Matt Wilder Sends 5.14 Trad Route on Devil's Thumb

The Devil's Thumb, sometimes called Toponas, its Indian name, poses high above Boulder, Colorado, on the southeast ridge of Bear Peak. The crooked digit, usually climbed by a short, amenable route (5.7) up its east side, offers an imposing north wall of overhanging sandstone sliced by diagonalling roofs and intermittent cracks that was climbed with aid by the late Kyle Copeland and Scott Sounders in 1981.

In one of this year's best efforts on American stone, Matt Wilder cranked the steep face on October 17. Naming the route Cheating Reality, Matt tentatively assesses the route 5.14a R but says it's "bouldery and heady" and difficult to rate.

The athletic route features lots of technical face climbing and difficult moves, including the five-move V10 crux, an "improbable leftward dyno to a sloper" from a crimp handhold, and finishes with a "final powerful and crimpy boulder problem" (V7) to the summit slab. Because of the route's serious nature, Wilder climbed it in headpointing style, that is, he worked sections on top-rope as well as did it twice on top-rope before attempting the lead. He led the route on his second attempt, the first ending when a foothold broke.

Matt, writing on his blog, gave the route its name because "the crux dyno move seems impossible at first and when you finally stick it for the first time, you feel like you've cheated reality" and "the gear was a bit scary and by not falling on the route, you are cheating reality." He also calls it a "world class route" that will be a "Front Range classic for sure."

In previous years, a first ascensionist might have slammed in a few bolts and established Cheating Reality as a sport climb, a safe and sanitary line up the steep wall that any hard climber could send. Matt Wilder, however, had the vision and boldness to create a free climb in a traditional style that will definitely stand the test of time--in another 50 years when the bolts are rusting out of Shelf Road's cliffs, Cheating Reality will be the same climb that it was in 2009. Well done, Matt, and thanks for keeping an eye to the future.

Find out more about Cheating Reality and Matt Wilder on Matt's Climbing Blog.

Photograph above: Matt Wilder working up a 5.12 corner on Cheating Reality. Photograph courtesy Andy Mann.