BETA PHOTO: At the base of the magnificent north face of Notch...
Description
Book of Saturday climbs the amazing north face of Notch Peak. The climb is reminiscent of the Dolomites, climbing fractured limestone via bolts and some traditional gear. This is not your typical sport crag route - there are long runouts and loose rock and you should be an extremely confident 5.10 climber. To compare it to stuff in the states, it's got the commitment of a long wall or alpine route and the seriousness of hard, sand-in-your eye desert routes or adventure routes in the Black Canyon. To top it off, Notch is a long way from anything which adds to the adventure because of its seclusion. And, as my wife, the nurse, pointed out, "you better not break your leg out here because you're going to be waiting for help for a long time." When my wife and I finished this route we could only think of a few friends that we would recommend this route to - not due to route quality but due to its seriousness. We were in excellent shape (recently having run a 50 mile race and climbed six days a week) yet it still felt like a long, hard day to us. The route is also described in James Garrett's Ibex guide, including a good topo.
From the end of the road, hike up sandy washes in front of the granite cliffs of Painter Springs and around the granite to a large wash. Hike up this wash for 1.5 to 2 hours. Initially it didn't seem that far but after an hour we realized that we still had a ways to go, such is foreshortening. Eventually, the wash narrows and you'll have to do some 3rd/4th class scrambling. A prominent steep chimney is passed via a fixed rope ladder and above there is a steep, smooth bowl with a fixed rope. Climb up the bowl and then traverse right underneath the face (and past Book of Saturday) until you can find a way through the lower cliffband. Then, traverse back left to the start of the route, which has a rock cairn, some pieces of wood, and a golf club at the start (no guarantee that it's all still there but it makes it pretty obvious as the first bolts are hard to see).
Pitch 1 (5.10a): Climb a right-facing dihedral past bolts with an occasional piece of natural gear to the belay. Pitch 2 (5.11a): Climb a steep corner on sandy rock and then traverse left on steep rock that is well protected to the belay. Pitch 3 (5.6): Climb up and into a chimney via easy climbing. End at another nice ledge. Pitch 4 (5.9): Climb a left-facing dihedral to face climbing and some ledges with a lot of loose rock. Above a couple of bolts the guidebook says to to "go straight up to a short, right-facing corner" instead of going right. I had difficulty figuring this section out and there was scant pro so I stayed right, and managed it fine. End on another great ledge. Pitch 5 (5.8): It's only 5.8 but there are also only a few bolts protecting the pitch. This pitch and the next climbs in a giant chimney on good, featured face climbing. From the belay go right and up to the first bolt, then meander up the face to the belay. Pitch 6 (5.7): Again, it's only 5.7 but there are also only a few bolts on the pitch. Climb up and to the right of the large arch at the top of the chimney and belay on a large ledge. Pitch 7 (5.9): Traverse left and up past some neat holes/huecos. A very cool pitch. Pitch 8 (5.10c): Negotiate the steep face above the belay. A good example of how the route is not always obvious, but if you spend time looking for your next bolt you can figure out where the route goes. At the top of this pitch, the bolts are sparse at times and there seemed to be some committing moves high above your last protection, that or I was off-route. Definitely a pitch where you want to be solid and confident. Pitch 9 (5.10a): Traverse left and then up, passing bolts to a left-facing corner. Go up and to the right of this corner. At the top of this pitch are some crazy, stacked blocks that you precariously climb around. Again, end at a sweet ledge. Pitch 10 (5.7): Climb straight up on easy terrain. Pitch 11 (5.10b): Climb straight up and then left at the 3rd bolt to a big hueco and then the face above. A great, exposed pitch. Pitch 12 (5.8): Climb a right-facing dihedral and then up and left to the final belay stance where there is also a route register.
Hike 5 minutes to the summit.
To descend, rappel the route, praying every time that your ropes won't get stuck or dislodge large rocks on top of you. At the base of the route, traverse climber's left to rappel anchors and a fixed rope or two (that are pretty crusty and stiff). That rappel takes you to the top of the bowl and the wash where a couple rappels and a long hike leads back to your car and cold beers.
Cheers to the first ascent team for the hard work putting up this cool route.
Location
From the end of the road, hike up sandy washes in front of the granite cliffs of Painter Springs and around the granite to a large wash. Hike up this wash for 1.5 to 2 hours - it initially didn't see that far but later it seemd like we hiked forever. Eventually, the wash narrows and you'll have to do some 3rd/4th class scrambling. A prominent steep chimney is passed via a fixed rope ladder and above there is a steep, smooth bowl with a fixed rope. Climb up the bowl and then traverse right underneath the face (and past Book of Saturday) until you can find a way through the lower cliffband. Then, traverse back left to the start of the route, which has a rock cairn, some wood, and a golf club at the start (no guarantee that it's all still there but it makes it pretty obvious as the first bolts are hard to see).
Protection
Bring about 12-15 draws, including extendable trad draws. For trad gear, bring some stoppers and cams up to hand size. Two ropes. All belay anchors are bolted with typically three bolts each.
According to James Garrett's Ibex guide, it's "Book of Saturday," named for the Saturdays that the first ascentionists spent completing the route over a period of two years.
As of June 29, 2009 the rope ladder is in place. The rap from the base is about 100 meters left of the start, not 50 feet.
This is an excellent adventure route with an easy descent back down the climbing line. The rap pulls are remarkably clean. A very good effort by the FA party.
I just got back from a seriously failed attempt on linking Western Hardman with book of Saturdays. We found a great "protected" spot on the ledge just below and to the right of Book of Saturday and set up camp. The next morning we went back down to climb western hardman so we could simply walk over to our camp and do BOS the next day. Great plan, eh? Well one pitch up W.H. it started to rain and it wound up raining most of the day, so we went into Delta to dry out and get some more water.
We ran into a sketchy local who told us (after my partner unfortunately devuldged what we were up to ---- never do this!) he once got his tractor near the summit and would like to launch an old car off the summit.
We ran back into the canyon the next morning super early to climb W.H. Again, one pitch up it started raining. Crap. We decided since the next day had a much better forcast, we would just hike back up to our camp and climb B.O.S the next day.
There is a fixed line before the rope ladder (still there) that had a massive core shot (I knotted it out). I got to the top and was waiting for my partner to come up. This is when the first boulder (not rock, boulder) exploded like an artilery shell two feet behind me. I could hear another one coming as it cut through the air. It hit just below my partner who was now just topping out. I grabbed her pack and threw her up to me and we ran our asses off into the cave behind the rope ladder.
Looking up, we saw the roof of the cave was created by rubble and rockfall. It looked solid, but how solid?
We hear some yelling and some more rocks came down. All the rocks were landing directly above us to directly below the first fixed line. We were totally trapped in the cave.
The rocks stopped and I poked my head out of the cave and yelled and yelled and yelled for them to stop. I wasn't sure if it was climbers on the face or people on the summit.
After I yelled up, I heard some yelling from above. A couple seconds passed, then began the real carnage. It was like a scene from a Michal Bay movie. Rock and massive boulders began bombarding ontop of the cave, shaking the ground, and down below. The rope ladder swayed back and forth and I hoped it hadn't been chopped.
It stopped again, I yelled again (louder), more yelling from above, a couple seconds passed and once again we were under attack.
Here's the weird thing. Both my partner and I swore we heard an engire after the rocks stopped falling the 2nd time. Was it the guy with the tractor trying to murder us? Why would someone keep pryign boulders off the summit after we yelled and they yelled back?
We at least knew two things. It wasn't rockfall from the rain, and it wasn't rockfall from a goat. I HAD to see what was happening, because if it was climber induced rockfall, we could wait until dark in the cave until they were done. If it was from the summit, was someone actually trying to kill us?
After well over an hour of tormenting rockfall, it stopped. I waited another hour and then climbed up the rope ladder (after testing it of course). I can say that the rope ladder "pitch" was the scariest lead of my entire life.
I ran up the canyon to the bowl and hopefully out of range. There was no one on the face. I called for my partner to come up.
Since each time we had yelled to stop trying to kill us, even more boulders fell, we had to assume the worst and be as quiet as possible to not divuldge our location or that we were out of the cave.
We wispered and tiptoed extremely fast around the ledge system that splits the face to the knoll where our tent was. We shoved everythign into our packs and get the f$#$#ck out of there ASAP and didn't stop until we were in the large wash near W.H.
We hiked the backside to the summit to look for tire tread. I don't think any sort of tractor or ATV could get to the summit, so we must have been hearing things. There were footprints in the wash. Too bad there wasn't a summit register to look up who was responsible.
What must have happended was just a buch of retards were having fun trundling rocks and boulders off the summit, and didn't hear us call up. Just really bad timing (or good?).
The ***Warning*** at the top was to warn future B.O.S climbers that hiker's trundling sh*t off the summit will kill you. And it's a great summit for retarded as$h$les to do such a thing since Notch is in such a hick redneck area. Climbing has many objective dangers, and especially notch peak. But, this is an objective danger that you literally have no control over and at any moment some boy scout or drunk hick may think it's fun to toss a boulder down on you.
I HIGHLY reccomend driving up to the outhouses up Miller Canyon that are the start of the drive/approach for the summit hike. Make a very big sign that everyone can see letting hikers know that there will be climbers below you and tossing rocks off is the same thing as attemped murder.
I filed a police report, but got pretty much blown off.
I'll be back to do this again, but not without making a sign at the trailhead and at the outhouses, unless of course I think someone would be actually trying to kill us. In that case I'll bring my ninja outfit and climb it at night.
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