[Hide Comment] Agree w/ Ron in the route description. There is a variety of climbing offered on this (first long) pitch providing good practice in shifting balance as you stem. The finish chimney section (best part of the first pitch) offers a large nut placement then to a friendly foot ledge & fun chimney to bolts. I would offer that this is a hard technical mountaineering-type pitch. It is quite fun but generally underrated in relation of being a good climb because of its neighbors.

Difficult to climb this with a pack or camelback, this (first) pitch is fairly cleaned of loose rock, but be mindful that a rock will fall on everyone staging for the other climbs (& also where your belayer is standing). I generally get an early start to try and avoid any mishaps when climbing this feature. May 8, 2006

[Hide Comment] As per Mark Nelson's comment, this route lost a grade of difficulty for me from the time I climbed it with a camelback (what was I thinking?!) Sep 6, 2006

[Hide Comment] A much better pitch than it's generally given credit for. As noted, more like a technical mountaineering pitch, and there's some real-by-god chimney climbing at the top that's thoughtful and fun. Also as noted, the gear is not plentiful, but I've never felt too badly run out. I think Rossiter's guide gives this a 5.5, but maybe a bit harder. Mar 26, 2007

[Hide Comment] I actually thought this was a fun chimney. I lead it today as the first pitch of Swanson's Arete and I would say is was no harder than the rest of the route which goes at 5.5. There is some loose rock, but not too much and it does take pro well (there are also two solid looking pitons along the way and 2 sets of bolts for rappels along with plenty of cracks).

That being said I only gave it one star because of the risk factor. DO NOT climb this route if anyone is rappelling from above. The chimney continues all the way to the top and doubles as the rappel route to get off the top (as an alternative to the walk down). There was no one below us or in the vicinity so we rapped down. On the second rap, pulling the ropes dislodges one of the many loose rocks in the upper chimney and it went crashing all the way down. I was trying to be really careful and there was no one below us, but seeing the rock shatter in after dropping 50 feet into the chimney made me decide never to climb that route if there was any chance of anyone rappelling above. Jul 24, 2008

[Hide Comment] I climbed this as the "approach" to Swanson's arête and found it a good way to approach at a grade similar to that of Swanson's. Good climbing, good enough pro and a fun but too short section of chimneying. Leading it with a pack isn't too bad as you can just clip it to your harness for the 5 feet of chimneying. I made it all the way to the Red Ledge right below Swanson's Arête in one pitch with double 60m ropes. I think my belayer climbed up a few feet to accomodate this....

I can see why people are calling it 5.5. I feel like it might be an unsustained 5.6, but you can decide for yourself.

I gave it two stars as it is not sustained and there is minimal actual chimneying on it.

Enjoy!! Jul 22, 2011

[Hide Comment] Found some gear by the little tree at the top of the chimney. Anyone lose something? Aug 29, 2011

[Hide Comment] There is also a TV-sized block at the east end of Red Ledge. Probably just a matter of time before it goes down the West Chimney. Jul 30, 2012

[Hide Comment] Climbed this with my son for Father's Day 2017.

I'm not a great fan of chimneys, but still an OK climb. If you do like chimneying, you will like this route.

Rewritten and Great Zot had climbers lined up and competing for belay space, so we climbed pitch 1 of West Chimney to get to the Red Ledge (to climb Swanson's Arete).

My son did a great job leading this & I found the route harder (and a bit sketchy in spots) than I expected, but this is probably because we rarely climb big chimneys. I traversed over and climbed about 20 feet of Great Zot & felt it was much easier.

Swanson's was pretty mellow after the approach. I had knee replacement surgery 3 months ago and haven't climbed in ages, so I wanted to climb something easy but long, & it was a fun outing overall. Jun 19, 2017

[Hide Comment] This pitch was great....

I led it this morning, as my first trad lead in far too long. I'm not sure if it was the rope drag speaking, but I think 5.6 is a fair rating for this. The moves exiting the chimney feel stout, especially when you aren't totally confident in your ability to place pro.

I like that the crack swallows pro for the most part: I encountered two fixed pins and two "fixed" nuts. The climbing had good variety, and altogether, this was a great intro to leading at Eldo. Jul 13, 2017

[Hide Comment] One of the bolts on the second set at the top of the chimney was coming loose today. We tightened it pretty good with a nut tool. Something to keep an eye on. Sep 19, 2023

[Hide Comment] Watch out for the loose, toaster-sized block about 1/3 of the way up West Chimney. It is ready to come off soon and is right above an area where lots of people gather to await climbing Rewritten and other routes. May 13, 2024