West Face 

Pitch 1: One airy step right (10a) at the changing corners will keep you on route. An additional fun, airy move further to the right will put you at the bottom of a clean fist crack (20ft, 5.8). A fun deviation, if not part of the route proper.

#4 not really necessary. For me the slab traverse felt harder than the the 10a moves.

This is an awesome route! Great views, great climbing and quick approach.

Note: it's quite easy to miss the traverse left on big holds at the end of the last pitch by mistakenly making a few 5.9 moves up a clean corner finger crack. If you do this, you'll be at the base of a 5.10ish OW right slanting crack on your left. My partner and I mistakenly ended up here but, rather than top out, we down-climbed a little to get back on route. If you do go up the OW, it will be possible to downclimb 4th class to the rap anchor at the top of the descent.

great route! Best views. Scary as trash on the repels.

Pitch 3: "Go left at the horizontal break and belay with hand-size cams at the base of a chimney." Hand-size meaning GIANT hand-size. 3-4" hands! Ideally one 3" and TWO 4"! (But, mind you, one of each will work.) 1-2" hand-sizers won't do if you want to sit on the comfy ledge below the wide crack, geez.

If the slab traverse felt harder than the 10a moves, I would say you are off route. There is no hard slab on this route.

One of my favriote routes of it's grade! I would sudgest on the last pitch after the short chimney follow up and right up a fingercrack to a wide right leaning crack, for some this may be O/W but climbs around 10c. This is a much more exciting finnish that actually put's you at the summit! The rap off is prety exciting!

Climbed the route again. I definitely traversed too high last time.

really fun route with good rock, good pro, exciting and varied climbing, grat views, nice belay ledges. fantastic. crux seemed like the end of the 2nd pitch. kind of blank (like a sheet of glass), but it comes together.

at the end of P3 you can use smaller hand sized pieces (#1 and #2 camalot) on top of the block. aerilli probably missed this because she might be vertically challenged ;) (just giving you a hard time). when i got to that spot i was kind of like WTF? then i looked on top and was able to get some pieces in.

slim, I didn't miss those pieces up higher, but those placements make for a more uncomfortable belay...and I wanted to sit on the ledge.

i used the pieces and sat on the ledge. were you tied into the anchor with the rope, or a daisy chain? i just made the anchor with the rope. definitely nice to sit on the ledge. we had climbed for quite a few days, and that pitch was a bit slabby. wanted to rest my toes a bit and vedge out while staring at the awesome view.

Yeah never had a problem sitting on the ledge myself.

The first rap is 30m, the next 35, and the next two are 60 combined. You can make it to the ground in 3 raps with two ropes.

I was very glad to have brought a set of C3's, and dont forget plenty of small-med stoppers.

I ended up on a splitter .5 camalot crack on P3, by cutting possibly more right than I should have. While turning the corner on P2 is certainly a mental crux, I was surprised by P3's difficulty, and thought it deserving of a 5.10a rating as well.

I'd call this route 5.9 (and we climbed it with significant snow and ice on the first two pitches). However, I'd also add that the second pitch is one of the best 5.9's I've ever done, rivaling the final pitch of the 3rd Pillar of Dana. Highly recommended.

Great climb! Easy for the grade and very well protected.

Umm yeah. Looks to be a cool route. In fact today (4/19/13) it was way too cool. Kicked, slipped, groveled, and belly flopped myself up the first (or mostly) pitch. No it's not really that hard of a climb. When your wife talks you into climbing this route (in April) keep in mind it'll be quite the Alpine experience. The routes stays in the shade until at LEAST 3pm and the first pitch could be full of snow and ice thus boots and crampons may have had better traction than wet/icy 5.10 rubber. ;-)

cheers..

End of April: Arrived at the base at noon. Climbed P1 in the shade, the rest in the warm direct sunshine. You will be glad you packed 3 C2's for the start of P2.

P3 WAS UTTERLY AMAZING!!!

Placed a C2, 3 and 3.5 for the P3 belay. Placed another C3 and 4 in the short chimney section at the start of P4. Four raps with a 70 meter rope. The rappels were some of the most engaging I've done in 30+ years of climbing.

Sustained climbing, multiple cruxes, good pro, lots of exposure. Classic high Sierra route. And Bishop Creek Lodge has Arrogant Bastard Ale on tap for post-climb ruminations!