The Great Bowl/Ingraham Dihedral

An excellent and obvious line on the massive sloping slabs. While the route is predominately slab climbing, some nice features like an exposed move to exit the Great Arch, and the beautiful Ingraham Dihedral makes the route memorable. The original Great Bowl route can be done at 5.6 and avoids the Ingraham Dihedral and the few difficult sections above.

Pitch 1: Starting slightly more to the right side of the Great Arch, follow a corner system for nearly a rope-length. Belay at a sloping ledge with two pitons, about 30 ft below a weakness in the great arch. 5.5 160 ft. Variations to the left up the blank looking slab can be led and offer slightly more challenging 5.6 pg-13 climbing.

Pitch 2: Climb directly up to the weakness in the great arch. Much of the rock under the overlap is dirty and lichen covered, but you won't be stepping on that stuff. A piton marks the spot where you can easily surmount the head-wall. The move is airy, but not as hard as it looks, and can be well protected. Above the overlap, continue of the corner system passing another piton. The corner system begins curving sharply to climber's left and eventually becomes a headwall. 5.6 180 ft. Variation: Instead of curving left, continue almost directly straight up the face following a faint left-facing corner (piton). You can then either re-join the main route by making a traversing pitch, or continue up straight up on discontinuous crack systems at around 5.5

Pitch 3: Nearly a full rope length of travel over a heavily featured slab that gets less steep as you go. Protection is sparse, but the climbing is comfortable at 5.5 or easier. A prominent dihedral becomes visible straight ahead, the Ingraham Dihedral. A beautiful belay is made under the dihedral, where the rock appears to make a flat-cobblestone road. This geologic oddity is reason enough to climb the route, as it looks like hundreds of flat pave-stones were carefully embedded into the slab. 170' 5.5.

Pitch 4: To keep the climbs 5.6 rating, meander off to the right to avoid the Ingraham Dihedral. Another easier variation is to strike off left over-slabs and join up with Normal Route. Arguably the best choice is to climb the Dihedral, a thinly protected 5.8 corner. Finish at a two-bolt belay underneath a small roof.

Pitch 5: From the belay at the top of Ingraham's Dihedral one can either exit left or right. Exiting left around a triangular roof leads to 5.8+ moves before the climbing eases and the protection becomes scarce. A long unprotectable 5.7R section of slab must be passed before a flake is gained which leads to the tree-line. Exiting right is 5.7+ and protect by a 1/4" bolt.

From the saddle to the north of the East Slabs, none of the routes can be picked out, as the curvature of the mountain prohibits viewing them. However, you'll know when you reach the Great Arch. Just keep traversing south until the Slab opens up above you with giant curving walls on each side forming a 500 ft wide arch. At its maximum height, the arch is about 300 ft high, and much of the route remains out of view above the arch. Start at the highest point you can easily scramble to almost directly underneath the apex of the arch.

Descent by scrambling/down-climbing to the North. One can descend almost directly to the Saddle/camp.

Small wires and tiny cams come in useful for finding that odd placement in the expansive slabs. A few mid-size cams/nuts can be used on the intermittent crack systems. Many pitons are passed, and all can be backed-up or bypassed. The bolt anchor above the dihedral sports 2 brand-new 3/8" bolts. The right-hand exit from the aforementioned anchor sports an old 1/4" bolt.

Overall, expect run-outs. On the slab sections, you might be able to place some small wires behind shallow flakes, but the protection these can supply is minimal. Even the Ingraham dihedral barely accepts some shallow nut placements. If you tackle the route with this mind-set, you won't be unpleasantly surprised.