Bullethead East (4p, 10c) & Rainy Day Woman (4p, 11b)

[Optimally-Primed]

Dirty Harry Productions brings you two renewed climbs in the Bulletheads: Bullethead East (4p, 10c) and Rainy Day Woman (4p, 11b). Each pitch ends at a ledge and allows for a choose-your-own-adventure adventure. I climbed Bullethead East with Harry and loved the climb. I'll do it again over an over. Well protected throughout. Stellar finger cracks. The first pitch is so-so 5.8/9 but the last 3 are amazing 5.10 splitters. On the final pitch, I'd do the 10c finger crack next time (it may be more like 10a). The 10b chimney flare is a grind.

download a topo

Standard rack gets you up. One 60m rope gets you down in 6 raps (4 long, 2 short), all off chains. Or TR some of the pitches you missed on the way down!

Here's a photo of the area from Nexen Beach. When you climb it, take some photos and post them here.

[J Mace]

Picked this one off yesterday, what a stellar line!!! The climbing on every pitch was superb!

The bolts atop pitch 1 are nice, much better than the tree for sure! Lots of long slings are a good idea, I had 6.

I was kind of assuming the top of the second pitch would have bolts as well, thankfully the only two cams I had left after that 40m crux pitch was red and gold and they fit perfectly up there. I just dropped down to the ledge on the right below the 10c fingers.

That second pitch was AWESOME!

I took the the far right third pitch with the bolt and it was pretty spicy getting above the bolt to a tiny purple master cam, a little grey one would have been nice too. I enjoyed this pitch but for sure spicy, well for me.

Easy slippery unprotectable groove gets you to Staccato ledge from the belay atop this pitch.

I took your advice and took the final finger crack instead of that 10b chimney, and it was very nice climbing probably easier than it looks. Maybe not 10a though.

A 70m will NOT get you to the ground from Staccato ledge to bottom of pitch 2, you will have to down climb a bit. 27+ 8, why isnt this working hahaha

Awesome afternoon!!

The belays dont offer many picture opportunities, the fun 5.9 first pitch.


there is even a stump or two for Anders to adventure climb around

A good place to reflect on your opinions of the gondola

[fist crack]

excellent route, thanks for the retro scrub Harry, i'll buy you a pint when i see you next.
A 70m rope would be nice and way safer, our 60m came up short on two of the raps.
from the last ledge, you can also walk left and do bullethead central, a 3* 5.11

[smallman]

I would agree with the above posts in that this is an excellent line. I did the box chimney variation on the 3 rd pitch and it was stellar. The second pitchwas also amazing. Hopefully more people get on this to keep it clean. Awesome work Harry!

[Brendan]

Definitely a great route and a future classic! The third .10c finger crack pitch (middle of the three routes leaving the ledge) is amazing. Best pitch on the route.
And to top off the day you finish right at Corazon wall so you can add another pitch of .10+ face/slab to the mix.

[rolfr]

Yep, Third pitch was stellar, but the stem box, not the crack! Sweet stemming and solid jams. It is a bit testy getting into the stem box, but that may have been because it was wet

[andypl100]

Great route! Sure to become a classic. It is officially the closest route to the campground I think

P1 - OK
P2 - (10c middle option) Sustained above the roof, fun.
P3 - There was a fixed line in the stembox, so we opted for the middle crack. 10b? Short crux.
P4 - The 10c finger/hand splitter in a groove is absolutely classic. Lead this crack, and then TR the 10b thrutch like we did

Pro to #3 camalot, unless you want to lead the left thrutch option on P4 - in which case you'll want at least one #4.

[itsonlyadream]

We did this route by accident.


What the visitor had to say about it:

http://funclimbsaroundtheworld.com/?p=1307



Something Harry would make??

Something Harry would use!!

Good job, Harry.

[Lurch]

My buddy and I got on this route last weekend. We decided on it last minute so I didn't have the topo handy but I thought I remembered it, and we were looking at the vague description in the mclane guide.

We thought it started at bullethead ledge so we climbed Feeling Groovy 5.9 to get there. My partner had led it before so he offered me the lead, after a little consideration I declined.( I climbed fungus the bogeyman a couple weeks prior and it looked dirty.) So he sent it and I followed. I'm glad he did lead it because it was dirty, and the first anchor hangers are missing, so he linked both pitches and ran out the last 15m or so.

Then we hiked at bit left to what we thought was the start. We found the second pitch 10c. I looked at it and said "doesn't look 5.9?". I got on it and sure enough it wasn't 5.9. I was a little unsure of my cam in the roof and was missing some beta but I got another cam in above the roof and found the move. The rest of the pitch was very sustained. Excelent pitch. I elected to step right and setup a gear anchor at the base of the 10c. Finger crack, and when my partner came up we switched over to the rap station so he could have the gear.

My friend sent the next pitch and found it a little thin at the top. I concur and bailed trying a high step at the crux. Super fun pitch! Can't wait to lead it. We didn't have time for the last pitch but it sounds awesome. Can't wait to go back and do it again the right way!

Thanks for all the efforts Harry and team!
Thanks to all the scrubbers in the sea to sky!

Lurch

Mike

[AaronRN]

Climbed it earlier this month. IMO. Best route for its grade in Squamish! Hands down.

[t-bone]

I climbed Bullethead East today with my wife and agree with all the other posters - it is an outstanding route. The protection was excellent and the grade is certainly not sand-bagged (which is a good thing).

P1: This pitch is so-so, its OK as a warm up but not something you'd return to climb on its own. Thought it was 5.8.
P2: Simply excellent....cool moves through the mini-roof and great finger locks after.
P3: We did the middle pitch ('10c' finger crack). Again an excellent pitch.
P4: Easy choice here...took the finger/hand crack and it was awesome. Great locks/jams for you right hand and nice little edges for your left foot.

Gear: Squamish rack to 3", and I'd recommend doubles in purple/green/red camalots.
Rating: On such a quality climb the ratings are almost irrevelant but fwiw I thought all 3 pitches were 10b. IMO neither of the pitches is harder than Apron Strings, Caboose, or the Split.

Major Kudos to the cleaners...this one is destined to be a classic.

BTW, has anyone tried the Rainy Day woman variations? They also look excellent....

[PeterLarose]

We climbed this last weekend and thought it was absolutely stellar climbing. Great call on getting this back in action. First pitch was a fun choose your own adventure 5.8/9 (watch the rope drag), second pitch great moves in through the roofish bit and with some fun fingercrack after - seemed like hard 10b probably, then we did the stem box which I thought was really really fun stemming and sidepulling/laybacking... felt a bit like the Buttress and mid section of Crescent Crack - really good quality pitch. Now I want to go try the fingercrack! We didn't have a topo... was one of those "does that look like it... I don't know but it looks fun." The gear is better than it looks too... pretty good really. I thought that was a 2 or 3-star pitch on its own and as good or better than the second and fourth pitches, which were also great. The 4th pitch finger crack was super fun. We thought we heard it was 10a but it wasn't... maybe hard 10b sure but could easily be 10c. Whatever. Great route though - big props to the cleaner!

Here's a shot of us heading up at the base of the first pitch. Thanks Tenn for the shot!

[BlahMatt]

Amazing route! Ran up this on Sunday leading p2 and p4. Took the 10c fingers the whole way and every pitch got better and better. Definitely a classic climb. Even the first pitch was fun (kind of like sport climbing on gear ).

[rockandsnowjunkie]

Thanks so much for your effort and time on this! Great variety of lines in another wonderful Squamish location.

[tendollarpants]

Climbed this on Sunday (after some rain on Saturday). Very nice - and overall seemed to dry quick.
P1 was mostly dry
P2 (mini roof) was dry
P3 (finger crack) was dry
P4 (finger/hand) was very wet for the hands in the bottom of the corner, but the feet were dry.
I think the LH option on P4 was dry.

Be careful on the rap: the ropes tend to lay in the water running down climber's right of P3.