Some of this area is subject to seasonal closures - Ridge 2, 3, & 4 (typically Feb 1- July 31) MORE INFO >>>
Ridge 1 is not subject to closure. Note, the area is rather full of poison ivy, for those who are sensitive. Also, there are bears & mountain lions known to habit these parts.
Patty follows up somewhere near 'Better Than Love'...
Description
This route begins in the same place as "Love". See the description for that route to locate the start. Crank the entrance move to get onto the rock. After you reach a large ledge about 15' up, instead of moving up and right into the large dihedral (Love), move up and left.
The exact line of this route was not clear to us. If you move far enough left you run into a clean arete, and we climbed this to the ridge. I believe you can also climb the face right of this arete. It may be possible to lead this entire thing in one giant pitch with a 60m rope, but you would have to be careful with the rope drag. We split it up into two pitches.
Once you reach the ridge, you can downclimb the east side, or continue to the top.
Lead this today and I have to say, it is NOT better than Love.
From the point where the routes separate follow the strata left towards the arete to a point where the arete has a large pointed horn (separated from the arete by a one foot crack). This is the crux.
Turn the horn towards the North and climb the arete straight up from this point. The rock near the horn is brittle but take a large piece (3 Camalot).
I went up the crack and then rather than going left or right, went up more or less central to the face. I did it in a single 50+ meter pitch and got 4 pieces of gear in. It felt harder than 5.5, too. Anyway, it was a decent line. You can rap from the chains of the 'Like Heaven' tower summit with a 60M rope to the ends to reach a chock in the dihedral of 'Love.' There is a SOLID rap station there from which to reach the ground in another 40-50' rap.
I did this yesterday along with Love. I agree, this was a fun climb but Love with its dramatic summit is much better.
One 60m rope is plenty to reach the summit. The line is pretty straight so no rope drag issues.
To get off this climb, scramble right from the summit over a boulder, along the NE face and around to the west side to two medium sized fir trees. One tree has a bunch of green slings with rap rings. One 50 m rope should make it to the ground. We used one 60m.
Ridge 1 aka Stairway to Heaven
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