Black Shadow Arete

This is a route that doesn't get done much and the approach is a little difficult. You'll notice the word moss used numerous times in the route description here, which should attest to the popularity of this climb (moss has terrible friction characteristics by the way). Black Shadow Arete climbs the arête on the climbers left side of the Chillumstone Gully. All of the bolts on the route should be replaced as most of them are rusted __ bolts with Leeper hangers. A direct finish on the last pitch up the arête would be nicer way to end the climb if someone were to replace the bolts. The topo in the guide book was wrong for many of the pitches. There is some nice climbing in places on the route, but expect an adventure more than anything. The climb begins just barely above river level so expect a long day. Keep in mind the 8 pitches described here only take you half way up the canyon. The pitch lengths that say 160' I used as a default length as I couldn't remember exactly. Give or take some.

Finding the Route: (allow aprx. 1 _ hrs. if things go well) Park at the Devils Lookout and walk down river to where you will see a 20 mph sign that indicates a windy road. The trail starts here and is faint. Head down toward some pine trees and follow the trail through loose dirt and lots of bushes (which make for great handholds if you have to come back up!). At the Chillumstone, the anchors (as of 5/17/04 were a couple of old pins and a bolt, seemed to be reasonably safe) are on the skiers right. A 140' rappel commits you to the adventure. Just below the Chillumstone, notice a ledge on your right. This ledge leads you to the top of the gully that Black Shadow Arete begins in. Do not go this way, but if you rappel off Mirror Wall Ledge, you might be coming back out here. Continue down the Chillumstone Gully to the next bushy ledge leading across the rock fin on the skier's right. Bushwack across this and at the end of the ledge there will be some slings wrapped around a rock horn. You'll want to bring some slings to back up what's there and a quicklink would be a nice addition as well. Make a 200' rappel through bushes and a small patch of poison ivy into the gully. Descend the gully a short ways to the arête of the wall on the skier's right which is just above the river. The climb begins in a right facing corner and leads to the top of a pillar.

Pitch 1 (180' 5.9) Climb a right facing corner past some loose blocks and flakes out a small roof and into a left facing corner. Belay on top of the pillar.

Pitch 2 (100' 5.10) Climb up the thin crack above the pillar and head left beneath a small roof and continue up a groove. Step right into the next crack system or continue up the same one to a ledge with old slings (plan on adding some more if you want to rappel here).

Pitch 3 (160' 5.10+/5.11-) Climb up a left facing corner that arches left at the top. Two cracks appear on the face above. The right one looks real mossy. Take the left one and make 5.10+/5.11- face moves above your gear to a ledge once the crack peters out. It's possible to move right into the right crack however it sports bush and moss. Belay on the mossy ledge. There's an old bolt at the belay.

Pitch 4 (160'? 5.10) Two cracks are above you. On the left is a right facing corner and on the right is a left facing flake. Take the right facing flake. Midway through the pitch you'll move into the left crack for a few moves and back right again. Belay at the top of the crack on a ledge.

Pitch 5 (100' 5.9) Move right and downclimb off the ledge to another ledge. Move right into the next crack. After about 25' this turns to perfect hands and good fun. The good hands crack opens up to a corner with blocks. Belay at an old bolt at the base of an off-width or continue up and link the next pitch.

Pitch 6 (60-70' 5.11-) Climb the off-width (a #4 Camalot crack) up a steepening headwall. It's possible to lieback the steep part, however getting back into the crack is difficult. Once past the headwall the climbing eases. Bring as many #4 Camalots as you think you might need for this pitch, as there are no other opportunities for other gear. Belay in a chimney. There a lousy rusted __ bolt at the belay. Either climb higher and place some gear, or just wedge yourself in the chimney good and hope your follower doesn't weigh much if they need to weight the rope.

Pitch 7 (160' 5.9) Face climb next to the crack above the belay, Then up a short chimney and exit the chimney via a small roof. Belay on a big ledge.

Pitch 8 (170' 5.10+/5.11-) Move left to the arête and climb up the crack on the arête to its' end. Move left to a crack on the mossy slab. This crack is difficult to climb as it's overgrown with grass and the slab is overgrown with moss and lichen, which make for very poor friction. Work up the crack to some old crappy bolts and back to the arête. The last bolt is on ledge, perhaps run it out to the anchor straight up, or traverse the ledge to the right and up a moss and grass filled crack (see any patterns here?) to Mirror wall ledge.

Escaping the Canyon: The climb might seem over, but the adventure is not. The guidebook mentions to continue up via easy 5th class with an occasional section up to 5.8. Leaving the ledge seemed like no easy proposition as the best options we found were 8_ cracks that appeared to be more like 5.10 with crumbly rock. We opted not for this option since our largest piece was a #4 Camalot and a ground fall would be guaranteed (Note: this would probably be a very bad place to get hurt). If you make it up, follow weakness up the rest of the wall (you're probably only half way at mirror wall ledge) to a rock island. Find a rappel or downclimb and exit a fin of rock (according to the guidebook).

Our Exit went more like this: Traverse right along the ledge, roping up is highly recommended; down climb some easy bits into the corner system. An anchor is visible once you get close. The anchor consists of two fixed nuts and some webbing wrapped around a horn. Rappel a rope-stretching 200' into the gully. Either climb around the rock fin on loose rock, or climb up the gully for a pitch of about 5.9 passing several steps and under a large table like chockstone (think of Aaron Ralston while you do this) beneath an enormous chockstone wedged 20' above you. Next order of business is getting past the Chillumstone. We climbed under the line of the rappel. Climb up thin cracks over small bulges (5.10) to a small roof. Place lots of gear and traverse about 15' left into a quartz groove. Make 5.9 moves into the groove, then the climbing gets easier, and after about 15' more, you can finally get some pro. Easy (runout) climbing up corners gets you to the rappel anchors. It might be possible to start up Ground Control to Major Tom and traverse to the anchors above the Chillumstone. And now battle your way back up the gully to the car keeping close to the large wall on the climber right when the gully splits.

2 60m ropes, double set of stoppers, double set of cams to #3 camalot, then however many #4 camalots you feel you'll need for the crux pitch. Additional wide gear many be required to continue above mirror wall ledge.