Likely the best mixed trad/sport route I have ever done. We climbed January 22 under mostly clear skies and between 45-55 degrees in the shade. Calm to no wind and there was no other parties on the climb...all day...nada one.

I was climbing with a competent climber but who does not feel solid on her gear yet so I lead the whole route. Needless to say I was a bit tired at the end of the day, esp. climbing on 5hrs of sleep.

Approach: took us 70min from the Pine Creek pull-out. I did call for a late departure from the park just in case. Trail finding was not too bad and it helped my partner had been to the area a year ago.

Route: other than pitch 9 and the stated "reach dependent 5.6/5.9 bulge", I think the super-topo book is spot on. Some spots are run-out a bit, but for a sold climber you won't think twice about this. I got some micro-cams in places that broke-up some run-outs. My partner, who is 5'4" and myself, 5'9" did not think that "5.9" move was difficult at all.

Pitch 9: ok, maybe I was tired at this point but to me this was the most difficult climbing on the whole climb. If Pitch 9 is 5.8, then to me nothing below it is 5.8. The rock quality is solid, less friction, but solid. Also, you hit the belay for Pitch 8, the two bolts, some steepness and then you have a choice: more straight up, or a right-ward rising traverse. Each way has two more bolts to offer. All of these bolts are older with rust showing in the threads of the nuts. I was a little confused and think there could be more clarification in the route description about what is actually up there.

I went right since the climbing seemed easier. This tops you out about 20ft right from the anchors making for some memorable rope drag until my partner freed a cam below that really needed two shoulder length runners. I think I placed 12+ pieces including bolts on Pitch 8/9.

Overall I would for sure climb the Chrysalis again. This was my first trip to Red Rocks and my first climbing on Sandstone. We got back to the car by headlamp so I was happy for having fresh batteries!

Notes: aside from the aforementioned rope drag, really there was none. I put long runners on everything, including bolts, and in two instances doubled up on some cams to aid in the ease of climbing. I used a #3 cam (new style) twice and a 3.5 cam (old style) once. If I climb it again I will not take redundant cams since I never place two of the same size on any pitch. Full set of stoppers and some doubles in the mid range size. I think I placed maybe one small stopper. The rock was in great shape with only a couple of hollow sounding flakes. The anchors are also in great shape, as are all the bolts save for the ones on Pitch 9.

Happy climbing!