that leads to a brief section of 5.7 which brings you a flat, open area. This area may also be reached by walking up the gully that begins about 40 feet to the left of the base of the first pitch.

2nd pitch: located to the right of a blankish face there are three crack systems, from left to right a 10a, a 7 (with a 5.8+ move if you ask me), and an 8 (the widest of the three). We climbed the 5.7. Nice pitch. It takes you into a wide chimney. There are red and blue slings there. Angle out left following a crack along a slab, or climb straight on (harder). We did the former, and belayed from the flat ledge there with good views (Pikes Peaks to the southeast, the mountains south of Evans to the west).

3rd pitch: we didn't climb it. We traversed through split rocks to the north to another climb. (See "

Interceptor

".) If you stay with Squatter's, there's a 5.9+ variation on the left, according to Hubbel's book--the first moves of which seemed like hard 5.10 at the very least--and a 5.8 off-width on the right (pro to 5 inches). Just remember, 5.8 around here ain't necessarily a cinch....

Standard trad rack. Pro to 5 inches if you plan to climb the off-width variations. To 4 inches otherwise.