BETA PHOTO: East Prow route. Arrows show the start and pitch ...
Description
I almost feel bad about writing up this route as it was in virgin condition when I did it. It offers lots of climbing in the sustained 5.8-5.9 range on generally good to excellent rock and makes a great uncrowded alternative to Sykes or The Barb. Hike up to the south nose/arete of Spearhead which is fairly blunt and slabby at the start.The topo in Rossiter is pretty much right on but the face is a little more confusing than the topo shows in the first 2 pitches. We were using a 60M rope so my belays were based accordingly.
P1:Start up the most prominent right facing dihedral slightly left of the actual prow and about 100' left of Age Axe. It's a clean, wide crack, easy 5.6; I belayed on top of the "tooth-shaped" flake just left and slightly below the "7" on Rossiter's topo. Close to a full rope length.
P2:Continue up on slightly harder climbing to the ominous roofs above and find the easiest way through (5.8).Look for a left facing dihedral just over the roof and continue up a ways. Rossiter shows a belay just over the roof. I belayed about 40-50 feet higher just below another small roof. About 150'.
P3: Here I think I may have been off route. From the small roof there are 2 options; straight up and over the roof in the continuation of the dihedral which turns into a small hand/fingers crack over the roof (which "MAY" be the 5.7 way that Rossiter shows) or continue up left around the roof which turns into a very shallow left facing dihedral that I thought was more like 5.9-. In any case, both variations merge on easy ground at the junction of the true "South Arete". Belay just below a 3" crack in a beautiful orange open book. You are now on "Age Axe".
P4: Jam and stem up the open book with excellent position, (sustained 5.8), 80-100' to a wide ledge and belay.Rossiter incorrectly shows double bolts at the right end of this ledge. They're actually at the left end. Shift the belay over to the right just below some large flakes/chimney.
P5: Climb up through the large flakes to another large ledge. A short 5.4 pitch.
P6: The business: You have 2 choices here. The crack straight above is the final pitch of Age Axe (5.10c and fairly well fixed with wireds). My partner wasn't up for that so we shifted the belay a ways right and finished up the final pitch of 3 Stoners (5.9). (The mental crux of the route was climbing across the down sloping, sidewalk wide ledge that is the common last belay for Age Axe, Stone Monkey and 3 Stoners.) The final pitch up 3 Stoners is excellent. A short 5.9 chimney leads up 20' to a point you can step right and into a perfect 5.9 finger crack. The rock here is really good! Continue up this to a final roof passed on the left and up to the descent ledge.
Descent: As mentioned by others, walk down SW (left-wards facing uphill) a long ways on a fairly open ledge/meadow. There are a few cairns. At some point you need to down climb a bit to gain the top of a long, NE facing (left; facing downhill) ramp. It's VERY easy to get cliffed-out here! Take some care to find the proper place to turn down. I don't remember there being any cairns to mark the point but there is a faint trail. The long ramp back down is a lot like the descent down Redgard and wouldn't be lot of fun in wet or icy conditions.
Protection
Standard rack with a few extra pieces in the 3" range.
By Jim Berg From: Boulder, CO Jun 15, 2004 rating: 5.9+
I could not find the way to the lower roof & ended up doing a variation to the left. Way out left is a small left facing dihedral. A horizonal break in the right facing system used on the first pitch will lead you here. This happens as you approach the roofs on the second pitch. I ventured out left looking for this variation & notice the rock to the right of the left facing dihedrial was covered with chicken heads. Instead of taking the left facing dihedral (which looked 5.8/5.9), I went up the chicken heads. Not much pro but a fun pitch that was 5.6ish. With a 60m rope, I ended up a little short of the ledge that leads right to the 5.8 pitch of Age Axe. This route is excellent. The last pitch of Three Stoners is oh so sweet. Felt a little harder than 5.9, but the altitude always does that to me. Spliter pitch. Great route that is sure to see more traffic as word gets around.
See Age Axe for some photos and a description of the final 10a/b/c (take your pick) final pitch of Age Axe.
By Jeff Giddings From: Fort Collins Jul 17, 2005 rating: 5.9+
Very worthy route especially at the grade. I don't think it is as good as The Barb, so I'm only giving it two stars. It does, however, offer excellent and clean climbing in the 5.8-5.9 range. We also traversed right to finish on Three Stoners' final pitch (I would also argue that this pitch could be given a 10a rating).
Did this route today 8-12-06, The third pitch, the gorgeous open book is not a 3" crack more like 3.5 to 4". So if you think taking multiple 3 Camalots will allow you to sew it up think again, you'll need (2)#3.5 and (1)#4 Camalot if you don't want to run it out. As for the rest of the route, great climbing that sees little or no traffic at all. The 5.9 finish of Three Stoners is a good as it gets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The moves right around the flaring "tooth" in P1 seemed about 5.8, as described by Rossiter (his topo and description don't match). As far as I can tell this is the only option for the start of the climb. In June 2008 (snow still on the mountain) the slab below this tooth was wet from seeps.
Spearhead
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