Bihedral Arete 

This is an aesthetic and fun route with great position. Bring a 60-meter rope; the rappel from the top of the first pitch is almost 100 feet long. I used a red and yellow Alien and a #2 Camalot for pro on both pitches; next time I'll leave all my other pro behind. Bring two or three runners that you can extend for some of the gear placements. There are seven bolts on the first pitch and four bolts on the second pitch. Both pitches had delicate face move cruxes that felt about 9+ or 10a. I thought the climbing was a bit easier than on Gish, a new 10a route on Bell Buttress/Aquarium Wall.

Superb. Luckily the approach is complex, which might keep the riffraff away. The route climbs nicely with Ron's suggested three cams (#2 Camalot, red and yellow Aliens), but bear in mind that finger sized wires will go in all over the place, and there are even some nice spikes to sling for you purists.

Go do this route! No, stay away!

What a good route***

The route was pretty good. I don't know that it was an instant classic, but it was worthy for sure. It was mostly 5.6 to 5.7 climbing with short sections of harder climbing, all of which were well protected. Two moves were 5.9 or harder. There is still a few gritty holds near the base that turned loose some crystals when I shifted my feet on them, but these will clean up with time.

I think it was best done by doing it as a single pitch (11 slings on bolts, +2 nuts with slings). It seems like you can rap off of it with a 50M by rapping to the first belay, then rapping to the top of the slabby face route left of the Bihedral (Rhodian Shores) then to the ground.

The first belay anchor is placed ideally on its own merit, but its presence was preceded by the route "Crack variation" of the bihedral, a route that is admittedly not very good and almost never climbed. Still, it makes me wonder if placing the belay slightly elsewhere would have been more preserving of the lines previously there. More something to think about than it is a complaint.

Great route in a great position! Three stars for sure.

Good route. Note, you won't get from the P1 anchor to the ground with 50m rope. P1 is about 130 ft. P2 is short but slightly harder, 60 ft? A blue or green Alien might be useful between bolts 3 & 4 (tho' could be 2 & 3) on P2. New fangled hangers on many of the bolts.

Nice but agree with T. Bubb, not an instant classic.

Again, agree with T. Bubb, but my partner, Brian, thought it was 5.9.

To Leo & Tony: Who said is was a "instant classic" in the first place?

Bob, nobody said it was an instant classic.
I said I thought it wasn't, which doesn't mean anyone said that it was- it's an opinion, not an argument. Leo just agreed with me. Hope that clears things up. As for grade, since you brought that up in another discussion, I use the 5.9(+) grade to mean I thought it was 5.9, not 5.10, but it is at the upper end of 5.9, and so it's debatable. Jenny thought it was easy for 5.9 (suggested 5.9-) and she's a 5.10 climber, so this should be in her range of good sensitivity.

Hey Tony, read your next to last post on this route!

Nice route. Surprising that this line didn't go up when the area was first being developed. With a little more traffic (read: cleaning) this will surely be a sought after climb. Great position and views.

Climbed this on 6/8/03 and really enjoyed it. Pulled of a bit of loose rock at start, but overall it was clean and well protected with great position. Had the whole rock to ourselves. I've climbed in Boulder Canyon for almost 20 years, and I have to say that this is definitely one of the best lines of this grade in the canyon. Kudos to the 1st ascentionists.

Two ways to start this route, both pretty simple. Yard directly up from below the front face to a clip 20' up or so. Or start on the shallow inside corner, climbing up about 15' and steping over the arete to the clip. I did it from the front, my partner lead and started from the inside corner. First pitch felt (7+)ish to me with good exposure, maybe one (8) move half way up moving off the arete. Nice pitch of interesting climbing if you stay close to the arete. IMO climbing in the middle or right side looked much easier and degrades the quality. On P2 climb 20' of (6)ish to a roomy corner ledge, and the fun starts from here. Ascend off the arete onto the face using the inside of the arete, small crimpers, and a thin seam for three clips of excellent face climbing. IMHO this felt hard 9 to me. The crux on its neighbor, Rhodian Shores, felt harder. But I enjoyed it, and its three stars in my book.

Good route and good boting ethics (not bolting where there is gear placements). Wish I had something bigger than a #3 TCU for the first pitch. A #3 Camalot would have been nice between the last bolt getting up to the P1 anchors. A few loose holds still on P1. Best option for rappelling is to rap from the top of P2 to the anchors on the bolted face to the left of the Bihedral; makes for a clean pull and plenty of rope to get down.

Great position and solid movement above your gear.

Slabby arete moves on P2 are tricky, but all there and well protected.

I also thought that Rhodian Shores was a bit tougher than Bihedral Arete. Very high quality though, and well worth the scramble up to the start.

Unlike the above commments, I found this route to be a little tricky. I'd agree 9+ or 10-, slab climbing isn't my forte, and maybe I was having an off day. Nicely exposed, interesting, and I'm happy someone bolted a route leaving the places with gear for gear. Comapred to other boulder canyon 5.9 sport routes, this one seemed to be rated more like an old trad route, i.e not a gimmie for the grade, like, for example, 'pup' on neighbooring Security Risk......

Did this route yesterday under light snowfall, fun route! We used a few wires, Aliens and the #2 Camalot. There are a couple of loose blocks that are not obvious, and probably wouldn't come off even if you yarded on them, but who knows? Amazing that this cool route was not discovered earlier.

Climbed this early yesterday amid intermitent periods of sun and snow showers.

What a great climb this is indeed.

Lose rock alert:

There is a large flake 1x3 feet to the right and up from the last bolt of the first pitch that is ready to come off.

As you reach the last bolt and you head up the easier broken section on the right, the first large handhold you reach is the top of the loose flake.

I pulled on it yesterday and it pulled out while making that grainy "rock-detaching-itself-from-the-wall-sound". I pushed it back in but it is way lose, only a matter of time...

When it comes off it is likely to fall right where your belayer is likely to be standing! Top Candidate for a trundle if you ask me.

Be Safe, WT

So, uh, maybe you should have removed the block. One of us has to do it, just make sure you yell out 'rock', and throw way out from wall. Don't know of a better time, unless you climb at 3am.

AC, we considered trundling the block but, besides it not being fully detached (at least we did not test it), we could not see from our position if people were coming up a side trail below or down the hill for that matter.

Not a liability I was interested in shouldering.

I figured a heads up on this site would prevent an accident and if some one else wants to trundle it let them decide to do so.

WT

Did this route last week. While its good by BC standards, I'd hardly call it classic. And 10a is way overrated IMHO. The crux on the first pitch is a high step and crank from good holds on the corner. Crux moves on the second pitch are thin and a little balancy, but not that bad.

This is a really fun route to lead in one pitch (about 170 ft.). I am really surprised this was not climbed earlier as it is such a classic line. A quality addition to this cliff.

I didn't think it was harder than 5.9, but I wasn't on lead. My partner didn't think it was harder than 5.9 either.

Just a note: You should place some gear in the crack above the third bolt, even if the climbing to the next bolt is easy. If you don't place any gear, a fall by the second from the crux (at the third bolt) will result in a swing over the arete. This probably wouldn't be dangerous, but it would suck. You might have to lower down to get back on route.

One of the loose blocks George is likely referring to is a two-foot spike/tooth of rock that's about two feet to the right of the last bolt on pitch 1; it flexes quite a lot.

The loose block at the end of pitch one is still there as of 10/10/2004 and is moving quite easily. Trundling it would be a little dubious without some coordination given all the activity at the Riviera and the road below.

This route is pretty good, thanks for the work.

I would not rate this as a potential classic.

The climbing is not sustained at the grade. There are loose blocks and sections of lower grade rock. Pitch 2 is short and ends abruptly in a strange spot.

Slabberific, climb it once and maybe twice.

Climbed both pitches today, amazing climb. Awesome exposure, freaked me out everytime I was above pro and looked down. I found it harder than 10a.... It was the first time I've seriously relied on gear, so the head game could have had an effect. Or, I might just suck. ORRRR, you might just be too good. Quit climbing so much, cut your hair, get a job. Just kidding.

When finishing pitch 2, continue up 10' to the higher anchor on the right (bolts and chains) atop Flags of Our Fathers. This affords a more comfortable stance for belaying and setting up the rappel. See Photo.

5.10a Such a cool route. Classic positioning and nice length. Requires some nerve and finesse, plus as an added bonus you get to place some pro!

Good route. I don't know why I should feel thankful for not finding bolts next to cracks, but I was - made the route worthwhile. 2nd pitch was great, excellent face climbing and great pro. I'd climb again. 5.9+.

Fun route with cool moves on first pitch.