Iron Messiah 

Good description! We got rained off this route at the top of P4 this spring.

I agree P1 felt harder than the supposed "crux" P4. I think some knobs have broken off on P1, or something. I felt P4 was only 5.9 and it is well protected too. The chimney pitches above that are rumored to be harder and more runout.

I really liked the route! Long, varied, etc... The difficulty depends how you do it. The first pitch that everyone gets worked up about is not that bad. It was a later pitch with a rounded groove that was harder for me. I don't do well on slopers though, YMMV. The chimneys are runout, but pretty secure. Not worth hauling too much big stuff up there, in my opinion. The very top pitch will be either nasty hard, or easy, boring and dirty. If you take the nasty hard way (5.10, X) that will be the mental and physical crux.

Uh, about that last pitch... The left hand option is good for about 40' or so, and you can sling a plate or two, but those are probably better for cutting the rope in a long fall than they would be for stopping a fall. After the flakes, the route becomes a very soft and sandly small slope fest. It is devoid of gear for quite a way as well. Aside of slinging the brittle flakes some 30-40' down from the crux, you might be able to tie off a tiny little bush. This is about 2/3 way up on a sloper ledge. The brittle roots are about 2" deep in a sandy flare, so that isn't "pro" in my book. Just after that there is a crux move, from which a fall from the crux could very likely be fatal. My partner and I agreed that this was a harrowing pitch. Eventually you can move far enough left to reach a solid black corner that is really fun and takes pro; it is probably 5.10 in and of itself.

To reiterate- this last pitch variation that was recommended is hard, insecure, unprotected, and on poor rock. And having taken this one myself, I reccomend the other finish.

I thought the last pitch was rated 5.4 :)When I did it I thought the climbing was pretty easy although the rock is very scary (rest of the route has super rock) and the pro pretty much only psychological. My partner wanted out so he rigged some kinda belay off to the left. I gingerly and very slowly worked my way up and right. Right as I slapped the top of the wall, the best foothold I'd found on the way up snapped off! Luckly I was able to hang on and top out - whew! Another friend of mine took a big fall on the right side (above the tree somewhere). It may not be worth topping out, although the views are pretty sweet.

I did option #2 finish as described in the description. From the tree continue up the corner until is is possible to step left around the arete (medium size stopper protects this move) and scramble to the summit. I guess 5.8R describes it more or less.

The left-hand variation on the last pitch is definitely only 5.4 (not 5.10 as in the above description) if done correctly. There isn't any gear, but I found the climbing to be positive and the route-finding straightforward and would definitely recommend topping out. I'm confused by some of the comments here, especially Tony's.

The route as a whole was really good. Similar to Journey Home in the Black Canyon, but not as good, and with more chimneying.

I guess it all depends how you do it. I went up a seam and then straight up a sandy, seamless face, and it was to the left. Maybe I was too far left. I stayed out of the trough...Years ago there were 2 topos available for this climb that showed distinctly different lines and features in the cliff. Neither of them was quite correct. Since that time, some books have been published that enlighten us as to the actual intended lines and variations. In light of all present evidence, I'm probably one of the few fools, if not the only fool, to do the line Jo and I did at the time, around the winter of Y2K.

Whoops! Mis-rated this in my post. Definitely 3 stars IMO.

A very fun adventure route. I went up four pitches once and then a few years later did the entire route, including leading the last pitch. The last pitch is indeed very heads up, as the rock is questionable and the runout is huge, but if done right I think the climbing is no harder than 5.6. I topped out right at the rappel bolts. I never was in a corner, so I do think Tony went too far to the left.

I concur that the first pitch (the drilled angle face) is the toughest pitch on the route, though there are a couple more 5.10 sections. The last pitch in the dihedral/chimney I think is 10a. And then the move up to the tree is probably 10a/b as well. The supposed crux section might be 10a, as well.

I thought the chimney pitches were great, though a bit exciting because of the runouts. I thought the climbing felt 5.9, probably because I was hanging on harder than normal because of the runout.

One final comment for the peak baggers out there. This route does not finish on the summit of Spearhead, but you scramble to the summit (mostly 2nd/3rd class with some 4th class and maybe a touch of 5th class) in about 10 minutes. I did this and my partner took some incredible photos of me atop the very overhanging headwall. I highly recommend this trip to the very top.

And, yes, make sure to use the rappel anchors out on the face and not the anchors on the route itself on the way down.

What condition are the fixed anchors on this route?
I heard there were some star bolts left on the belays.

mike
asca

Great free climb! The anchors could use a little help, but the drilled pins still feel solid. We replaced a few sections of webbing on some anchors, the ones we thought were the worst of course. Use the overlaid photo for the best pitch desciption.