North Face 

Great route with some tricky route finding. I am unsure whether this description is of the standard route or Walton Traverse. When I did this route recently, I traversed down from the tree (that ends the first pitch past the crows nest). This was wild and exposed (and off route), probably a little harder than the standard route (which traverses up, then down from the tree).

The famous rap can be done with a single 60m rope, although just barely. The rap would be quite scary in high winds (even with plenty of rope).

I tried to describe the standard route. The Walton Traverse that George speaks of is a variation to the pitch after the tree. It climbs the face somewhere above the down slanting ramp I described. So, including the Bell Traverse, that's 3 different ways to do this pitch. Follow your nose...

George Bell and I did the North Face last week and actually found the Walton traverse... (glad George didn't take us through the Bell variation).

Climb past the tree at the first belay ove left a few feet and up a hard looking vertical section that looks harder than it is (great hand holds). After about ten feet, you will find two manky rivets... From there traverse left and slightly up to a piton (George backed it up with a Stopper). From here the second belay ledge is about 20 feet to the left. The traverse is pretty thin and very exposed with your last pro at the backed up piton... Good foot holds, but scant on handholds. From the belay join the normal route up the East Face. Do not fall...

The first two pitches leading to the crow's nest feel like you're leading backwards. The next pitch has a (I felt) stiff 5.6 overhanging crux before the tree. If you've got a #4 Camalot, it works great here. We stopped short on the 4th pitch (before the second 5.4? crux with a fixed pin) and left the 5th pitch to run to the top. Took us 3hrs from start to summit. Don't climb this in the wind or you'll hate life on the final pitches and rappel. It's pretty exposed, weird, and balancy the whole way. Climb it; its fun!

Can this route be rapped with a single 60m rope?The guide claims a 115 foot rap and a 120 foot rap, but I've found the guide to be inaccurate about this sort of thing.

Yes, AC, the rap from the top to the Crow's Nest can be done with one 60m rope. I have done this a number of times now, there is only about 10' rope left when you hit the eye bolt. This would be quite frightening in high winds as your ropes would be whipping into space. Measure your brand new rope if you are worried, as it would be a really bad time to find out you your new 60m is really a 50m.

This climb has a lot of traversing, and for this reason is not a good one to take beginners on, unless they are belayed from both ends.

Bob Lewis & myself took off work yesterday and finally bagged the Maiden under ideal weather conditions. As mentioned in Rossiter's guide, the approach is a solid Grade II, so bring plenty of fluids. We started early, yet its still a long, hot hike up to the start. On the approach, up near the far west end start of the climb, passage was obscured by a large block of rock. More than a scramble, we looked for a way around it, and ended up crawling on our bellies thru a cave to the left, which we determined was the only way around and up to the start.

The climb itself is unlike any other I've done. Unusual 2nd pitch down climb. The real climbing starts in the middle of the 3rd pitch, and although the moves are only 5.6 as mentioned, the first real move up over the bulge puts you in an exposed, somewhat over hanging position. With no pro in at this point, and a good 30' below and to the east of your belayer, a fall from here would create a monstrous pendulum, and probably broken bones. But the holds are there, and the exposure is short and sweet.

The 4th pitch is wildly exciting! Good exposure. I clipped to 2 pitons along this traverse that, as I recall, were all the pro I used. Lots of little holds along the way,but protection is minimal. Great big belay stations after each pitch. The final pitch is like the 3rd FI. Easy, slabby to huge summit, with a small pond & padpoles.

The Rappel is spectacular! We used 60m rope and it was plenty long.

Note: The rappel anchors are drilled hangers, not eyebolts, one above the other with a chain that is attached to the top hanger but not the bottom one. We strung our rope thru the bottom o-ring and the top D-ring for safety rather than just one or the other. However, this turned out to be a big mistake. As the rope drag over the lip at the start of the rappel, and the proximity of these rings to each other prevented us from pulling the rope down after we had both descended. I recommend using webbing thru the rings to eliminate this problem. I had to solo climb up the knife edge (easy climbing) from the crows nest with both ends of the rope tied to me, to below the base of the 1st pitch belay to get an angle so that I could pull the rope down. Big hassle. But everything worked out. Good experience!

Ernie, isn't this a classy climb? just reading your account made me want to go do it again...

Question on the rappel, last time I did the Maiden (2 months ago tops) and all the previous times the rappel was set on slings that were threaded behind a rock with a variety of rap rings on them. Where the hangers you are talking about new?

Does anyone know if the route has been upgraded with new rappel anchors?

Just curious, WT

Warren, the only anchors within eyeshot are those I described earlier. I saw nothing else. They looked new, but weren't set properly or to my liking anyway. I prefer eyebolt hardware similiar to what's down below on the southside belay rather than hangers and chain. Strangely, the chain was only attached to the top hanger via a D-ring. The hanger closer to the lip had an O-ring. How strange is that. Adds to the weirdness of the climb. Cheers! Ernie

The original way to rappel from the top is via slings (probably 10+, impossible to miss). Last time there (6-12?) there were drilled anchors above the hidden ledge skiers right of the old sling horn. They are most likely due to someone working the overhang (.12+?) as they are better placed for it. Previous to the anchors being there, I saw about 7 placements (one looked like three nuts and a pin) on the underside of the overhang. Maybe they'll pull the pins when they finish the route. The rope drag is much lower versus the old slings unless you tread the top D-ring of the right hand anchor (why would you do this? it puts all the load on one anchor-not good. Did someone steel the chain already? -pun intended). The chain hangs perferctly level with the ring, equalizing the load between the two anchors. Thread the last link and the ring. While standing on the ledge below the anchors, I moved my knot to be below the lip. The rope pulled super easy in _12 knt wind from the ground. Why don' t they just use the gear like the first Flatiron anchors? I would think the traffic level is high enough now to justify someone getting off their arse to make it consistent. Good luck to however first frees that overhang - Rappelling it is scarry enough for me!

Ignore Ernie Port's comments, they are misleading.

...Ernie, please post a confirmation that these anchors are good AFTER you get the chance to use them properly.

I received an email from Bob Cando explaining the new rappel anchors on the Maiden and now fully understand the proper threading. I did not thread them properly, hence the load was not properly equalized and had rope drag. Not seeing an o-ring at the end of the chain threw me...Ernie

Here are some important points Bob makes and a URL for further analysis:

"These anchors are very well placed and nicely set.

If you run the rope thru the ring and the last link of chain, your ropehangs perfectly on both anchors. This is how I rappelled off and I believe is how the anchors were intended to be used. You would need to generate more than 40 kN (9000 #) to fail those anchors when they are equalized.

This is called a traditional anchor. It is very strong and safe and used commonly in Europe, and more often in the US. It is not used in the US very often, because it is the most expensive (although safest) system to use and US climbers are too cheap (sorry -this is my opinion). Fixe sells theseanchors premade with a fixed length of chain. Check their web site."

From the Fixe website:

The anchor design is commonly used in Europe and has unfortunately not yet caught on in the US. When placed in good rock, the anchor simultaneously loads both anchor bolt placements. The design locates the anchor bolts in a vertical orientation. This eliminates the "Shock Load" possibility if one anchor bolt were to fail. This design is far superior to anchors that locate the anchor bolts across a horizontal plane.

Praise to the F.A. hardmen on this one.....what a climb. Scared silly making the exposed crux moves (leave the #4 behind, a #3 is more bomber and sooner to go in) I was trying to imagine what it must have been like in 1944....not realizing that they pendulumed through. Brilliant climb, amazing exposure and good practice downclimbing. I'd say it's a bad idea to try this climb if you are leading comfortably at the 5.6-5.7 level...it takes a bit of nerve to pull the crux and a fall could be brutal. Double ropes are slick on this climb- making what little protection you can find seem a bit more reasonable.

Was up there today and baled due to having only 4 pieces total...I do have a Q about the crux move. We checked it out, and my partner said the move was starting at the pin (seems to be ~ 20 ft UP from the above described belay directly BELOW the tree. It is a nice piton, seems solid, and would provide some pro on a move here. But it appears to be a bit of a difficult bulge to get over. I could see the blocky roof below and wondered if that was the real live start. Has anyone tried climbing right at the piton, then traversing on an okay-looking ledge?

We just did this on Saturday, and got lost following the beta here. The pitch starting at the Crow's Nest and ending at the tree is actually well protected. After downclimbing the ramp, you will see a piton referenced by Clare. Indeed, it is 20 feet right of the bulging corner that people try to protect with a # 3 or 4 Camalot. A few feet left of the piton, it is possible to step up above the ramp by grabbing a couple of flakes. Continue up and left to the continuation of the bulging corner. A .4 MicroCamalot fits in a pocket here and protects the move over the bulge. Once over the bulge, you can protect your second by clipping a piton 4 feet above the bulge, or just traverse to the tree.

DId this again this morning, and Mark Oveson showed me a trick that makes the pitch after the crow's nest much less scary to lead. From the crow's nest, walk EAST 30' and clip your rope to a piton with a long sling. This is rather conterintuitive as this is not along the route, and you can't see the piton from the crow's nest. This ring piton is ancient looking but is probably good, you can also back it up I think. Climb back down to the crow's nest, then go west for a bit and down the north face as per usual. When you get to the crux section, the piton you clipped is 30' above you and off to the right a little, but it gives you a pretty good toprope for this section. If you go this way you cannot clip the piton mentioned in the previous comment as it would give bad rope drag, and doesn't help anyway.

This is a spectacular route and worth doing many times. Beginners should be belayed from both ends otherwise a nasty fall is possible even following this. This route has much more exposure than the usual Flatiron east face, I imagine some beginners might find it pretty freaky.

RE: Pitch after the Crow's Nest. I believe this used to be referred to as the "Pendulum Pitch." In the 70s we always clipped the pin George mentions to get the top-rope (there used to be two there, if memory serves). I thought earlier ascents (i.e., 40's) used the pin(s) as an actual pendulum point. If both leader and follower use the pin, it is necessary to untie and pull the rope through, and to pick up your sling and biners on the way down.

I'm slightly embarrassed to tell this story, but I'm going to anyway...A long long time ago in a galaxy far far away, I and two others, we'll call them Jack and his friend Jill (the names have been changed to protect the innocent..) had the brilliant idea to climb this on the night of july 4th, camp out on top, and watch the fireworks display. I think we had some idea that we'd get up to the top mid-afternoon, top-rope the 5.11+ overhang, kick back and have a few beers, watch the fireworks, ha ha ha.The gear: rack, 2 ropes, 2 gallons of water, an ice chest filled with things to eat, sleeping bags and pads. Also, Jill had never climbed before.We knew it would take awhile so we got an early start, and it was a very hot day, at least 100 degrees. It was so hot I at least was somewhat exhausted just getting to the base of the climb with all that shit.We set up a top-rope going up to the slot (Jack soloed to that point to do this) and started hauling gear. Since Jill couldn't follow the run-out climbing along the traverse to get to that point, and also couldn't top-rope the direct 5.10+ face, we also hauled her, which was very strenuous and difficult.I think it must have been late-afternoon by the time we were all established at the notch. I was totally exhausted.All I remember of the traversing from the notch (Walton traverse, etc.) was: It took a long time to get Jill across being belayed from both sides; I somehow wound up leading the Walton traverse while carrying the full ice-chest in one hand. I do not recommend this. Anyway, by the time we got to the end of the traversing and were on the low-angle east face, it was 1 a.m. (I was vaguely aware of fireworks going off at some point), everyone was unhappy and very very tired. We were almost out of water.Finally, when we did summit (must have been 2 or so), the top was completely infested with mosquitoes, and of course we had no protection from them and got eaten alive.The next day was just as hot, and, with no water by this point, we did the rap off, and hiked out. When we got to the river, we all jumped in, which was by far the best point of the trip. The final blow was realizing a day or two later that someone (probably me) had managed to leave a sling with several pieces of gear at one of the belays.

IMO the greatest difficulty for a newer leader is in the approach pitch face (.4S) as the rest has better holds and takes pro reasonably well but you should bring your larger cams. If you are to believe the route photo in Rossiter than there are 4 variations of the second pitch out on the north face. I have found 3. One (standard) is in between the two in the photo, the higher (Walton's) is above the upper traverse in the photo and arrives at the top of the block. The 3rd climbs up to Walton's before rounding the base of the block and going up the sandier buckets (where the larger cams would be handy and the crux of this variation). There can be bad rope drag on all but the highest traverse and you need to protect your second well. I have used the Shadow Canyon approach until behind the ridge, climbing over the ridge to arrive right at the start of the west face approach slab for my ascents. Has anyone compared the two approaches (over the ridge vs. srambling up from the eastern base)? - JP

I don't recommend using the piton(s) near the Crow's Nest for the first pitch out to the North Face. This would possibly be logical if it was still done as a pendulum but if your second is inexperienced, you might think twice about having to untie and unthread the rope as well as the retieval after the main rappel and split this into two pitches instead. In a more popular area the pin would surely have been removed. The descent traverse from the Nest is relatively easy with the crux being just one move from a large stance area (a*). From here: Bust the 'crux' move up to the ledge with the tree. The next pitch is the famous one for continuity, exposure, and downclimbing at 5.5 . Move your belay up to the next spot past the tree (b*). DOWNclimb out and left for several moves to the stance (c*) below you at the base of a dihedral on the right of a block/bulge. Climb up and left around the outside of the bulging block through a grittier hollow and into a big belay (d*). Sling for rope drag and protect your second. One of the variations is to not descend from (b*) but to step up and traverse high to (d*). This is Walton's. The other is to climb up the dihedral from (c*) to connect with Walton's where it meets (d*) at the top of the block/bulge without going left around the outside corner. The route can be viewed from the neighbouring Fatiron.

Additional comment: It's best to just bring two ropes. I find this rappel more exciting than say, Devil's Tower or Grand Teton by far. Plus the second rap from Crow's Nest to the ground is there, too. Better to just come prepared.

The initial view of the beautiful tower from the top of pitch one, for me, was comparable to unexpectedly falling in love ie; a sudden increase in heart rate, somewhat terrified although experiencing intermittent euphoria, not sure if I want to "go there", but feeling myself being sucked into it, as if I'm a little magnet and the tower a monstrous piece of steel.

Back in the mid-eighties, my partner, Mark Johler, and I did a scary and much harder variation to this line, and I was wondering if anyone else has done this.
Our line went straight up, bearing only slightly to the right, from the tree.
What I am describing is not the line that follows the strata heading more right than up, but it goes just about straight up from the tree, if I recall, for about 160' to the east ridge.
So, in about 160' it goes right only about 15'
As we had never seen anything documented on our climb, we called it Thanatos 5.10 X.
I was unable to get any pro in for the entire pitch, with the exception of a possible piece just above the tree.
My partner, who regularly climbed 5.10 at the time, fell about three times seconding the pitch. I didn't fall, because it just wasn't an option.
This was one of the scariest pitches I have ever done, and I just wanted to know if anyone else has done this line?