[Hide Comment] This route is about 10 minutes further downhill from pistol pete. It is not quit the leftmost route though. Jul 28, 2012

[Hide Comment] Good easy climb for begginners. Third pitch is the crux, but I feel a 5.7 would be a more accurate rating. Great Belay points on the whole route. Jan 27, 2013

[Hide Comment] Hiked all the way in and every route on Stone Depot was wet or icy except this one, we climbed the first 4 pitches but the last pitch was covered in ice so we backed off of it. Just as well it looked as if you could pretty much walk up it. The route does offer excellent views of Looking Glass and John's Rock but as far as the climbing goes it basically has one or two moves on the third pitch that require some finesse (it definitely feels soft to be a 5.8), the rest of it is stupidly easy, although it would be excellent for beginners or to rehearse multi-pitch skills. Jan 27, 2013

[Hide Comment] You don't need a 70m to link pitches. We did it with a 60m no problem. Thanks to Mike's book for the beta. May 1, 2013

[Hide Comment] Be aware that P5 is longer than what the new guidebook says. A 70m rope was not long enough to rap from the trees back to the P4 anchor. Our friends had to get creative to extend the rope.....

Link P1/P2 and P3/P4 together with a 60m rope then rap off. Oct 15, 2013

[Hide Comment] You definitely need a 70m rope to link the last two pitches together. We tried it with a 60 and my partner ended up about five feet short of the anchors. Feb 11, 2014

[Hide Comment] Great route for practicing multipitch for beginners. The 5th pitch is pretty much a walk off and it leaves you hanging on the rappel. We had to get creative to get to P4. If I do it again I'll rap from P4 and call it a day. Oct 16, 2015

[Hide Comment] To hopefully clarify a few of the above statements, if you link pitches one and two, and three and four, and skip the fifth pitch, you only need a 60m rope. I'd also say it is barely harder than Trinacious, and the bolts were well spaced (could have had more runout honestly). Aug 29, 2016

[Hide Comment] Is there a way to walk off or do you have to rappel? Oct 23, 2016

[Hide Comment] How many bolts are on each pitch? aka how many quickdraws do I need? Dec 15, 2016

[Hide Comment] This is a good route choice for beginners - mainly due to the easy nature of the route and the bolted belays the entire way. P3 is the only pitch that really has anything that feels technical and it has several bolts through the 5.7 terrain. If you top the route out and rap from the tree you should bring a long thing of cord to wrap around the tree - a 70M rope will NOT reach the next rap station if you just wrap your rope around the tree (which is not recommended anyways) - for this reason the last pitch isn't really worth the trouble. Overall an okay route. Apr 18, 2017

[Hide Comment] Great beginner multi pitch sport route. All the hardware you need and bolted belays with chains to make the raps easy. I would highly recommend if you're looking to practice. The last pitch is basically a hike so if you're concerned about not having enough rope you can skip it. We traversed, on rope, to the anchors for grove connection from the top and lower/climbed back up before rapping off the N x NW anchors. Oct 4, 2017

[Hide Comment] My son and I climbed this route yesterday. Overall, it was a fun climb with a couple of tenuous spots. We were also climbing with full packs in case we decided to walk off the top. We attempted to walk off, got about 50 feet above the last pitch and turned around. It is seriously overgrown with dense rhododendron that is a nightmare to get through (bring a machete if you're going to attempt it). Instead, we rappelled down. The fifth pitch has an anchor tied off to a tree with two non-locking carabiners. We added a rapid link for safe measure. It was around 125 feet to the anchor at the top of P4. We extended our 70m rope with a pull line, 'biner-blocked it, and rappelled off a single line.

Additional notes: we mapped the trail to this route on Gaia GPS. Jun 28, 2019

[Hide Comment] Climbed this 5/29/2022. Had an awesome time, the view from above the trees is fantastic! One of the best in the forest.

Linked pitches 1-2 and 3-4 with a 70. Climbed P5 and bushwhacked off. Route finding was...hard! We ended up running into a few groups of hikers and eventually made our way down toward the southwest to the Art Loeb. 6 mile full loop but awesome adventure! Jun 1, 2022

[Hide Comment] The hike down from the staging area is getting overgrown although by following the water runoff gulley we made it to the base of the climb. GPS for the base of the route is 35°15'35.0"N 82°48'01.7"W (35.259722, -82.800477) Sep 29, 2022

[Hide Comment] This climb is pretty easy but offers some spacing between bolts. Each of the bolt hangers at the anchor stations were in good condition but the bolts themselves look to be pretty corroded. Not sure if two different metals were used or if it's the water run off. Pitch 5 was mostly wet and slimey and chocked full of lichen. I got about 7 feet above the last bolt before the tree and very carefully turned back. The view from the tree did not seem worth the trouble of wet slab stepping. I put a locking carabiner on that bolt hanger and lowered back to the top of P4. Great little outing nonetheless. Mar 7, 2023

[Hide Comment] This is the best route at the Depot!
If you've got a 70, I recommend linking pitches 1 and 2 to the huge parking lot belay station at the end of P2. There are two sets of anchors there - the ones to the right (uphill) are the ones you'll want to use for NBNW. All pitches have bolted anchors with rings, and P1 and P2 have 2 bolts per pitch if memory serves. As of 7/22 the bolts were not in great shape, but considering how well traveled this route is, I would be inclined to trust them. There are places to put gear if you've brought a rack, but at ~5.5, a 5.7 leader would likely feel comfortable running this out, especially if they're working up to some other NC slab climbs. P3 is the money, and comes off the parking lot into the steeper headwall section. This pitch is very well protected, allowing you to clip almost (come on now, it's still NC) a fully bolted sport pitch (I think 4 bolts) through the 5.7+ crux. You won't get the opportunity to protect a climb like this very often around here! We only climbed to the top of P4, as we didn't feel the need to climb the easy 4th to the top to just rap it again after that, but the last pitch is cruiser after the crux pitch. Overall, a fantastic route, and worth waiting in line for if you hiked all the way up there.

Gear: Bring ~4 alpine draws and half a dozen regular draws. A .3 - 1 rack can be hauled up to mitigate a few runout sections over easy ground, but honestly it wouldn't be necessary unless you're practicing placing gear. I didn't bring a set of stoppers, and I don't think you'll find too many good stopper placements. Aug 3, 2023

[Hide Comment] Be aware the 5th pitch will be very wet if there has been any rain in recent days as it is one of the main drainages off the wood line also if you don’t have a 80m rope or 2 ropes 60m+ to combine you will not make it down the 5th pitch to the 4th pitch anchors be prepared to rappel off of the first bolt on pitch 5 to the 4th pitch anchors this will make a total of 6 rappels off the mountain if using a single 70m rope also please do not leave cordelette on the tree top of pitch 5 as it does not last I had to remove some that was left rats had chewed halfway through the cordelette leaving bits of it laying in the woods please LNT Nov 4, 2023

[Hide Comment] had rained hard prior to climbing and was completely dry (p1-4). all water above seems to divert down water grooves on both side. 3 is dope. skip 5.

“3rd class slab” approach (more like 5th downclimbing in hiking shoes lol) was also dry :-) May 10, 2024

[Hide Comment] New bolts thanks to ccc, great work y’all. Climbed June 15, 2024 Jul 27, 2024