This is fun and devious route which ascends the shortest section of North Chasm View Wall. It looks like a pile from the ground but has pretty good climbing and exposure on the first three pitches. The final pitches are very low-angled and loose but go pretty fast if you find the easiest line. Be wary of climbing beneath another party on this route, and also be aware that there have apparently been some bad accidents on the crux pitch which is runout and also easy to get off route onto harder climbing.
2022 Edit: perhaps the most common way to do this route these days is traverse into A Midsummer Night's Dream for its great 5.9+ third pitch, a long airy corner with good gear and lots of jugs and stem rests. Then, once on the terrace, do the 9+ direct finish, which is similar in difficulty, quality, and protection. Doing the route with both of those pitches makes for a reasonably protected outing that is one of the better moderates in the Black.
Go down the Cruise Gully, and find the route shortly after emerging from the second rappel. The first pitch is identified by a right-facing 5.8 corner with a wide crack up high (avoid the harder crack systems and roofs to the left). Access P1 by scrambling up and left on blocky third class to a ledge.
P1. Ascend the large corner, and belay on a grassy ledge at left.
P2. Take the obvious, acute left-facing corner above the belay (5.8). At its top, angle right on a ramp then back left to a small belay ledge below a flake system.
P3. This is the devious crux: go up a left-facing flake/finger crack, toward a triangular overlap/roof. Angle rightwards where the corner ends, and climb further up a thin crack past the right end of the overlap, to a sloping ledge. It is easier but scarier to place pro in the crack and then traverse a ways back left to turn the roof on bigger holds, then run it out on ~5.7 terrain to the ledge above. Staying with the crack the whole way as it dies out is the more obvious line, but probably 5.10-something and still a bit spicy.
Probably a better variation to this pitch (certainly better-protected) is to traverse up and left (easy but a little runout) into the large right-facing corner of A Midsummer Night's Dream's third pitch, which is great climbing. It's slightly harder than P3 of Leisure Climb but is better protected. It's also easier to stretch the rope a bit farther than on Leisure Climb proper.
P4. Go right up easy ground a short ways (to avoid a steep section) then back left up a long, broken and bushy corner. Belay at its top, or (some simul-climbing required) go directly up fun face-climbing for about 35 feet to another good ledge.
P5. Go easily along the base of a steep cliff on 3rd Class, then climb up a chimney to belay on the right end of huge, forested ledge (hard to see from the start of the pitch). If doing the Leisure-Summer version, you can just barely combine 4 & 5 with a 70-meter rope.
P6 (optional direct finish): walk left along the ledge 200-300, passing the Happy Ending and the huge corner of Kama Sutra. Around the corner from those harder finishes, look for a nice fingers to hands crack that leads up to a ledge with some blocky overhanging peg above. This 9+ direct finish has lots of climbing at the grade, but also lots of rests, and protects well--similar in those respects to P3 of MND. The climbing is great and shouldn't be missed if time permits.
Otherwise, continue walking along the ledge to the left (west) until an easy 5th Class low-angle corner/groove accesses the canyon rim.
A standard rack with micro-nuts and micro-cams for the crux pitch and a #4 Camalot with optional #5 (new sizes) for pitch one.
Seattle, WA
Seattle, WA
The route trends right a short bit from the bushes but veers back left, eventually turning the lower roof towards its R side (as is evidenced by the photo labeled, "Boots on the crux roof pitch"); more of an overlap at that point. The route then trends up and right. The black line is entirely wrong as it would have the climber tackling a 12' roof (in the overexposed portion of the lined photo). Anyone care to confirm?
I did not find this route to be a pile. After all this is The Black; an acquired taste. May 8, 2002
Colorado megalopolis
You are absolutley right, and Myke and I have been arguing this point over e-mail. The lines on both the lower and upper part of photo are mis-marked. Myke must've had a bad experience in the Black, and is therefore repressing those memories by mismarking this photo so that the scary pitches will be removed from his subconscious. Just kidding Myke!
Also, thank you for attesting to the quality of this route, on a relative Black Canyon scale. I don't understand the belief that all these hard-core people have with it (everyone, this is not an attempt to start a flame war!)--is it just because it's an easy route? I don't think so, I would even repeat it (and I for one thought it was just as good as Maiden Voyage, although not anywhere near as good as Escape Artist). May 8, 2002
You are confusing the matter. The line on the lower portion is correct! The first pitch does, in fact, take the prominent R-facing as noted, before steeping L to the bushes (where the first white line ends and the second begins). The second pitch takes a L-facing (indiscernible in the photo) to the next clump of bushes. The first two pitches can be done as one 60m pitch. May 8, 2002
Colorado megalopolis
I don't really think anyone would actually try to climb that roof, but routefinding is a bit confusing on the crux pitch as it is and this photo could conceivably add to someone's confusion, at least when planning for the climb. May 8, 2002
Seattle, WA
city, state
Cannon Beach, OR
vicenza, IT
CP Aug 29, 2007
sunshine
Trip report here: rockaroundtheworld.co.uk/20…. Sep 7, 2019
North Mitten