No Man Knows the Hour

Prepare yourself for some steep and pumpy climbing that fills in nicely the menu of routes available at Theology Crag.

Begin the climb by pulling over a steep, honeycombed block protected by the first bolt. Move through a couple of delicate face moves aided by a key pocket. After gaining the ledge, scramble up about ten feet to the next bolt. Here is where the fun really begins.

Work your way up the obvious knife blade, using both sides until you get to a small cave at the top of the major weakness. Click the bolt to your left and get ready for the crux. Power out left and pull past the overhanging crux using a key undercling in a deep dish above. Clip the next bolt and gain a crucial rest stance. Continue moving up the steep and pumpy upper face, using the arete on the left, past three more bolts to an exciting finish below the anchors shared with Unnamed 5.9.

A 70m rope will get you all the way to the base near the Live Oak tree. A 60m rope will only get you to the base of the first bolt and you'll have to scramble down 15-20 feet (not hard) to the base.

Though some cleaning was done for the route, the middle section is always likely to be a bit gritty.

The first son of one member of the FA party was born 36 hours after the route was first led cleanly, which is how the route gets its name.

Historical note:

Given that this is the natural rappel line for Unnamed 5.9, we knew this climb had likely been completed on top-rope. We recently met up with Hutch Axilrod, who first top-roped the line together with Pat Briggs, Tony Del Bechio and David Griffith III. They were developing lines on the blocks above and top-roped this line after some cleaning. Hutch notes that the first top-rope ascent was August 18, 1993 and the route was dubbed "Bat Boy" at the time because "about half way up I pulled a flake that revealed a bat inside a little cave which i tried to leave undisturbed and clean around it."

This route is located immediately after the obvious "step" in the trail up Mission Canyon. After scrambling up the step in the trail, turn immediately right toward two large Live Oak trees and look for the line of bolts up the middle of the prominent face.

10 bolts, all beefy 6" glue-ins. We replaced the chains on top of Unnamed 5.9 to offer a better anchor set up.