This is a super high quality 3 pitch route around the corner to the right of Spooky. We rapped into this route from the gully between the Charlatan and the Sorcerer. Sun in the morning and shade in the afternoon.
Pitch 1- Climb slippery slab to a slightly right leaning crack, then straight up to a bolted belay on a small ledge. 5.9 Pitch 2- Crux. Beautiful layback/finger crack. Perfect pro. Move left into the crack via a couple of face moves and launch off on a perfect layback/finger crack. This pitch is short but pumpy. 5.10 Pitch 3- You can continue to the top of the Charlatan or bail off left onto the second Spooky anchors. 5.9
This description seems off. I led p1 up to some flakes, and set up a belay there, just below the .10 crux. There was no bolted belay. Well, there was, but it was 20' away on a different route.
p2 is the fantastic fingers/hands crux, a classic pitch. .10b I'd say.
p3 is ok, just mellow .7. 2 and 3 link easily, which is what we did.
p4 is a fun romp to the summit on fingers to hands.
By Fat Dad From: Los Angeles, CA Feb 5, 2009 rating: 5.10c
Finishing on Spooky is the way to go IMO. And of course do the summit pinnacle, just to finish it off right.
Also, not to quibble on ratings, but this felt more like .10c to me. Earlier that summer I'd climbed some Valley standards like Cramming, Catchy, New Dimensions, etc., and the .10c just seemed right for me. A great route, and well worth doing if someone's on Airy Interlude, Thin Ice, etc.
By Andy Laakmann Site Landlord From: Jackson Hole, WY Jun 1, 2009 rating: 5.10b
Great, varied climb and less popular than some of its neighbors.
P1 - Thoughtful, and at times awkward, climbing up the right trending crack system. The start was wet in late May. The gear is good on this pitch, but I wouldn't send up a noobie 5.9 leader. We belayed at the large flake system just below the crux hand crack. Not a super comfy belay.
P2 - Money pitch. Felt 10b to me. You could throw as many fingers to tight hand cams at this pitch as you wanted, but a standard rack (2 x all cams) sewed it up. You might want to save a 0.5 camalot for the final moves. Although there are chains up and left from the end of the pitch, it is much easy to belay on the grassy ledge.
P3 - Really fun 5.8 climbing to the top, including a spectacular top out! The pitch goes from fingers, to an easy chimney, back to fingers, then hands, and finally a cool roof finish.
Gear: Standard rack is fine, and I only placed one #3 camalot.
By Matthew Fienup Administrator From: Ventura, CA Jul 5, 2009
Agreed, there's no bolted belay atop P1, but you can belay from bolts atop P2, if you forgo the ledge.
By Jeff Dunbar From: Newport Beach, CA Sep 11, 2009 rating: 5.10b
I've climbed this excellent route twice now, and of course the classic second pitch was well worth it both times.
On my second outing, however, I was VERY tempted to explore a rumored variation for the last pitch which (I think) climbs the sick-looking, right-facing corner to the right of the original P3.
This corner looks clean and thin and steep at the start, and then the angle eases off rapidly near the top. It looks like it tops out 20-30 ft to the right of the standard finish.
Supposedly this alternate final pitch goes at 10b. To get to this alternate final pitch, it looks like you'd wanna do a very short intermediate pitch (50-60 ft total?) trending up and right from the bolt anchor atop P2 in order to set up your belay behind the huge blocks at its base.
Can anybody comment on the quality of this rumored 10b variation based on personal exprience?
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