This climb is a serious undertaking with some big runnouts in places. Most notably the 4th pitch with 60 feet of unprotected 5.7, the fifth pitch which has a 110 foot traverse with widely spaced pro so the second can enjoy it too, and the 8th pitch where falling could lead to a big swing into a corner.
The cool thing is that doing this you are following in the footsteps of some inspired and daring people. In Bob Kerry's Guiedbook Backcounty Rockclimbing in Southern Arizona he writes that the original line was concieved by Merle Wheeler and Joanna McComb but the attempt ended at the top of pitch two. Wheeler came back with Dave Baker and at the top of pitch five which atempted to go straight up they could go no higher. In '75 Baker, Rich Thompson, and Gary Hervert returned and worked out the traverse pitch and continued up ending at the end of pitch eight. A week later Hervert returned with Brett Oxberry and finished the route using aid on three pitches. In '76 Ray Ringle, Scott Brown, and John Stieger free climbed all but the traverse moves on pitch eight. Then Baker and Fig Fiola returned in '77 and free climbed the entire route.
Hollow and loose rock and a couple of places where you had to climb on it made this a less than totally fun day for me. In the end I am glad I climbed it but more glad that I was climbing 5.12 sport regularly before I got on this route. Doing this route at or near your limit would be a great accomplishment.
Location
Starts just right of the toe of the dome as you see it on the approach. Pitch 1) 120 ft. Climb right facing corner until possible to move left to a 4 bolt anchor. Pitch 2) 5.10, 80ft. Thin face past two bolts then right to flake then right and up crack to ledge that leads up and left to trees. Pitch 3) 5.9, 140ft. Face to crack and roof you move right around then up dihedrals until you reach a zig zag crack. belay in or below a small book. Pitch 4) 5.9, 110ft. Move right and up nice corner then step left after 30 feet or so and run it out 70 ft. (5.6 - 5.7) to the brushy ledge. Set your belay up on the right side of the bushes using bushes and a #2 camalot. Pitch 5) 5.6, 110 ft. Traverse right. Do not climb up to a bolt you might see. Drop down ten feet or so from the ledge then head right 5.6. Belay in the corner of the pillar. Pitch 6) 5.9, 60ft. Kerry's guide says "move right and execute a few difficult moves to start a short but sustained dihedral(5.9), small wires between the fixed pegs are helpful. Did not find this. We moved left on the ledge about 15 feet and climbed a crack up and right to the corner above the belay. At this point I went to the top of this where there is a lot of scary rock then down climbed with a slung chock to the 3 bolt belay. Probably should have looked around the corner to the right but we were using another persons beta as well as the Kerry description. In hind sight if I had moved right as soon as I got to the corner I could have traversed right to the anchors. From the anchors I could also see a bolt below us that may have been above the fixed pegs mentioned. Whatever you work out get to the two bolt anchor. Pitch 7) 5.8, 60ft. Move back left to the pillar and climb to it's top 25ft. then dance gingerly over the spooky but relatively stable flakes that lead to a thin crack. Continue to climb up and right and belay at an uncomfortable stance at the bottom of a corner that curves up and left at the top. You might be able to see old slings hanging from the old belay bolts at the top of the corner. Pitch 8) 5.10, 70ft. Climb corner to two 1/4 inch bolts and and an ugly pin but don't stop. Either clip the pin or put a good micro cam in above it then bust left then up to an ugly flake (pro) then left to a ledge then back to the crack. A 4 camalot could be used here to set up an anchor. We continued up the crack another 40 feet or so and belayed just above a jagged chockstone. Pitch 9) 5.8,160ft. Assuming you belayed in the crack above the old bolts and pin, continue up the crack to the chimney and belay on gear and one good bolt. Pitch 10) 5.9, 80ft. Fun chimney then grassy gully to top.
To descend takes two ropes. Head up and right around to the back side of dome. Where bushes impede your visit to the summit drop down and right maybe 50 feet until you can see an old dead pine tree. The slings are on that. There is also a single new 3/8th bolt about 30 feet below the tree where you would have to stand to look down into the gully. It would be great if someone added a second one. I believe it will be possible to reach the ground with a 70M rope from there.
Protection
Double set of cams from smallest to #3 camalot size. We took a set of RP's and a set of stoppers to one inch. A #4 Camalot could be used on the the belay after pitch 8 but not a necessity.
pitch 2 is pretty slabby and I thought 5.10-. I did get a brass nut above the second bolt. Jeff Kennedy has done some replacing of bolts here.
pitch 5, the traverse is easy, like 5.4.
pitch 7's flake is ugly, have fun.
We were not able to finish (lack of daylight, early nov) and found 4 rap stations from the double bolt anchor right near crux on pitch 8 down. They were twin 1/4" w/ the bad chrome moly SMC death hangers.
The hike is no less than 3.5 hours and closer to 4.5 hours. Mayhew can do it in 2 hours but no mortals.
For the sake of history, Kerry's info was lifted pretty much verbatim from the old Summit Hut guide. The line ("In November 1976, Ray Ringle, Scott Brown and John Steiger climbed the route free except for one tension traverse at the roof pitch.") is marked in my copy with a hand-written asterisk and the note "Charly Lyons + Ross Hardwick also climbed Leviathan in this style in 1975 - D.B." D.B. being Dave Baker of course.
Hiked out there with three other people including a sixty seven year old guy that was only fifteen minutes behind my partner and I. We did it in two and a half hours.
Pitch five is not even close to five four. It was twice that hard. I had to think about it and thought I could fall. I can generally do five four with a blindfold and one hand behind my back.
All of the necessary bolts have been replaced and new ones were added to the anchors. The anchors at the end of pitch six only have one new three eighths and two old ones. The two bolts that used to be the belay at the top of pitch eight were not replaced to encourage people not to stop there. Good pro can be placed for making the moves past them.
I walked in in '92 and there was no trail. We left the car @ 2 expecting to bivy at the base and instead spent the night and still had 45 minutes walk in the AM to get to the base. A trail may exist now, but when Kerry wrote of a 2 hours approach back the early '90's I laughed.
I was told three things, 1st that the second pitch was 5.9- coming off Phoenix granite training I thought that was a little light, 2nd the traverse was hard and had few issues leading this, and 3rd beware the rotten pillar. Someone forgot to mention we needed 1 hour more light to finish the route....
Without taking the trails we took it could be a nightmare. The short section we did bushwack wasn't fun especially on the way out in the dark. On the other hand Rickd the vegetation would not have been as big or thick back then, so maybe you were in pretty bad shape or directionally challenged that day.
the worst part of my adventure (cept the header I took in the dark marching out) was that the bastidge at Circle K in Oro Valley carded me when I needed my beer about 11:30pm. I was ready to rumble.
to summarize, if you go up the drainage (and back down in the dark) it will take all of 4 hours one way.
Forgot to mention that we didn't bring any silicone caulk to fill the removed bolts holes. So if you are heading out to do it take a small squeeze tube of clear that you can get at the Hdwe. store and a small baggie to put some sand in when you get to the base. Fill the hole with caulk then mash a handful of sand into it. The hole will disappear. No need to carry the caulk all the way up as there is only one more hole and it is fairly innocuous. So toss the tube down to your pack. Thanks in advance.
Other folks agreed more or less with Rickd that pitch 5 is not as hard as what we did if you move down from the ledge then traverse so I changed it in the description.
I must have climbed this over 20 years ago, with Tom Hilbert. Tom kept saying that climbing was taking up too much of his psychological life. So he would plan these month-long trips to Yosemite to do some horrific big wall projects to "get it out of his system." Yeah, right.
Eric says, "Doing this route at or near your limit would be a great accomplishment." That was me at the time, so I accept your kudos. But the only part I have really vivid memories of was the pitch 8 crux (which at the time I think folks had rated 10a.) A scary unprotected short traverse where a mistake would result in a nasty swing into a corner. That hasn't been retro-bolted, has it?
As if the climb isn't enough, watch for the rattlesnakes on the after-dark hike out. We encountered three or four.
If anyone is thinking of doing this route, but is hesitant, I would recommend: do it. This route is an adventure, you're no longer in the supermarket. But that's what it's all about.
Hey David. There are two old belay bolts just before the traverse. We did not replace them as there is good pro next to them and it is our understanding that no one belays there any more. We belayed at the bottom of the corner and climbed through the crux then pushed it up the crack until I had just enough stuff to set an anchor. This allowed us to reach the top in one more pitch.
Leviathan Dome
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