Considering the rock quality in a couple sections, a few insecure moves and the wide crack, that would be a burly solo! I can't decide what is more sick...Peter Croft's onsight solo or Walt Shipley's after doing the route roped and knowing what to expect!!
The route is exciting and physical and a must do for the High Sierra tick list.
Pitch 1: 3 options...Center option is a groove to a roof (slightly loose) (9+, 115').
Pitch 2: Easiest free version is to step down and traverse right on the lower crack approximately 20' where its possible to move back up to the upper crack at a good jug in between. Clip a pin and wiggle up to a roof. Fun finger/hand crack changes to a lieback to a sloping ledge where you can go left or right to end on the upper ledge with multiple 3rd pitch options (10, 200').
Pitch 3: If on the right side of the upper ledge...Go up a flake to a broken left facing corner and a piton belay on a ledge (8+, 120').
Pitch 4: Pick the easiest run out path to the corner chimney (which you don't really chimney, stay outside) (7+, 110').
Pitch 5: Hand and fists in the corner to a 6-7" OW/stem over a bulge passing old bolts. Continue up the 7-8" OW/Squeeze with a lonely old bolt to a a good ledge (10, 150'). #3 and #4 BigBro's may be nice.
Pitch 6: Go right on the ledge and up the obvious left facing corner with two bolts. At the second bolt make a wild traverse right to the finger cack groove with a squeeze finish to a jumbled ledge (10-, 190').
Pitch 7: Move right and up a bizarre corner system with a strenuous lieback. Follow broken rock to a sloping ledge under a flared goove (9+, 190').
Pitch 8: Up the groove and follow the natural weakness for a 190' pitch (5.5).
Pitch 9: 200+' fourth class loose grooves to the summit.
Location
Approach from the back of Sawmill campground on a nice trail and past the Carnegie Institute. Still on a trail, trend left and up the creek drainage. Crossing talus and snow, aim for the natural rock tongue-weakness which borders the snow up to the skyline of the left edge of the east face bowl. Follow the ridgeline to the north on a worn trail all the way to the notch/view of the awesome south face of granite (stay on the trail). Drop your packs and descend the mostly solid gully. The route starts at a point left of center on the main wall. Locate the "Goodrich Memorial", a plaque bolted to the rock in a right facing corner up and right of the route's first pitch.
Descent from the summit is quick and simple thanks to cairns and built-up steps followed by a worn trail down soft dirt which leads back to the descent gully/notch and your packs.
Protection
Nuts/hexes, 3/4" cams to 8" tubes, runners, 60M rope.
Add PhotoPhotos of South West Face (Harding) Route
Pitch 1 is wet
Dave Goldstein negotiates the first of the wide se...
Starting the sixth pitch (P7 in Supertopo)
Last 5.9 section before summit gullies
Add CommentComments on South West Face (Harding) Route
I thought this was a better route than Red Dihedral on The Incredible Hulk. Pitches two through seven are all quite good.
Notes: I thought following P1, which I followed, was the crux -- wet, loose, freezing and not overly protected.
We had a 4,5 & 6 C4 Camalot. The 5 & 6 came in handy, the 4 was basically dead weight. If you're really concerned about weight, you could leave the 5 at home, but I strongly recommend having the 6 which, if you're willing to walk it along as you climb, protects most of the harder wide parts of P4; otherwise, your protection for the last 100+' of this pitch will be a few 1/4" bolts, most of which are about 50 years old.
We found the SuperTopo pitch lengths to be consistently short.
The approach from the east is easy to screw up at several points. The correct notch from which one descends from the summit plateau can be hard to identify. We incorrectly interpreted an obvious saddle about five minutes walk south from where we'd gained the plateau as the notch; while this way we went was easy, it probably added at least 20 minutes to our approach. From the base of the route we identified what was probably the correct descent: it is pretty close to the summit, one can see the entire SW Face route from it and it faces north.
Mt. Conness
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