This route is really easy to follow as it takes all the obvious weaknesses and follows enough bolts to never get lost. From a shallow dihedral 50 feet east of a 150' pillar the climb goes up through the Eagles neck on the standard 5th pitch. The overhanging bolt ladder on the 8th pitch is a sandbag but the incredible positioning makes for a pleasant aid pitch. The route continues all the way to the top of the wall and that is worth doing. However most people rap 1 or 2 pitches after the bolt ladder as it is just so convenient to rap. This a fabulous must do Urioste classic.
Two ropes to rappel... With a single 60m rope, the penultimate rappel will leave you *close* to the last set of rap anchors. (If you weigh less than 175 pounds, even the rope stretch won't get you there.)
I have heard that the last two pitches are currently harder to free climb and/or more runout than any of the previous pitches, as they are sandier and holds have broken off. Also I believe the ASCA did not replace the bolts on these pitches, so they are still only protected with a few quarter inch bolts. Anyone with recent personal experience on these pitches care to comment?
George, the second to last pitch has new bolts. The climbing is pretty sandy and sustained up strange v-groove. The last pitch is around 5.7 with gear and a few old bolts.
An excellent climb that I thought offered better value than Levitation. Don't stress over the "aid" section -- it's quite short and the bolts are very close together. You might do well to skip the belay immediately after the aid and link the next pitch in order to avoid a hanging belay directly below hard moves. Rock and Ice published a SuperTopo of the climb which listed a 10c pitch somewhere below the aid, around P5; this pitch was considerably easier than the two 5.10 pitches immediately after the aid.
We found the second to the last pitch to be pretty freaky and weird. The first (brand new!) bolt wiggles visibly and does not give you great confidence. I think this poor bolt is due to the soft rock and not the bolting job. The rock on this pitch is sandy and slopey, I decided to back off after clipping the second bolt (this one at least looked bomber). This pitch looks easy, but may be the crux of the route!
Even though the aid section can be done with slings it is not as simple as one might think. I found that moving into the crack/groove at the end of the bolt ladder was non trivial. I certainly did not feel comfortable going it "free" into the groove right after the last bolt. (traverse to the left)
The climbing to reach the hanging belay above the "Trash and Dangle" and the next short section looked awkward and hard. Possibly harder and certainly weirder than anything on the route up to that point.
I found that a pair of light aiders and a fifi hook made this whole section way more pleasant and secure.
Side note: Due to the overhang and traverse, it proved impossible to "throw" my aiders to my belayer once I made it to the top of the pitch. He in turn had to trash and dangle until he reached the crack where I could lower the aiders to him.
as another poster mentioned, the first or second bolt on the last normal pitch (below the slabby gear pitch to the top) is way loose. ie: i figured i could probably pull it out if i wanted to. the hole looks broken out at a glance. may need a new hole. i remember being pretty unhappy about it, because it guards a hard move.
as for the aid section, i had really good luck with double length slings as my aiders. i knotted the tops, eight inches down or so, with uneven webbing, so the top had a nice grab handle.
clip a draw to the aid bolt. clip the rope to the draw. clip your 'aider' to the top biner of your draw. step into it. repeat. it was really pretty cruiser. if you're getting bored/tired, clip your daisy to the bolt and hang for a bit. above the traverse where the bolts run out i was pretty sketched out about switching to free climbing for the last 10 feet, so i popped a 3/4" or 1" cam in there and got at least one move out of it. the move i bypassed looked pretty stiff, but ill be the first to admit im a pansy.
more beta- a 70m line will rap the entire route on a single rope. be careful rapping the second pitch as there will only be a couple feet of rope left when you hit the rap anchor out left of the route.
By Doug Hemken From: Madison, WI Nov 29, 2005 rating: 5.10d A1
We did this through pitch 8, a little beyond the aid section, on 15 November. We saw what we thought was a peregrine falcon at the cave at the top of pitch 3. It landed in the cave and screeched at me just as I was getting ready to second p4!
The aid pitch worked pretty easily with a bunch of shoulder length slings, but an etrier per climber would certainly speed things up. It was my partner's intro to aid climbing!
We both thought the crux was getting up the slot just beyond the aid.
NOTE: The left bolt at the belay above the cave was loose when we climbed it on 04/09/06. I finger tightened it as I did not have a wrench.Also, several loose plates exist on the route that will likely pull off with any substantial pressure. This is a fantastic route that is worth the big approach.
After climbing this route yesterday with the talented Dona Jones, we both concurred that the "10b" pitch above the bolt ladder is a healthy sandbag and only going to get worse as the few remaining holds disappear. The moves approaching the belay underneath this pitch were rated as 5.8, which seemed science fictional. The 10c pitch above was certainly a letter grade harder than the "crux" 3rd pitch, and although I'm a johnny-come-lately crusty old summit chaser, I have to say that the chosstastic last pitch (5.9?) was well worth missing, and whet the appetite nicely for what Valley girl Dona called her longest decent ever. This route was a great adventure, but if it's getting late, head down before the last pitch and save yourself the blisters! * If planning to walk off, headlamps and stashing packs near the double pines is a must!*
I may be alone in my stance (Geir may support me on this), but I found the third pitch to be more difficult than all the other pitches up to the top of seven. We bailed at the top of the bolt ladder due to time constraints, but after reading the previous comments, I am glad we did! Excellent route.
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