This route is located below and (East) in front of the North Face of Hallett Peak. Directly below and left of Hallett Chimney, on the next feature lower down. It ascends a HUGE dihedral under a 15' roof.
Start with WI-3 for 30'-40', then climbs the left wall of the diheadral passing two, short OW sections on their left. the upper section of the dihedral gets thin and a KB will nicely fit a seam on the left wall. Climb to the roof.traverse to the left, under the roof, on a smooth face. Protection is found in small cracks in the roof. the crux is found on the outter corner of the roof, small nuts may protect you with blind placements. A short 15' section of narrow ledges will access a large bench above. A fixed pin and nut on the back wall allow a 60m rap. to the start.
This ice (and therefore) route forms up just about every year.
Protection
2-3 ice screws. 3-5 hand sized cams. 3-6 small Aliens or TCUs and good selection of small-to-medium nuts. a few KB will make you feel better, too. I guess that basically says - full alpine rack.
Emailed to me by: Jim Detterline 4-1-08 "According to my notes, I climbed 90' on this route. I only brought a handful of pitons in addition to my ice rack, as I was not expecting to push the route beyond the ice. I felt that the ice climbed was WI 4, as it entailed two vertical sections, one of which was a bit unstable. I ended on a ledge below the big overhang, and placed a two piton rappel anchor. I was belayed by Matt Wilber."
Good job guys! I never heard of anyone climbing this route over the last 7 years. if that's true, it still awaits it 2nd full ascent. On the FA, I took a nice whipper off the traverse while attempting to turn the roof. Yanked a blue TCU and a KB before coming to rest upside down about 25' down, but safe. B-Rad then took over and completed the crux. As you can see, you got WAY MORE ice than we did. Lucky you!
This route doesn't look great from the ground, because the ice is so short, but the climbing is excellent. Jack Roberts and I did it in two pitches, which reduces rope drag and saves gear; there's a great stance and fixed anchor above the first-pitch roof. Jack found a good and much better-protected variation to the first-pitch crux, going to the right around the bulge instead of left up the lieback/offwidth. Carry a substantial rock rack for the second pitch: small wires to #3 Camalot/3.5 Friend. The crux slab traverse can be protected with small wires and half-inch cams in the roof overhead.
You can also do this route in three short pitches at M5 by climbing the first pitch, traversing to the right, and then climbing mixed ground and snow back up and left to the upper anchor. That anchor could use some public service, by the way: A 9 or 10 hex would do a great job of backing up the two old pins. You can rap the route with a 70m rope by downclimbing the easy ice at the bottom.
By Doug Shepherd From: Fort Collins, CO Nov 17, 2009 rating: WI3 M6+
This route climbs MUCH better than it looks.
I went right before the offwidth and found it to be a well protected boulder problem followed by easy climbing. The crux roof was really fun, but the gear is definitely leaves a bit to be desired. I used a good amount of small gear on the traverse but didn't test any of it.
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