BETA PHOTO: Here is a picture of Pilaf and Arc de Triumph. Pil...
Description
This is a pretty good climb. Refer to the directions below to find it. In early morning, the sun is low enough that all but the top of the route is shaded by the more southern wall. By mid-day it is shaded only at the base. In afternoon, it is shaded in almost its entirety again. The lower part of this route is casual, ascending good stone at ~5.6 to reach the start of the crack. The crack is steeper than it looks, and the climbing instantly hits 5.8 or 5.9 as protection becomes available. Climb up and protect on good gear to reach the bulging handcrack up top. Plunk in perfect gear, and do the 5.10a crux to top out on the slab. Wander up a little way to the West and belay, than escape by continuing West to down-climb (5.4?) in a slot and slab to the West, to the South of the main summit of Green Mt. Pinnacle. Pilaf is described as a finger crack in Rossiter's book, whereas what I did was hands in the areas of notable difficulty. Then again, the grade was right and we already know that Pilaf is not described correctly in the book, so this appears to be it.
Location
Go up over the top, or West end of the Green Mountain Pinnacle. From there, descend down to the South side, going East/South East into an "Alley" of sorts. This is 30 meters SE of the Green Sneak chimney. The South border of this alley is a steep huecoed wall of soft stone. THe North Wall, facing South, is solid, good stone and mostly clean. About 1/2 way down this alley you will see an obvious crack that starts thin, about 8 meters off of the deck, then ascends up and right to a final bulge (perfect handcrack) pulling over onto the East face. This is the climb, 'Faith and Resurrection.'
Protection
The route is runout on 5.6 climbing to reach the beginning of the crack. After that a few nuts, cams and slings will get you up it safely. The crux protects on ~2.5 inch cam in perfect rock overhead.
I have seen the route you are talking about but never got on it. I am wondering if this route could possibly be the route called "Pilaf" in the Rossiter guide. The description says west face and this route is clearly on the south face, but Pilaf mentions climbing a left-leaning ramp (the 5.6 unprotected part of your route?). I'm not sure if the flake means crack, but I remember there being a big block to the right of the crack there. Also, from your description, the top crack is the crux as mentioned in Pilaf and that the crack takes you to the right. I'm just curious because I have never been able to find Pilaf. If you have, then please correct me, although there are few similarities in the two route descriptions, so I'm sure your route is new.
I got an email asking if the route Tony mentions here is the route “Pilaf,” done in the days when the Flatirons were young. I went up and found that the route Tony describes is not “Pilaf”, a climb Eric Erickson and I did in 1982. Pilaf is mistakenly called “Jester” in Rossiter’s Bouder Climbs North guide.
If you walk uphill from Death and Transfiguration for about 20 yards, you reach a saddle that allows you to walk carefully down a fern-and- poison- ivy- filled gully to the south. This little valley separates the lower section of the Fourth Flatiron from the upper section. A short ways down this valley to the left is what Roach calls the Gash, and Tony calls the alley. The alley separates Green Mountain Pinnacle from the Fourth Flatiron. This is the location for Tony’s route which faces due South within the alley. Pilaf is reached by walking farther down the fern filled gully to the south, past the alley for 30 yards or so. Pilaf is on the west facing side of the lower Fourth Flatiron and the best landmark is to locate a green sling on horn that is protection on a climb called Arc de Triumph, that is to the right of Pilaf.
Rick, Thanks for the info. Jason & I originally thought this to be an FA, and had named it 'Faith and Resurrection' but as you can see, we were uncertain as to where Pilaf was, and this climb bears some small-ish kinda-resemblances to the description Rossiter made for Pilaf, though it would be in the wrong place, we could not see where Pilaf would be. And thanks for correcting the errors- it'll be right in the next book!
Green Mountain Pinnacle
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