Pervertical Sanctuary 

The old-school rating for this route is 10c, however the newer guide books give it 11a, so it is up in the air. The serious rating is because of the loose rock on the first two pitches. Otherwise the gear is bomber.

I've never done this route, but I have to recommend a hilarious trip report(and some pictures) that I found at www.wwwright.com. Many other interesting trip reports on Boulder climbs and other area as well on this site.

I now have done this route (on 7/20), and feel compelled to contribute some beta about the pitch lengths (and some other ramblings). The lengths in the above description are straight out of Rossiter, and they are a bit screwy. Most people will want to do as Gillett describes in his new guide, and start with the obvious left leaning crack system on P1, and then traverse to the Mitten dihedral(which doesn't reach the ground)--about 180 feet (belay at the base of the Mitten if necessary), but the first 50 are easy and avoid some involved and dicey scrambling far left and then back right. P2 and P3 combine nicely with a 60 meter rope. The description gets really weird for the next two pitches: the obvious belay on the crux pitch is after about 90 feet (it answers Rossiter's description of the belay), but that makes the .10a fist/OW about 150 feet long. Which leads me to believe that Rossiter has the height of the Obelisk wrong, as well as the location of the belay. One could conceivably continue the crux lead up the first part of the wide crack and belay on another small ledge, to make the pitches more even in length.

Other notes: watch for a very loose flake near the top of P5, in the wide crack. The .10c "old-school" grade seems accurate to me, especially when compared to other pure crack climbs in the Estes/Boulder area, e.g. Country Club Crack, Days of Heaven, etc. The final 3 pitches are fantastic and more than make up for the lower chossy stuff.

Yes, the 5.11a pitch is really just old-school 5.10c, with a few moves of 1-1.5" crack for a crux. Unless you are a very good offwidth climber, you might find that only 2 big cams is a little shy of the ideal pro for the 5.10 off-width pitch.
I placed the last of my large gear down low. For the last 40' I had nothing- zip, nolo, nada... and that was a bit tweeky. Maybe I am just a wimp, but I ended up a little nervous about being 30' above my gear on this pitch. Take 2 #4's and a #3.5, or save whatever ones you have for up high.

Part of the problem with the OW pitch is that if you go into it thinking it will only be 80 feet long (as Rossiter has it), you'll be in for a rude awakening. However, there are lots of other gear placements on this pitch. We had two each of 4 and 3 Camalots, and was fine for me to lead that pitch cleanly (and I'm definitely no solid 5.10 OW climber!). The trick is to save both #4s for the final 40 or so ft., where the incipient thin cracks dry up. This can be accomplished with some judicious backcleaning--in addition to other little cracks, the main crack accepts 2-3 camalots well until the final 40 feet, making it always possible to backclean the #4 whenever you have to place it. Even in the final 40 feet there is one good small cam placement. With these shenanigans, I was never more than about 15 feet out, and ended up with one #4 still on my harness at the belay.

The 4-inch 10a is the true crux of this route. Put your stronger leader on it.

I finally did this route the other day and I strongly disagree with the notion that the 10a pitch is the true crux of the route. The crux pitch is probably 10c but it feels like 11- at that altitude. The 10a fists at the start of the "wide" pitch are burly but the OW higher up is only 5.8. I felt solid with one #3.5 and one #4 Camalot, though the #4 Camalot needs to be saved for the top of the pitch.

This is probably the quickest climb on the Diamond (if done as 5 pitches its borderline grade III) and the upper part of the route gets sun for a little while after the rest of the wall is in the shade. It was the first Diamond route I've done where I haven't felt completely destroyed when I got back to the car.

If you know you're going to rappell the wall, you can easily traverse right at Almost Table Ledge, without stopping for an extra belay, and also avoiding the first, short, 50' rappell from Table Ledge to Almost Table Ledge.

On the wide pitch, I remember getting a blind TCU placement around the arete on the left, then having to climb about 30' to the top of the Obelisk Pillar, but not terribly difficult climbing (5.8 with a section of 5.9?).

I, too, felt that the thin-hands pitch was the true crux. I recall Mr. Bubb's statement (in some other route review) that he has smallish hands, hence a possible explanation as to how the pitch felt to him. If your hands are "standard issue male hands" (like mine are), it will feel harder. Then of course there's the subject of how good at thin hand cracks one is....GAAAHHHH!!! Sorry to bring up a topic that could be discussed ad infinitum, but I thought some clarification/obfuscation might be helpful....

Funny comments...I'll add mine. We picked this route at the last minute when we got to B-Way a bit late and found the Yellow Wall occupied. We only had the [Gillett] topo, no description, so we only had 2 #2 Camalots and one #3. I didn't know there was wide stuff on the route! Needless to say, I found the two 5.10 pitches to be quite exhilarating, but it is possible to do. I held onto the #3 (with lots of placing, then backcleaning it) until 20 feet or so from the ledge, on the 10a pitch, then ran it to the top. Fortunately there are a lot of options for placing smaller gear intermittently on those pitches. So there's your slim rack beta.

PS, awesome route with a great, splitter crux!

Another option, if you find yourself in Mr. Anderson's situation, is to step left from the belay atop Pervertical's crux and do the 11c pitch of Ariana, which requires nothing larger than a #2 camalot. If you can do the crux of PV in good style, you will do OK on that pitch. You may or may not send, but you'll get it up fine. However, if you struggle on PV's crux, I can't recommend this option.

Also, having done both routes, I feel that this combo is actually gives you the two most classic pitches on this side of the Obelisk-the best pitch on PV followed by Ariana's best pitch.

Interesting combo of Ariana .11c pitch and PS, but I would venture the best pitch on Ariana is the crux pitch.

Another option if you are in the vicinity without requisite bigger gear for PS is fire up D7, even if you need to A0 the crux. There is a ton of good climbing on this, and you will still have a smile on your face even if you pull on some gear up there.

With all the crowding on the Di-a-mond these days be prepared to shift plans and get loose up there. Also consider options from the raps down Y-Wall in case of crowding there, esp. if the weather craps out.

Check this out--yikes!!

http://www.rockclimbing.com/topic/94746

I've done this route twice. Once in the late 70s and once in the mid/late 80s and don't remember any offwidth. I suck at offwidths so I think I would remember. Since I suck at offwidths I have developed lots of avoidance techniques so maybe it's there and I just don't remember it... That chopper flake in the crack up high is waaaaay dangerous. Someone should trundle it when there's no one below.

The largest piece I ever carried in those days was a #3 Friend and it felt well protected. Maybe it was youth or maybe it was tricams. Don't remember. This was the first route I did on the Diamond and it felt pretty reasonable, but breathless, at .10c.

The raps are stupid and make the Diamond feel like a sport climb. Go up and over the top. You'll remember the secret passages down the Chasm View wall for the rest of your life...

Mal

Mal,
Check out the featured photo of the route on this page. The one with Jo's whole arm stuck in the crack up to her shoulder. I'm pretty sure there is some OW on this climb...

Amazing route! No single move on the crux pitch is really harder than 5.9 but 10c is an accurate rating due to the super sustained nature of the crack. The 10a fist crack is also excellent involving perfect laybacks and deep fist jams. Nothing really off-width. Highly recommended.

My favorite route on the Diamond. Not sure why really except it was the first one I did.

I think Ron actually started this from Mill's Glacier with a independent line to Broadway in a attempt to do a grade six on the east face. This is a vague memory though and I could be wrong. Charlie Fowler did do just that though with his La Dolce Vida with a start near the North Chimney.

Happy Holidays....

Allen you are right. Ron did start this route from Mills through the upper section from Broadway sees all the traffic.

I wonder if that's ever been repeated....

According to Ron it has not seen a second ascent

From the top of the "Mitten Flake", P2 & P3 combine nicely to put you at the base of the crux splitter. The crux pitch is definitely shorter than the offwidth pitch, given that you belay at the stance with the bolt. The crux felt more like 100ft and the offwidth 150ft, give or take. No matter how you do them, these two pitches are a great back-to-back combo, requiring many different crack size techniques. Outstanding!