Giggles is the BWC Classic. Fun climbing with a variety of techniques. True handjams can be useful but are not necessary. There are a ton of cracks all going the same direction (UP), therfore, good routefinding skills are necessary.
P1-5.5: Climb a short pitch through a variety of flaring cracks to a small belay ledge.
P2-5.7: Climb and on the right side of the dihedral stemming, jamming, or face climbing. Finish up to the right of a pine tree (has some old slings).
P3-5.7: Start out by moving above a dead tree (on the belay ledge) and to the right until a small crack is obtained. Straight up until the next belay ledge.
P4-5.8: Start in the hand crack next to the left facing wall. This is the crux (and the best part of the climb IMO). Continue up and slightly left to the flaring cracks above. The next belay is hanging so pick a point and set your anchors.
P5-5.7: Find a good crack and follow it to the top.
Note: all belays require gear for anchors! This could be done in 3 pitches by combining P1 and P2 and combining P3 and P4 and leaving P5 as a long pitch. Might need a 70 meter though?
Location
Start at the large (southwest facing) wall just left of the notch. Giggles is found at approximately the middle of the wall, see topo.
A walkoff is found by going down and east, then eventually south to the "notch" If you go south too early there you will encouter difficult downclimbing that leads to a sheer wall. However, rap slings can be found for descent. Be careful, especially with a 60m rope.
Protection
Bring a standard rack. A couple of large cams may be useful, but medium/smaller pro can be found by the creative leader.
Thanks for the great photos TK! Looks like you had a great trip after all the planning!
By Craig Martin From: Park City, UT Sep 25, 2008 rating: 5.8
As 0f 9_24_08, MAJOR rockfall has destroyed the descent gully for this route. It is extremely unstable at this time, downclimbing could be life threatening. 2 rope rappel from a pine tree on the left side of the descent notch is recommended, may be possible with 1 rope by rapping from trees on the left or downclimbing the loose but less dangerous lower gully.
Are you talking about the notch? If so, wow! It was scary to go down it when we were there. We left a large purple sling around a rock at the top and rapped down as far as a 70m would take us. There was also a ton of extremely dangerous rockfall on the talus that leads to the Lone Peak Cirque. Check out the pic on the Big Willow Cirque area page. Hmm...I wonder why there is so much activity up there...
By Craig Martin From: Park City, UT Sep 25, 2008 rating: 5.8
Yes, the descent Notch.
I believe it was hit from above by a massive boulder off of the South side of the notch. This boulder is visible in the photo topo perched above the notch. I think it is gone now. Evidence suggests it fell into the top of the notch and spread rockfall into both Bells and BWC, BWC getting the majority of it. The descent is a real horror show now and whoever goes down it next should be prepared to deal accordingly.
By Craig Martin From: Park City, UT Jan 16, 2009 rating: 5.8
What's up with the new, shiny lone bolt at the top of the Giggles formation?
One of my partners thought they saw another bolt lower down as well. Any one got any info on new routes up there? The lone bolt seemed a little strange, plenty of gear opportunities and stances available.
By Arie Leeflang From: North Korea Jul 20, 2009 rating: 5.8
Wow, Giggles is one fantastic route. Perhaps it was the lonely wilderness setting, or perhaps it was the patina addiction of pitch four/five, but either way, it is now lodged securely in my top ten. Tyler’s photo-topo was spot-on. We ran pitches one and two together with a 70 meter rope and only had meters to spare- and part of pitch one was still deep under snow. We also rope-stretched pitches three and four together. Perhaps this wasn’t the best way to do it- I’d recommend combining pitches one and two, climbing pitch three (to the pine) and then running pitch four long to a small ledge on the right side of the upper face (in a small right facing dihedral). This would avoid the hanging belay which was less than comfy and leave a short 30 meter pitch to the top. Overall, pitches one and two were just ‘alright’, but pitches four and five were fabulous and made the route.
The new bolt atop the final pitch left me baffled (there was another older, odd bolt just right of the P2 belay). We followed the descent described by the Ruckmans which left us exactly at the notch without a rap. Dropping back into Big Willow was nasty- lots of fresh rubble, but [presumably] survivable. Some careful rapping off trees on the south side of the gully left us glissading back to camp still grinning from 600 feet of excellent climbing.
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