For many years, Cobalt Gecko sat untouched and consisted of nothing more than an anchor and 3 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!
Cobalt Gecko at Planet X. Photo by Tim Banfield.
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.
Hot Fudge Cream Puff at Planet X. Photo by Brian Garrison.
After completing a number of the existing projects in 2014, I had thought Iron Butterfly would be the last one but it had 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 pretty quick.
Zak getting ready for the crux of Iron Butterfly.
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 3 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 peak my interest into looking into the route more.
Initial attempts on Cobalt Gecko. Photo by Sheena Stares.
After finishing up 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. Surely 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.
Getting ready to stick clip/lead bolt my way up Cobalt Gecko. Photo by Sheena Stares.
With the bolting complete, I started trying the route. I was incredibly impressed with how Cobalt Gecko turned out. It took me awhile 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!
Going for the send on Cobalt Gecko. Photo by Tim Banfield.
The name Cobalt Gecko is themed with 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 and now I think the whole wall could be filled with routes in the future. Last week I finished bolting the next line to the right of Cobalt Gecko. It looks hard but I think it goes!
Bolting the spectacular blue streak to the right of Cobalt Gecko. Photo by Sheena Stares.
