Ship Of Fools

This route climbs out of the obvious, big, left-facing dihedral on the East face of the Ship's Prow to reach the huge arete and then up a small crack on the face to the top. The dihedral starts 120' up, rising out of a left-leaning ramp system for 190' to a brief chimney then finishing in another 80' of left-facing dihedral. The climb is rated as 5.11a and as 5 pitches, traditionally, but it can easily be done in 4. Each pitch is 5.10-5.11.

The route is short for a true alpine route (490 feet, including the 5.10 rising traverse pitch). As well, It is now possible to rap the route with a single 70m rope.

Approach Ship's Prow from Chasm Lake and come to the obvious left-leaning chimney/ramp. This is P1 of Portal, a route that shares the first 200' with this line, but... the first pitch is wet, mungy, and nasty. The stench of rotting vegetation pours from it, and loose rock abounds there. Aside of the nastiness of wet and stink, there are other reasons not to climb this pitch, such as the destruction of the vegetation in it. If you insist though, slog up that past dirt, water, and loose blocks from quarter to oven size to the top. Otherwise... This nasty journey of destruction can be avoided with a nice variation for the first pitch, climbing "Step One (5.9)" or "Man Overboard (5.10d)" instead- which is how it will be described here. Done this way, the climb would be 3-star.

P1: (5.10d, 130') Climb Man Overboard- see that route description, as posted.

P2: (5.10b, 150') Climb up into the dihedral above and continue for 80+ feet (5.9) until a ledge is on your left and a pin and a few bolts are seen on the right-side, protecting the rising traverse. This starts solid and easy, but gets harder and has poor rock as you continue to the last bolt before the belay. This pitch can be done as a scrunch problem (better = shorter) with a reach crux or a reach problem with a scrunch crux. You will arrive to belay at the bolted anchor somewhat annerved by the poor rock, still on the left side of the arete. Some holds shed under the feet of my partner causing a mild but unexpected fall.

P3: (5.11, 80') The Gillett book seems to be a little confusing. It shows the belay, fixed pro, and climbing on the right of the arete... (where it is not). The climb remains left of the arete for a while, clipping a fixed stopper and then a bolt (strenuous lieback/flag to clip unless you are very tall) and then makes insecure moves up past the bolt 5.11, some recent broken rock) and then up (5.10, you might land on your belayer of you don't clip the bolt with a short sling and watch your slack carefully) then around the corner and up (5.10). The first fixed pin in Gillett's book is not there and I can not see where it would have been. Work up on some face holds through a bulge (5.9, S) to some good hidden stopper placements. Then, continue up to the visible Lost Arrow and continue on. It is possible at any given time before or after this LA to step right to a right-facing corner with a 0.5-1.5" crack, but the face goes nicely with good pro in seams... continue to a good ledge with a fixed belay. Continue on P4 if desired. I did not do so to avoid the potential problem of rope-stretch if my partner fell off of the crux (as it could be very hard to get back into the wall).

P4: Climb the crack directly above the fixed blay to another fixed belay. Stoppers and cams protect it reasonably well. There is a fixed anchor on top.

This climb formerly had no retreat save the downclimb of 'Gangplank' (5.7. loose) to a rap, or scrambling down the back side of the formation (loose, dangerous) but now has a good fixed anchor up top. Rap the route in 4 raps with a 70m rope (don't skip any stations). A 60m rope will not reach the bottom 2 raps- with the second-to-last being a hazard to down-climb.

Rap 1: A super-good fixed chockstone slung (I could not beat it out) and 2 fixed hexes with Kevlar cord (I beat them in well). They are equalized on green and black webbing to a welded steel ring and rapid link. The station is tied in a little funny due to my inability to get my hands into the crack to do tie-ins on the threads, but this is solidly threaded, fully redundant (3X) and BOMBER! (just a little hard to clip into, so use the steel links). Rap 65' to another fixed station. The rope will pull easily.

Rap 2: The next station is cable swaged onto a 2 fixed pins and a good fixed stopper (I just replaced the stopper and and some of the webbing, but the second piece should be replaced (redundant to the cable). Rap from the two fixed biners here (1 is a locker) down maybe 70' to a pair of bolts/lap-links on the left side of the huge arete.

Rap 3: Rap 115' (you need a 70m rope or 2 ropes to avoid 'adventure') to a big ledge with a fixed rap on a huge flake.

Rap 4: Rap 115' to the ground off of a fixed cable and sling with links. The sling is trash and needs to be replaced, but I was out of replacement webbing. Sorry.

The route requires pro from small stoppers (RP or equiv) to 2.5". The first fixed pin on the 5.11 pitch seems to be missing and dictates that some hard moves will be done just above the bolt, just abaove th belay - don't land on your belayer if you fall from this 5.10 section. This route is border-line 's'.Take many longer runners to keep the rope and pro in-line and run a few pitches together