Crux Pitch of NE Face, Pingora: Which Way?

The Evidence

The below photo shows crux P7.
Crux pitch of NE Face, Pingora. Source: a trip report by SuperTopo user PellucidWombat

And here is the summitpost.org topo which generally seemed accurate.

Simply looking at this photo, there seems to be three options: L) wide crack on far left, M) thinner crack in middle, and R) another longer crack on the right. The topo indicates two options.

The Question

Most trip reports seem to think that L is the 5.8 wide option. Which is the 5.9 option? At least a couple of those trip reports thought M was the 5.9 option (the parties of those TRs went up L).

I took the wide. Based on my recollection looking down that pitch, the middle starts out well but thins out above the horizon of that "ledge." The right takes you entirely off route.

The right does end in a very easy 10 or 15 foot jog back to the left.

I know folks who have either led or seen others lead both L and R - evenly split between six parties although some teams were following others so maybe not all independent choices. Charlie, you make the fourth to take L.

And I recently saw a photo of someone just after his lead through M - reportedly "... cranked through with no problem."

It is not just the SummitPost topo that shows two options. I've seen book guides similarly showing two.

And it is not like guides must be perfect. Just thought they might tend to be clearer when it comes to a crux pitch with options - or maybe I've missed important details out there .

We went straight up the middle but it was probably in the 9+ range and pro wasn't as good. All 3 basically get you where you need to go with left and right being pretty close in grade.

Thank you, ABG - confirms for me that all three options are viable.

The next photo shows a view of the crux pitch with belay ledges marked above and below. If familiar, the three "options" seem clearly visible.

Unmarked-photo credit to SuperTopo user PellucidWombat ( supertopo.com/tr/Pingora-NE…) with overlayed excerpt from SummitPost.org topo
Assuming the SummitPost topo is sufficiently accurate ... It seems that Left is the 5.8 wide (of course), Middle is the 5.9 variation that eventually joins with the Left, and - as Charlie S alluded - Right is an isolated and undocumented variation; over two days last July, 5 out of 6 parties climbed this "undocumented" Right variation - at least one of them unknowningly - perhaps all 5.

I did the left wide pitch and I thought it was great. I had nothing bigger than #3 but I was able to place lots of small cams in the back of the crack. I thought the 5.9 version was the middle.

After a fall on the one in the middle we switched to the wide one in the left. Another group did the one on the right and we both end up in the same ledge. The crack in the middle does get tight and technical plus hard to protect, it is an 9 or 9+ thought.

Bill Lawry wrote:Right is an isolated and undocumented variation

Interesting. I climbed the right variation last week. I initially started up a crack a few feet even further right and stepped left when the crack pinched down to a seam about 15 feet up. The right variation felt solid 9+ to me and was by far the crux of the route. As others have said, an easy few moves left around an arete at the top of a low angle dihedral brings the variations back together.

Much like Daniel W, I also climbed the right variation and agree with rating of 5.9+. Might be a move or two of low 5.10. I also used the crack even farther right for some stemming and higher up went completely to it for a move or two before returning.

Right side for me last year.
Maybe I was tired but it felt like 5.9+ or a low 10- move. Crux of the route.
As for the right most variation, we had planned on doing it and didn't bring any big gear for the left side. An additional benefit was trying to pass a slow party ahead of us.

jkd159 wrote:Never climbed the right crack, but I remember it looking easier than the middle.

... and to me it looked like the more aesthetic line of the three ... that and, without enough thought, I followed the way the team ahead of us went.