The Baron  5.8+

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Type:  Trad, 2 pitches, 250 feet Consensus:  5.8+ [details] FA:  ? Submitted By:  Bosier Parsons on Jul 11, 2008 You & This Route  |  Other Opinions (2) Your todo list: Your stars: Your rating: -none- [change] Your ticklist: [add new tick]

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Description 

This is a nice, long corner system on the right side of Baron's Estate. We climbed it on the way up to the Castle, because we figured we might as well. It's a fun and sustained finger and hand crack and was a nice bonus, considering the approach to the Castle.

1) Climb the shallow right facing corner at the right side of the base area. This is a good finger crack then ends at a big ledge with a tree that traverses left to the main dihedral system (this larger dihedral is what Hubbel calls the Baroness). 5.8+, 80 feet.

2) Traverse left into the larger corner and climb it to the top of the formation. This is a long, fun, and sustained pitch. 5.7+, 170 feet.

Information was taken from Peter Hubbel's guide book. It has been a pretty long time since I climbed this, but I think this is a decent description. I know we just climbed it with our packs, and stretched it as one long pitch, with some simul-climbing, which made it feel a little harder, but was also pretty sweet.

Location 

Approach the easiest way you can from the lake. Shoot for the right of two obvious right-facing corners. I remember the trees on the approach not always giving us the best view of either Baron's Estate or the Castle, so just follow your nose. Start in a shallow right-facing corner, just right of the bigger of two right facing corners on the face. Walk off or continue up to the Castle.

Protection 

Standard rack to 3". Some doubles might be useful if you simul-climb and do it in one pitch, but hard to remember exactly.