A few months ago, Robert and I made our first visit to Whiteside Mountain, NC. We were most excited to scale the main southeast face, and chose to try the route Arm and Hammer, very stoked to finally be on the highly regarded southeast face, and tackling perhaps the most exposed and awesome headwall on the east coast.
Robert atop the third pitch of Arm and Hammer, looking down at me (in the blue at the belay)
Weather was perfect, and we certainly enjoyed our stint on the wall, but we were sad to pull through some of the upper cruxes because we knew they could be free climbed.
Myself loving the position somewhere on Arm and Hammer
A week ago (Nov 16), we returned to Whiteside mountain with the goal of free climbing the southeast face. We chose the oldest and one of the easiest routes on the face - The Original Route. We loved the climbing, and we had a blast free climbing every pitch, onsight. We had carried a very leisure pace up the wall, stopping for lunch even below the sandbag pitch (the ledge was simply too good to pass up!).
Lunch below the sandbag pitch
Upon finishing the route, we returned to school and it dawned on us that we wanted to climb the route again, this time attempting it as a "speed climb". All of our free time (and class time) that week was spend scribbling down gear beta, pitch descriptions, time estimates, etc.
Following Robert's shift at our school rock wall Friday morning, we left around ten, and were at the trailhead by noon. Conditions were perfect, and we were excited to be carrying a LOT less than the previous attempt. We chugged a couple water bottles, left the car, and were at the base in no time.
Looking up at the route
We had worried the route may be seeping from heavy rain two days prior, but when we reached the base, the first pitch was bone dry, and we were confident we would be able to finagle our way past any other wet spots (which there were).
I flaked out the rope, we threw our shoes on, racked up, and gave each other the superstitious fist bump for good measure. It was finally time! We checked our phones for the time. It was 12:50.
Robert on P1
Robert blasted up the first pitch confidently, and linked it into the second pitch having placed only a single cam. When he reached the tree anchor, I took him off belay. Since he had only a few feet of rope left (having linked P1 & 2), I started climbing immediately, and after fifteen feet of climbing he had me tight and on belay. I climbed quickly, but it's not easy to do so on slab. Once I reached the anchor, we both cleaned everything and scampered to the opposite end of the ledge where P3 starts.
I took three cams and some slings as I planned to link the next two pitches as well. As Robert anchored himself to a tree and put me on belay, I scrambled up to the perfect hand crack that starts P3. I made the tricky traverse back right, then placed a cam (slinging it looooooooong). I cruised up the nice corner, then made my way to the base of the sandbag pitch. I clipped another long sling to the anchor, then threw in a perfect number 3 as high as I could reach. I latched onto it, smeared high, and reached the ear beside the bolt. I clipped the bolt, pulled up, and gunned to the next ledge.
Robert atop the sandbag pitch (P4) on our earlier visit.
Robert made quick work following these pitches, and soon was ready to tackle the next two pitches, which would again be linked. We were shocked when we checked the time - 1:34 (44 minutes). We were averaging almost ten minutes a pitch! He took a few cams along, and for the sake of efficiency and rope drag, he didn't place gear on the first of the two pitches. He threw in a couple of cams at the base of the crescent pitch, the ran it out again until the awkward reach-around move. Unfortunately, this section of the route was SOAKING. Water was running down the wall and coating the rock and lichen with a terriblee slime. Robert took care to pull around this, then threw in one more piece before clipping anchors at the base of the crux pitch.
By this time, my anchor was stripped and I was climbing. I quickly followed the first moderate pitch, then cleaned his gear before making my way into the slime. I reached around to the long sling he had clipped to his cam, pulled through the muck, then sprinted up to a stance just below the anchors. He gave me a few alpine draws and I brought a .5, which I knew I would need for the next anchor. As soon as he had me back on belay, I sprinted through the bolt ladder as quickly as I could. From the last bolt, I free climbed to the top of the pitch, then decided to link it into the next.
At this point, we had decided to break slightly left for a more direct and fun finish on Traditions. So, I linked this crux pitch into the moderate section of Traditions, clipping and pulling on two bolts along the way, until I reached the anchor. I clipped one good bolt, one rusty one, and threw in my .5 I'd been saving to back up the rusty bolt. Robert was quick to join me at the belay, and took only a couple of slings for this last romp of climbing before the top.
Robert on the second to last pitch of Traditions
He scampered up this last bit of terrain and I quickly followed. We'd caught up to another team of climbers who had been climbing Traditions. It was their first trip up this big rock and they were gracious enough to let us pass. I ran up this last little "sport climb" (steep and juggy with bolts!) and joined robert at the base of the last pitch. As soon as I'd made it up, Robert launched up the final slab with nothing but slings for the anchor while I cleaned his anchor and moved the rope.
I raced up the slab and as soon as I hit his tree anchor atop Whiteside Mountain, we checked the time - 2:33! We had scaled the huge ~800 foot face in 1 hour and 43 minutes! I had taken longer dogging my way up single pitches! It was a moment of ecstatic disbelief. We weren't even sure what to do with the rest of our day. It had taken us less time to climb than it had to drive here!
We decided to take our time heading down and try the classic "Boulder Problem in the Sky" on the Southwest Corner. We happily led this short route as a perfect end to our day at Whiteside Mountain. We are already excited for the next visit, with talk of breaking the 1:30 mark as well as trying to climb two routes on the main face in a day.
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