Sliding Board 

Most people rap from the end of pitch 5 since this is the last place where a fixed rap station can be found. However, this does not allow you to climb the steep headwall, one of the best stretches of climbing on the route. The walk-off isn't really that bad, and the view from the summit makes it worth walking off, in my opinion.

We "discovered" an interesting variation to Sliding Board when there was a steady stream of water trickling down the second pitch. From the first belay, step right, climb up a steep slab, and gain the 2nd pitch of Tidal Wave. Follow the white rock just above the rim of the arch in one long, run out pitch to a horizontal flake. You can get a little protection in a flaring crack before traversing right to a bolted anchor (clipping into the anchors was a relief). Rejoin Sliding Board's 4th pitch above the anchors.

An excellent climb- 49 years ago !!!! Willie climbed in Tennis shoes and basically placed no gear.

great climb! However this one got me hating slabs!! Need to come back east to climb one of these years.

I too "discovered" the variation described above. Quite runout, but not a bad way to climb the route. I was also able to clip a third bold on the right side of the white streak. From there, run it out to the V-shaped flake and it's almost a full pitch.

I found today that pitch two and three can be run together in one pitch no problem.

Wonderful climb! Anyone know if this is considered a grade III?

Nope, this is considered grade II. The explanation for the commitment ratings is as follows: Grade II would be for about half a day, up to 5 to 6 pitches, whereas Grade III would be up to 7 to 8 hours. Fairly serious. Taken from: Rock Climbs in the White Mountains of New Hampshire by Ed Webster and published by Mountain Imaginery (1996).
I climbed Sliding Board two days ago, and it took us about 4 hours to do the entire 8 pitches.

Great route. Turns out I'm bad at route-finding (ended up doing the P2 of Intrloper oops). Re: gear, I followed Marc Chauvin's beta and brought a standard rack up to #3, which was a total overkill. The biggest gear I placed was #1 Camalot and only because I had it. Mostly used tricams (pink and red - could have left the brown at the base), small wires, Aliens (blue, green and yellow) and C3s. 5 trad draws is more than enough.

The upper pitches (5 and 6 especially) were very wet this weekend, and based on the water stains and moss buildup I bet they are wet on most weekends of the year. P1-4 were excellent, though, and I would do them again but rappel down from the 2-bolt anchor on Wavelength.

Route-finding was also a challenge. Guidebooks and beta talk about dikes. These are subtle features, apparent mostly as textural differences that fade in and out. Best to get a photo of the splitter dike in the headwall (start of P6) and remember it.

You can do this climb in 6 pitches. By linking the 2nd and 3rd pitches together. Then linking the 5th and 6th pitches together. You only need a 60m rope for this too.

I've always wanted to climb this in under a half hour... today simul-climbing with my friend jakob we did it from Launch Pad to the tree at the top in 18 minutes! :)

thanks much the the party who let us pass them... we owe you one...

Did for the first time today. We should have linked pitched 2&3, instead we linked 4&5** and 6&7**, both are obviously run out to start, so it doesn't change that much.

The bolt on the last 2 pitches/simul finish was missing it's hangar. I failed to spot it on the way up, but another party told me it had no hangar. Unfortunately, a 70m will not link those two final easy pitches.

• *We used a 70m, and had >15 feet left at the end of both links.