Best Cathedral link-ups

"I hear you can link up the first pitch of Starfire, at 5.8, with the second pitch of Bombardment"

I think they are too far apart for that to happen, do you mean the newer bolted hurley rt. to the left of the bombardment start?

I remember doing Ventilator to Book to Fools Gold a few times. I think you had to belay around a corner at the top of Fools Gold so it's not ideal for the second. Maybe there was something after that too but it was over 20 yrs ago so I don't remember.

nhclimber wrote: "I hear you can link up the first pitch of Starfire, at 5.8, with the second pitch of Bombardment" I think they are too far apart for that to happen, do you mean the newer bolted hurley rt. to the left of the bombardment start?

I haven't done it yet, and I'm admittedly not familiar enough with that part of Cathedral to know if it's possible. Just something I heard of being done on NEClimbs.

Although it's not on Cathedral (on Whitehorse instead), a few weeks ago a buddy and I did Atlantis, The Last Unicorn, and Lost Souls in a day. All stellar routes, all in the same grade range (~5.9+ to 5.10-). If you wanted to make it more interesting, you could add Ladyslipper (5.9+), and put in one of the Tranquility Slab routes (e.g., Hotter than Hell or Cold Day in Hell) instead of the (kind of munky) first pitches of Atlantis. As it was, it was one of the better days of climbing I've had in recent memory - we finished up with a simul-romp up Standard to catch a beautiful sunset.

May not fit into the "best of" category. But while guiding a friend up Fun House--> Black lung today I thought of something lee mentioned elsewhere about linking fun house to the top of 3birches. What about direct start of Funhouse (5.8) to second pitch of 3 birches (5.7, in my opinion better then funhouse 2nd pitch), and then finishing on Black lung to UR or Final Gesture For a consistent 5.7+/.8 full length route. I'm looking forward to trying the lower wall link up mentioned next time Im in the area.

E thatcher wrote:May not fit into the "best of" category. But while guiding a friend up Fun House--> Black lung today I thought of something lee mentioned elsewhere about linking fun house to the top of 3birches. What about direct start of Funhouse (5.8) to second pitch of 3 birches (5.7, in my opinion better then funhouse 2nd pitch), and then finishing on Black lung to UR or Final Gesture For a consistent 5.7+/.8 full length route. I'm looking forward to trying the lower wall link up mentioned next time Im in the area.

ive done this exact link and it is super fun, its a great way to get around the many parties that can cluster at the base of funhouse and get around the party that often can be found hanging on the first pitch of 3 Birches scratching their heads at the rating haha... on top of that you weave between the crowds on Upper Ref... so you can be in the action but keep on moving... have fun with it...

Adam Wilcox wrote:I hear you can link up the first pitch of Starfire, at 5.8, with the second pitch of Bombardment. This gives you a more consistent climb and lets you avoid the runout on Pleasant Street.

yeah this is doable, it adds a pitch of ledge walking to get back over to bombardment... worth it if you dont like the idea of 5.6 R slab...

beta: do Starfire's 1st pitch, belay... then a walk left on the ledge to pitch 2 of Bomb, belay here... that sets you up for the money pitch on bombardment but makes it 3 pitches rather than 2... have fun...

Coz, great day!