The Great Chasm 

Thanks for these multi-pitch routes, Jason Stevens. it's quite a joy to break up the routine climbing at Maple with routes like this!

I did this climb with my wife on our anniversary years ago after jason told us about it. since then i've taken people up this wondrous thing 5-6 times. It really is a nice easy climb with fantastic views. A touring route. Wear a helmut, rockfall is possible especially on the rappell. Also you'll need two ropes. The first pitch is way run out but easy. The last pitch is the funnest with huge cobbles for holds. Take your time and enjoy.

After searching a bit for this route, my partner and I enjoyed it. It was his first multipitch climb. I was a bit surprised by the run out of the first pitch but it was on easy climbing. The third pitch is the money pitch for sure although it is short. I have to complain about some bad beta I received from another website specific to Maple Canyon. In its description it states "it can be climbed with one rope". Well, guess what? You can't get back to the ground with one rope which left us with about 25' of 5.5ish downclimbing.

I rapped the route with one rope, it was a 70-meter, but there was plenty of rope left.

The first pitch is bolted in such a way that you won't have to worry about z-clipping at all.
We rapped off with one rope (70M). We BARELY made it, thanks to rope stretch. To do it, you have scootch way over to the right where the ground slopes up. Even then, our ATCs were right up against the knots in the end of our rope when our feet touched the ground (we simul rapped).

Great climb. Very enjoyable. It was nice and shady all morning and even though the canyon was packed we had this all to ourselves. It was very quiet and the view off the top is awesome.
I highly recommend this climb.

A must do route for the grade with amazing views and position.

To find the route head up the middle fork trail towards the natural arch. After about ten minutes of walking you will pass a large cobble boulder (bigger than a car) on the right of the trail. Turn to your left, leave the trail, and cross the stream. If miss the boulder, the trail soon cross the stream. That should be your sign to turn around and go back about 150 feet. After you have crossed the stream at the boulder you will see a more defined trail heading to your right along the base of the cliff. Follow this up until you head into a fern filled gully with a line of bolts on an arete.

The first pitch is 5.5 and takes a full 60m.

The second pitch is a short traverse with one exposed fourth class move with no protection. It would be interesting to see if there was a way to easily combine this with the first pitch.

When you rap off from the second pitch you will end up at the top of the fern filled gully about 100 feet from where you started. A full single 70m rope will make it to the bottom, but you must swing around the corner to your right so that you are at the very top of the gully.

6.30.11

I added a rappel station to the descent so that the route can be climbed and descended in it's entirety with a single 60M rope.

Rappel instructions: Rap from the summit to the top of pitch 2 (the pod), rap from the top of pitch 2 (the pod) to anchors at right on an arete. Rap from there to the ground.

I also added a few bolts to the first pitch. There were at least 3 sections of 20-25' runnouts. In maple that is just not necessary. A blown cobble and an off-balance, unexpected fall could result in broken limbs or death. I HIGHLY recommend long draws for P1 or rope drag will lock you down tight. There are 16 bolts on the first pitch and it wanders a bit.

I also moved the first belay station a little to the left. It is now more in-line with the climbing on the first pitch and gives you about 12' of extra rope to work with.

Enjoy!

Jason Stevens

is there a walk off?

No walk-off tpatpat. A fun route though. Amazing view of Maple Canyon from the top. Get on it!

So when you rap off you just tie two ropes togther??

Jason's comment above explained it pretty well:

"I added a rappel station to the descent so that the route can be climbed and descended in it's entirety with a single 60M rope."

Here it is spelled out:

60m Rope Rappel Instructions:
1) Rap from the summit to the top of pitch 2 (the pod)
2) Rap from the top of pitch 2 (the pod) to anchors at right on an arete
3) Rap from there to the ground

70m Rope Rappel Instructions:
1) Rap from the summit to the top of pitch 2 (the pod)
2) Rap from the top of pitch 2 (the pod) to the ground (rope stretcher)

Maybe Jason could update the route description as well.

Excellent climb! Prior to the most updated Knezek guide being published beta was way off for this route, from approach directions to pitch information. Glad to see there is some better info out there now.

Fun cobble pulling off the beaten path enough and with exposure enough to make this climb feel adventurous. Beautiful views all the way up the climb. Pitch 2 isn't really a pitch, just a short traverse on a good ledge to pitch 3's belay anchors. There is one or two exposed moves on the traverse where you don't want to slip.

Thanks for putting this route in!

This route makes for a very fun outing with awesome views. Short approach and easy climbing. My friend, who just started leading, led both pitches and she loved it! Just a thought, I found the rap bolts for the 3rd rap to be in a bad location. I rapped past without seeing them, then had to climb back up to them. They are on the far right wall as you rap, hard to see, and are a bit of a scramble to get to. They are also on a very small ledge which makes it hard if you have more than two people. The logical place for a rap station seemed to be the ledge that is slightly up and left. It is right in-line with the anchors in the pod and big enough to park a bus on. My 60M had plenty of rope left to get down from there.