Cobalt Gecko
For many years, Cobalt Gecko sat untouched and consisted of nothing more than an anchor and three random bolts. Listed as an abandoned project in the guidebook, I knew about the route but had dismissed it as I thought it looked too featureless and unclimbable from the ground. When I finally went up to take a closer look, I was super excited to discover such an amazing line. Since 2014, I have “sent the crag” a number of times but every time I start to think I have nothing else to do at Planet X, another route seems to pop up out of nowhere.
After completing a number of the existing projects in 2014, I had thought Iron Butterfly would be the last one, but it thwarted my initial attempts. Alex Megos freed Iron Butterfly in 2016 and I was stoked to give it another round of effort this year. Armed with inspiration and good beta from Zak Mcgurk and Josh Muller, I managed to send it. While working on Iron Butterfly, I ran into Simon Meis who has done a lot of development work at Planet X and other areas in the Bow Valley. We got into talking about how he had rapped down Cobalt Gecko, placed an anchor, and put in some bolts anywhere he saw a good hold. These are the three existing bolts on the route before I finished the bolting. At the time, he decided to walk away from the climb. Knowing that the hardware was at least not completely random, it was enough to pique my interest in the route.
After finishing Iron Butterfly, I chose to go ground-up on Cobalt Gecko. The bolts Simon had put in made the process incredibly efficient as I was able to stick clip my way up the wall to finish the bolting. I enjoy bolting routes ground up because it gives the same perspective as climbing and the bolts are more likely to be placed in good locations as opposed to rappel bolting which involves more guesswork. Sure enough, as I went up, it seemed there would be enough holds to climb on and I ended up moving the anchor a bit higher as well.
With the bolting complete, I started trying the route. I was incredibly impressed by how Cobalt Gecko turned out. It took me a while to figure out the beta as it is very technical and I had to use features that didn’t seem like they could be holds at first. I’m generally not a fan of slightly off-vertical technical climbing but I grew to love this route. Cobalt Gecko is an incredible route and I’m stoked for people to enjoy the climb in the future.
The name Cobalt Gecko has the same theme as Iron Butterfly just beside it. Cobalt is the element to the right of Iron on the periodic table (I am a chemistry tutor). Gecko seemed suitable based on how many times I was pasting my feet on super slick random spots on the wall. With Cobalt Gecko complete, I started taking a closer look at the large expanse of wall between the main area and the Iron Butterfly area. I think the whole wall could be filled with routes in the future. Last fall, I finished bolting the next line to the right of Cobalt Gecko. It looks hard, but I think it goes.—evan Hau
shelter under the cave-like wall. The creek rages in spring, but as the year progresses, conditions improve to near-perfect temperatures by early summer.
The only downside to the crag is the long approach, but as long as you bring some good company, the time flies by. The creek is loose river stones. A flood in 2013 washed the trail away, which means you’re just meandering along the river until you reach the Canadian Forks, at which point you go east. But the long, pumpy routes with short boulder problems have been drawing climbers for over a decade now, with 2018 being the busiest year at the remote crag – likely because Alex Megos visited in 2016 and opened a new route called Iron Butterfly 5.14c/d.
The yellow, grey, black and blue limestone offers skin-gauging knee bars as rests. Many of the classic hard routes were established and sent by Derek Galloway. Over the years, other top climbers such as Siegrist, Megos, Sasha Digiulian, Adam Ondra and Sonnie Trotter have visited and repeated 5.14s. Trotter made the first ascent of The Illusionist.
If you’re looking for a crag with relentlessly steep stone and difficult cruxes, consider heading to Planet X this year.