Chieu Hoi is a really nice moderate line with some attention-getting moves awaiting you on the third pitch. Start climbing in a corner system just left of the big face.
Pitch 1) Nice corner. Climb corner (5.4) to small alcove belay.
Pitch 2) Continue in corner (5.7) up to a nice ledge system below a big offwidth (Granite Jungle) and a small seam that heads up and right.
Pitch 3) Climb up and right in slippery corner and crack that goes vertical. When you get to a horizontal crack, move left using the horizontal (crux) to gain a ledge and belay. The crux moves will shed light on why the translation of the route's name is "open arms" in Vietnamese.
Descent: Scramble up to the top from the last belay. You can then do the Coke Bottle raps, or the walk off down the right side of the Mountain.
Location
The starts at the bottom of the first corner system just left of the big face section on the right side of Granite Mountain.
This is a fun climb with good pro. The ratings of the pitches on the above description and in the guidebook are a joke. The first two pitches go at about 5.8 and the 3rd pitch felt like 5.10c/d to me. I think it is important to mention this sandbagging so someone does not get in over his head.
Important Note: The 3rd pitch is only 30 feet long. While the dihedral goes up quite a way, the horizontal crack you traverse left on is about 30 feet above the large belay ledge. In the Falcon guide all of the pitches are drawn such that they look about the same length. Not so, the first two pitches are about 80 feet and the last pitch is about 30 feet.
As of December 2008 there were slings and rap rings around a tree on the belay ledge at the end of the second pitch. I am fairly sure a double rope rap with 60M ropes would get you to the ground with rope to spare if you did not want to do the 3rd pitch.
An excellent variation to the third pitch on this is to continue to follow the crack up and right. It becomes a seam with some sparse pro and is similar to Walk Soft (decent but crispy flakes.)
I believe we broke that variation into two pitches. Seems like it was a belay out at the end corner.
I don't recall who did the FA or the name (Crack Up or something like that because that's apparently what the first ascent used for protection, I think RPs and wires worked for me.)
It's a stellar pitch if you like somewhat run out face climbing protected by tricky gear.
BTW - isn't there also a tree at the top of the first pitch of Granite Jungle so you can always bail with just a single rope ?
By ccmski From: Prescott, AZ Oct 17, 2009 rating: 5.9-
2 single rope (60m) rappels down Granite Jungle from the tree will get you to the ground if you don't want to do the 3rd pitch. 3rd pitch is classic Granite Mountain 5.9 climbing- not to be missed.
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