The Prow 

This is a great description of a great route. I wonder how many people who say they have done The Prow, have REALLY done the Prow, ie, without hangs or pulling on gear. I think it's a pretty rare ascent to free the whole thing w/o hangs or a quick little pull on a piton. I know I never have truly freed the route, but when someone asks if I've done the Prow, I always reflexively blurt out: "Oh yeah, I've done the Prow."

thank you for putting in a good description for the prow... ive only aided it so i didnt want to post a description til i had done some freeclimbing on it... i hope that is soon...

My favorite route in the East. Why is this route getting a C rating? It is a free climb.

I got on this route for the first time the other day with Jay and it is such an amazing route, the pitches are short, burly, techincal and rewarding. The postion of the route is very aestetic, as is the view from the climb looking around from any of the belays. The Prow is a must do, free or aid.

Well, I fell on the 4th pitch, I found the fifth much easier. I'm an old california crack climber. (the fourth was wet.)

I drove all night to climb the route the next morning with my buddy e-man. Steve

Great route with excellent rock and situations. The first pitch was originally one bolted up slab 5.9 (actually dowels) which now only has a couple of bolts. On pitch 2, the left hand bulge/layback is a good way to do the route 11+. More demanding than the right hand way but good. I think John Bragg did it this way when he trying to free the Prow before Jim's ffa.

I climbed this beautiful route again yesterday with my friend Adam... It had been a while since my last day on it... We did a fun mix of free and aid climbing with the focus on just having a fun day on the side of the cliff... I still need to get in a totaly free climbing day on it but it's fun in what ever style you choose...

This is a fairly straight forward, moderate aid route at 5.7 C2.

I was glad to have a double set of nuts and a double set of cams to #1 C4, and one #2. Nothing bigger needed. I've heard micronuts and micro-offsets recommended, but I only felt the need to place one brass offset on the way up to the roof. A pink tricam was useful, as were a few spare slings for slinging flakes about halfway up. Save some finger size pieces for the gear anchor above the roof.

Even with all this I still had to do some aggressive back-cleaning on the last pitch

This route is really fixed right now with Lost Arrows. Great, great free climbing. See rack above in comments. In yosemite this would be C1 maybe +, really straight forward. Super fun! "Pitch 5" is very similar to the aid you would see on the west face of the leaning tower in Yose.

Does the crack on the fourth pitch "bulge" crux ever dry out entirely?

Every pitch was bone dry at least one of the times I did it. Mid-autumn is certainly the driest time.

Just aid solod up to the top of the third pitch yesterday, took a look at the sweet roof, and rapped off. I didn't start until afternoon, and it was below freezing and snowing!! (We just got a strange cold front after what we thought was an early spring). The first anchor, I accessed via the first pitch of Recompense which I think was 5.7, but a little scary (free solo) with a ground fall potential off the crux and wearing gloves, so I put pro in for those moves and removed them after passing through. Second pitch was a practical bolt latter (though the first bolt is old and rusty!!) Third pitch was real fun going around the corner, though it was very tricky getting back to rap back and to the lower anchor for cleaning. Definitely plan on another trip out there for a free climb with a confident partner.

Lee, maybe you're interested in a trip up to N Conway in the next few months??

psyched you checked it out... ill let you know if im looking for a partner...

i was able to get it free today despite a little wetness on pitches 3 and 4 and a lot on pitch 5... this was a major goal for me and it feels great having done it!

I absolutely loved the 11a pitch and the roof pitch, those 2 were perfect IMO... other highlights were the boulder problem on pitch 2 and the finger crack on pitch 4...

many thanks to jon baldy for partnering up on it!

Nice one Lee ! Such a great route, did you do the left hand start on P2
Wild Women next !!

Thanks, yeah wild women is on the list for sure...
I guess we did the left start i just followed the bolt line basically, im not familiar with the variations... so i take it you can start on the right then?

I looked it up and yes we did the left start. Seemed like the obvious line I'll have to look for the other way next time I'm up there.

I think the left start is better. Bragg did it this way when first trying the route. Jimmie eventually did it from the right which is more balancey than power.

Nice job Lee!
I have not been on this in a long long time. How much is fixed these days? I.e., how light was yr rack? Thanks.

thanks stow!
lots of pins but i brought a single rack from thin fingers to hands and used just about everything... The last pitch has zero fixed pro... for the most part the pitches are half fixed and half gear...

Climbed this today, and to my surprise, after i reached over and clipped the first pin on the fifth pitch, I was able to manually pull it entirely out of the crack. The pin was bent at a 30 degree angle, and essentially rusted through to the core. A #5 BD nut fits perfect in a constriction about an inch or two above where the pin once was.

Managed a ground up free ascent this weekend -one of the best routes I've done in the east for sure! The only detractor that I found was the amount of fixed gear. I found myself plugging gear next to pins just to get my trad fix. If I were aiding, I certainly would rather plug gear than clip pins. Not a huge deal, but just thought I would share my thoughts in case there was an unstated community sentiment that this proud route could be even prouder still with a minor facelift. 4 stars for sure!

In 1972 Paul Ross completed the 1st assent of the Prow Route on Cathedral Ledge. Shortly thereafter, Rick Mulhern and I (Ron Welch) completed the second ascent. The prof I have is a copy of the Sept. - Oct. 1972 issue of "Climbing"magazine ($.75)

There in is an article about climbing at Cathedral Ledge written by Paul Ross.There is a great picture of Charlie Porter and Joe Cote on INTIMIDATION on p.6 and another of Steve Arsenault trying to nail the CATHEDRAL on p.P.

On p.9, lower left corner there is a picture of Rick and I on the PROW route. The picture was taken by Paul Ross at the top of Cathedral somewhere near the top of THIN AIR. I have two color photos of this black & white photo in the magazine. I will try to get my scanner to work and send a copy of the color print.

I'm 66 yrs. old now, and have only kept my RURP of all my climbing equipment! In the day, we started out with goldline rope, and Royal Robbins bright blue climbing shoes. After moving into gliding, Rick climbed less here, and did substantial climbing out west. He now serves as a Maine District Court Judge.

thnaks for sharing i love to hear first hand history!

I fell seconding the boulder problem on pitch 2 in 2011 and glanced my ankle on the ledge below; in many spots on the Prow, for free climbers, you should be aware that the climbing is significantly riskier for the second (at the bottom of pitches two, four, and five).

That being said, the climbing is excellent, the exposure fantastic, and it's a proud lead. I'm hoping to get the tick myself in 2013.

Are the belays bolted/fixed on this?

still had to build a belay after the roof pitch when i was on on it last year...