My personal favorite at this grade. Often very busy though.
Start just left of Minty - from where the trail hits the cliff, walk about 50' left past Snooky's (thin crack) to an obvious crack.
P1: Either climb the crack (harder) or corners just left to a ledge. Continue up and step right and then up to a good belay (even with the top of Snooky's). 5.3, 75'. It's possible to walk right to the rap anchor there if you need to descend.
P2: Climb up the big corner above. About 40' up, it's easier to work left onto the face instead of staying in the corner. If you find the moves are harder than 5.4 you need to go left. Work left on a ledge system to a right-facing corner - climb up this to a comfy belay on the GT ledge. 5.4, 120'.
P3: Climb up a left-facing corner about 10' to a roof, clip an old pin, and avoid it around to the right. Then up easy ground to another roof - step left at this one (spectacular exposure) and then up to the top. 5.3, 60'.
Descend to the Uberfall (left) or Minty (right about 100').
This a wonderful climb on all three pitches, not actually 5.4 (5.3 is consensus rating) but a bit trying w/some routefinding difficulties for a 5.3 leader.
You can combine P1 and P2 w/ a 60M rope if you're an experienced leader, have a follower who won't fall at the P1 crux (near the start of the route) and use long slings.
I still can't find the original route (5.3) which is supposed to go diagonally across the face. I was in a hurry so I wasn't paying close attention, but it seems there are no protection on the face. I went up the 5.4 route which is go up the corner and then traverse left. If someone has a nice big photo of original route, please let me know.
On pitch 2 the original route starts diagonalling left about twenty feet up. Look for a traverse with good feet. Once you go out about 15 feet you will see a piton clip that and diagonal across the face where you will find a few pitons to clip. This pitch is why it is rated PG. Many beginning leaders go straight up the corner on pitch 2 (better gear). They use slings that are too short putting a 90 degree bend in the rope when the start the traverse resulting in really bad rope drag. If you are going to do this variation use 2 ft slings all the way and a 4 ft sling in the apex of the corner.
RSS Feed
Slideshow
