Sorry its taken me so long to get this post up...the little one has kept us pretty busy since we've been back home...but I'm still anxious to share this next boulder with everyone!
Rhodorete is another hidden treasure at the Little Eastatoee boulders. Most of the boulders at Little Eastatoee that I've talked about are located at the Bridge area, practically in the parking lot, near the bridge over Little Eastatoee Creek, on highway 11...but to find Rhodorete, you're gonna have to do a little hiking in the woods. Tucked away off of the trail near the confluence of Big and Little Eastatoee Creeks, and hidden behind a cluster of rhododendrons, the Rhodorete boulder offers a few great lines, along with a couple of short but sketchy slabs and a project line, for someone that likes pulling over a big sloping bulge and mantling onto a slab.
Rhodorete may have been one of my very first projects, before I really started bouldering, back in my high school days. A bunch of friends and I used to haunt Little Eastatoee all the time...exploring the woods, swimming in the creeks, camping out for long weekends, and hopping on and over boulders like drunken toads. Rhodorete was tried by a few friends and myself...but none of us topped it out back then. Since then, I have sent Rhodorete V3/4, or Rhodorete Right, but the official FA of Rhodorete Left or Rhodorete V4/5 is still up for grabs. Rhodorete V3/4 climbs a slightly overhanging arête, with a couple of tough crimps, that leads to an odd move over onto a sketchy slab. A tougher V4/5 variation moves out left after the crimps and grunts over onto an even sketchier slab to finish. A few shorter slab routes to the right of Rhodorete V3/4, that feel sketchier than they should, are the warm ups on the boulder. Here are a couple of topo shots with the routes listed after them...enjoy and let me know when someone bags Rhodorete left or that project so I can add them to the upcoming 2nd edition of the Little Eastatoee guidebook!
Rhodorete Boulder Routes:
1. Pink Lady Slipper Project
2. Rhodorete Left V4/5
3. Rhodorete (Right) V3/4 - the original line on the boulder
4. Rhodoslab V1
5. Trillium Slab V0
6. Mountain Laurel Slab V0
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