BETA PHOTO: Poker route, as we did it, on the west face of Hai...
Description
The route has four 5th class pitches as described in Mike Hill's guide. Quality of rock is good to excellent. The route description in Mike Hill's guide seemed quite good although the 1st pitch warrants further explanation.
Pitch 1 - Knowing the described 1st pitch was long, we scrambled up a bit before setting a belay and roping up. Later, protecting the traverse using a single rope led to tremendous rope drag near the top. Second time on the route we used doubles and belayed midway through P1: much better. We set the mid-P1 belay after returning rightward to above the slot where there is pro at the top of an easy ramp plus more about six feet up and around the corner.
Pitch 2 thru 4 - Pitch 2 is the best pitch (outstanding) and goes at 5.8. Pitch 3 will also get the attention of the 5.8 leader for a few moves. It is tempting to run out Pitch 3 when the difficulty eases but suitable anchors become scarce. Pitch 4 is easy 5th class followed by 150 feet of what for me was unusually enjoyable 3rd class climbing involving ~30 yards traverse to the climber's right; or choose a more direct line up some fifth class rock.
Location
The route is located on the west face of Hail Peak. See Beta photo. We took the Echo Canyon to West Face approach on the Hail Peak page, hanging bigger packs before exiting the forest at the bottom of Echo Canyon. From Mike Hill's guide, suggested descent from the summit: down climb the North Ramp Route.
See Hail Peak page for approach details and for summit descents.
Protection
Double ropes may help for the first pitch or break the pitch into two. Or see beta photo showing possible var to P1 - not done yet. Bring a standard rack plus three large cams: two 4 inch and one 5 inch. Both sizes are useful on P1 and P2. On P2, save a 4 inch cam for the upper half of the open book.
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