Stigmata

Took a long time for this to get repeated. Maybe it's the long walk, or the .11a approach pitch...but it's a high quality route in a spectacular position.

Start by climbing the Green Dihedral directly into Box Car Willie, finally traversing right to the belay below Red Dihedral. With a long rope and a little bit of 4th classing, you can get there in one pitch. The route starts with the lower part of Red Dihedral before continuing up the arete. Gear in here is kind of weird. I did the route as a sport climb, pre-placing the trad gear in the dihedral. It's hard to get good gear at the base of the dihedral (there may be an old 1/4" bolt, but I bet the wind has blown that away by now), and this is probably the hardest couple of moves on the route. I threaded some wires together (i.e. cheater stick) to get the first good nut where the crack opens up - then aided up to place the rest (there may be some other fixed gear). Falling here (and you will - it took me 2 days to figure out the 6 moves) without pre-placed gear would be grim...but go ahead and improve on my style if you want. Be careful of the loose block at the base of the dihedral. Anyway, contort up the dihedral into the widening crack (fingers) until you're even with the first bolt on the right wall. Span out right to the arete, and bust for the summit. When lowering, be sure to use the chained mid-station - if you don't you'll either be left dangling in space, or dropped for a bounce off Perilous Journey and then to the talus.

FYI: Levin's new guide has it wrong. He shows the route ending at the mid-station (80 feet); the route actually continues to ~110 feet (all in one pitch). He also recommends pre-placing gear; this is no longer true now that Topher has replaced the old aid bolt at the start of the dihedral. George - 11/09