Artist's Bluff in Franconia - Route Variation, Bad Map or Lost?

Climbed the Ride Side Route yesterday and had a great time, but very confused about the P2 beta in the description as it compares to the picture/route map shown here on MP. Here's what I did:

From the P1 belay, walked up the obvious slab (as per the P2 description). Followed the slab up around a corner, where the the slab became climbable rather than merely walkable. Went straight up clean triangular face (you can see the clean triangle in the photo) straight up to the top. Was a bit run out from mid-triangular face to the top of that section (only small cracks that were mostly flaring and didn't want to take pro).

I know that the description says "Route finding can be a little tricky but some mistakes climb just as well as the intended line... ", and I certainly enjoyed this line, but it seems so very far off from the photo that it doesn't seem like it would be a "variation."

Anyone know about this line? Is the route map here on MP right or wrong? Did I actually climb P2 of this route, or did I make something up?

I've attached the route map with the line I climbed in red.

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I climbed this last year and I definitely climbed the route in red, so maybe I did it wrong. I felt like the face climbing at the end was harder than 5.6, but still very fun.

The path of least resistance and the route description "climb the slab up and right" lead me to believe your topo (in red) is correct and the green might be off. Either way,fun climb.

Did you have fun? Does it really matter? I am pretty sure every climbable inch of rock at artists has been climbed. All the routes I have done there had many variations.

Adam Beach wrote:I felt like the face climbing at the end was harder than 5.6, but still very fun. The path of least resistance and the route description "climb the slab up and right" lead me to believe your topo (in red) is correct and the green might be off. Either way,fun climb.

I completely agree - fun climb, and the route we both went seemed like the obvious path. I too felt that the face might be a bit stiff for a 5.6, but I suppose it's all relative. :)

june m wrote:Did you have fun? Does it really matter? I am pretty sure every climbable inch of rock at artists has been climbed. All the routes I have done there had many variations.

I did indeed! And I didn't intend to imply that the route I took had not been climbed. I'm just trying to reconcile the description with the topo with the actual line climbed. The description is so very far from the topo that it's startling. I know that for me, as a new trad climber, getting bad beta could be super unpleasant and potentially dangerous. In this case it was neither, but I think that clarity of beta is always welcome.

The green line is more direct, but I never found much pro on the arete, having to go into a corner to the left of the arete to place gear(?). The red line you climbed always seemed to me like the best way to finish...

You climbed Right Side Route, the route map is mislabeled. The G line on the map is Artist's Arete, which shares P1 of Right Side Route.

tylermoody wrote:You climbed Right Side Route, the route map is mislabeled. The G line on the map is Artist's Arete, which shares P1 of Right Side Route.

Fantastic! Thanks Tyler! And thanks to Adam and T Burgess as well, for sharing their feedback. Glad to know I'm not crazy. :) (and there you go Adam! You climbed the correct route too!)

I grew up climbing in vt berore we had a giide book. Sometimes you got some beta, but more often or not we went exploring.A guide book, topo or app gives you an idea where to climb, but you have to look at the rock and go where it seems best to you. Its part of climbing, get you nose out if the book and look at the rock. I still have a tendancy to climb the route that is not in the book.