This route travels up the dihedral on the far left side of the cliff. The prominent corner of the second pitch is not quite visible from the road nor from the hike in. The start is about fifty feet to the left of the start of the route "Holed Up", which features a black hole in the center of the brown rock on the second pitch.
The short first pitch of The Ledger follows a dirty corner system through some vegetation including some yuccas to a large bushy ledge.
Pitch two follows the obvious dihedral to the next large ledge.
Pitch three climbs the left leaning crack through a well-protected crux to the top of the cliff. The exposure here is exciting.
Descend by walking off left into the gully that separates the cliff from Sheep Skull Crags. Route finding here is not obvious and the gully is quite overgrown. An alternative descent involves hiking to the right and down climbing a short way to a rappel tree. A single rappel with two 60 meter ropes gets you to the ground.
All three pitches protect well. Pitch 2 and 3 are fun pitches with a variety of moves. My only complaint is that I wished the pitches were longer , but a worthwhile route if your looking for a quick multipitch with beautiful views up top. I prefer the rap off the tree to the climber's right, over the overgrown walk off/downclimbing to the left.
By gilbert.2003 From: Las Vegas, NV Feb 17, 2008 rating: 5.8
Epoxy'ed bolts at top of 1st pitch and top of crag make for easy rap with two 60m ropes.
Whoever placed those bolts is really doing a lot for the climbing at Red Rock. Way to diminish the adventure of this route. That's really what we need, more convenient routes. This whole "wilderness experience" thing was way over-rated.
Why can't people just climb these routes as is? What inspires people to leave such a permanent mark? The Ledger is a two-star route and I've climbed it twice but is the Disney-fication necessary? Why thrust an obscure route forward by making it so much less committing? There were two acceptable descent options already - one a walk-off. These bolts are not necessary.
Don't you people get any satisfaction when you climb a route that has no fixed gear? Isn't that the purist form of trad climbing? Oh, well, maybe it was a guide that bolted The Ledger, just to diversify his portfolio of routes to bring clients. I can't think of any other reason why someone would leave there useless garbage behind on a remote route like this one.
My partner wished I hadn't discouraged him from bringing a few hexes in the 1 to 3-inch size for this route. There isn't much need for tiny (1/2-inch and smaller) gear. We used the walk-off descent to the left. It's not too badly overgrown, but does involve some mild route-finding to find the best place to drop into the gully and some short downclimbs at one point in the gully.
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