Prussian Arete  5.10

559 page views Good page?

Type:  Trad, 9 pitches, 1000 feet, Grade IV Consensus:  5.10 [details] FA:  ?? Submitted By:  Imran on May 17, 2003 You & This Route  |  Other Opinions (1) Your todo list: Your stars: Your rating: -none- [change] Your ticklist: [add new tick]

Add Photo  Add Comment    Printer View

2013 Raptor Closures MORE INFO >>> Serpent Point and the adjacent walls within one-half mile are closed to public use from March 15 through July 15. This includes the landscape portions above the walls extending 50 feet from the rim edge. This pertains to the following areas: North Rim areas - The Alpine Aretes, Porcelain Arete, and Painted Wall. These climbing routes are closed: Alpine Route, Porcelain Arete, On the Border, Broken Porcelain, Northern Arete, Beyer Route, The Dragon, The Serpent, Forrest-Walker, Stratosfear, Journey Through Mirkwood, and Southern Arete. South Rim areas - Dragon Point and Dragon Point Buttress. These climbing routes are closed: Pilgrimage, Crumb Blunder, Magic Dragon, Black Adder, Black Snake, Black Heathen, Black Dragon Rider, and Silent Rage. This information is a public crowdsourcing effort between the Access Fund, and Mountain Project. You should confirm closures, restrictions, and/or related dates. Keeping climbing areas open and conserving the climbing environment

Description 

A couple hundred feet left of the Russian Arete (which needs to be added) is a pillar in front of the wall. Start up the ramp behind this we climbed five pitches (all over 150 feet) of relatively good rock, with 2 roofs that turned out to be not so bad. All of this protected well in the 5.7-5.9 range. The fifth pitch had a fixed nut out right from a large roof and tougher climbing (5.9). Above this, things turned interesting/ugly and we no longer saw any evidence of previous parties. A right-facing peg corner with a good hand crack for most of it (pitch 6), followed by a right-facing, crumbly, junk corner (pitch 7). Both were in the 5.10 range with pitch 7 containing a hard move (read- pull on gear). A 5.7 pitch returned us to the finish of the Russian Arete. Approximately 400 feet of mostly scrambling with one small chimney allowed us to get to the rim before dark (barely). I'm not sure I'd recommend it, since the harder pitches had the worst rock, but it might be helpful for someone who is as stupid as us and can't find the Russian Arete. I would hesitate to claim a first ascent (we saw gear 5 pitches up), but the upper pitches seemed so unclean it may have been. The peg handcrack is actually pretty cool, when you're done with it!! Wear a helmet and place belays below overhangs. The only reason I knew my partner dropped a cam was that it fell differently than all the rock!!

Protection 

Brought doubles up to #3 Camalot, and a #4 Camalot.