White Devil  A0

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Type:  TR, Aid, 16 pitches, 1200 feet, Grade II FA:  Brent Armstrong New Route:  Yes Submitted By:  alpinglow on Mar 12, 2001 You & This Route  |  Other Opinions (1) Your todo list: Your stars: Your rating: -none- [change] Your ticklist: [add new tick]

Near the top, on a pig retrieval mission.

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2013 Raptor Closures MORE INFO >>> Serpent Point and the adjacent walls within one-half mile are closed to public use from March 15 through July 15. This includes the landscape portions above the walls extending 50 feet from the rim edge. This pertains to the following areas: North Rim areas - The Alpine Aretes, Porcelain Arete, and Painted Wall. These climbing routes are closed: Alpine Route, Porcelain Arete, On the Border, Broken Porcelain, Northern Arete, Beyer Route, The Dragon, The Serpent, Forrest-Walker, Stratosfear, Journey Through Mirkwood, and Southern Arete. South Rim areas - Dragon Point and Dragon Point Buttress. These climbing routes are closed: Pilgrimage, Crumb Blunder, Magic Dragon, Black Adder, Black Snake, Black Heathen, Black Dragon Rider, and Silent Rage. This information is a public crowdsourcing effort between the Access Fund, and Mountain Project. You should confirm closures, restrictions, and/or related dates. Keeping climbing areas open and conserving the climbing environment

Description 

So here I am years later still stoked on this little adventure, it was a greatly rewarding trip for me. Others expressed doubt as to the value of my adventure. Jeff Achey was kind enuff to print I was simply "...a new climber getting lost on an old route." Warm fuzzies for sure.

I started out trying to repeat Jim Beyer's Black Planet route, but found some new stuff en route.

Start up the Air Voyage/Diagonal ramp for two pitches. 400 ft. 5th class

P3 chimney as per Black Planet. Short pitch

P4 Beak and hook left and slightly down until a solid TCU is reached. Penji off this to an A1 corner, back clean, belay. I believe Black Planet moves straight up off this belay(belay 3), I saw fixed heads above me. The belay is shared.

P5 Climb up 20 feet of sweet LA's to a point were the crack runs out. Black Planet moves st8 up here. White Devil hooks str8 left into free climbing. Belay on ledge.

P6 Dances left, belay on ledge. Natural bivi.

P7 Climbs a mega 5.6ish flake. Downclimb left side of flake and run it out up to the big ledge.

P7a Move belay to right sidde of ledge.

P8 I tried to squeeze a new free pitch here between the original Air Voyage chimney and the Air Voyage variation I climbed when doing that route. That variation tip toed under a number 7 (or backwards cant remembr) shaped roof. Maybe it is new, maybe not, 5.8r for sure and climbs directly to the leftward rail traverse on Air Voyage.

P9 Black Planet pitchThis gave me fits, bad rock requiring 5.10 climbing, sparse pro, self belaying with grigri... good times. Really had to cowboy up on this one.

P10 Black Planet pitch. Bouldering off of the belay with no gear. Belay below desperate seam on ramp.

P11 Black Planet pitch. THE BUSINESS! Very tenous and hard heading for maybe 80 feet over a ledge, then some gear, then some thin A2+ to anchor. Fixed blade and world's most tipped out beak are in situ. It got dark on me on this pitch. Being strung out and in the dark I came to a string of heads moving str8 right then up. Figuring I missed the anchor I cowardly added a single bolt. The natural anchor is available 6 feet up and slightly left of this point, you lower off this anchor to begin the next pitch. DFU!!!

P12 Black Planet Pitch. My favorite on the route. Heads in a seam ending in a A2 grovel. Belay behind large flake.

P13 I put up the majority of a new pitch moving right off of the anchor and traversing a ledge. Wound up bailing and following Beyer 5.11 pitch. Also had a mental meltdown here when I couldnt free climb 5.6....wuss.

P14 Unclear where Beyer route goes, Robbie Williams told me it connects into Air City roof here. I moved str8 right off of belay and negotiated the "Pacman roof". BIG AIR!!!!ending in OW groveling.

Beyer's topo indicates you have topped out now, I found two more pitches.

P15 A pitch so good it needs a name, but alas, it doesn't. Steep mixed fraid climbing (mixed free/aid) culminates in a difficult guano mantle. Turn the roof into the horizontal bands. I was free climbing here with a large rack, and again cruxed out mentally/physically. Copp or Pennings free this at 11+, I however added two rivets after a bivi.

P16 Some free climbing, pulling on gear in a womb slot, and a nice hand crack deposit you on the rim.

1 bolt added at belay 11, 2 rivets on P15= total hole count. Beyer added a few enchanted hooks. Pretty natural line.

So whether its a new line, variation, or me being lost I don't care. I hope some next generation aid geek repeats this. All of the heads are fixed (so do it in a push!) and not all are great. If anyone needs more info or a real topo email me.

White devil on a Black planet...aren't we all!

Protection 

Weeks worth of your favorite wall vice. Heads/hooksdouble set of stuff to #4.5 Camalot.