Beam Me Up, Scotty

This route has been retro-bolted by Ken Trout with help from Richard Aschert and Tyson Ferryman. Ken has made comments under several pictures on this page describing the changes and some other useful information (one of the pictures and corresponding comments has been deleted). Mobile users will not be able to see these comments. This will serve as a comprehensive description for the new route. 

Pitch 1: 

The original start: 5.9+/ 5.10a. 9 bolts (originally the route had less) + gear to a bolted hanging belay. The original route shared the start with Fool's Gold. The description for Fool's Gold is a little confusing because the original and alternate start used to be listed incorrectly. To avoid confusion, just refer to the new start area topo. The information there is accurate and shows the original start for Fool's Gold and Beam Me Up, Scotty. The old and new starts converge at the top right corner of the right leaning, shallow dihedral. In the past, some climbers would build a gear belay at the small vertical crack just above the dihedral's mini headwall. Part of the retro bolting involved adding a bolted belay for P1 above this old gear belay to allow for easy rappelling with a single 60m rope. 

The new start: 5.9+/ 5.10a. 9 bolts + gear to a bolted hanging belay. Part of the retro-bolting involved adding a new start to make this route more independent from Fool's Gold. The new start follows a more straight path. Start on the ledge/ crack that angles up and to the right. After a few feet when the crack splits, continue up the left crack placing a cam or two in the 0.4-0.5 range. Then pass 3 bolts that lead to the crack in the base of the right leaning, shallow dihedral. In the crack you can place a cam or two in the 0.75 -2 range. Then pull the dihedral's mini headwall and follow 6 bolts past excellent sustained slab climbing.

Pitch 2: 5.9+. 7 bolts to a bolted belay on a decent ledge. This is a short pitch. Follow 7 tightly spaced bolts up the nice sustained slab. The old bolted anchor for this pitch was located around 8' right and 4' below the current anchor. The anchor was moved onto the ledge for a more comfortable belay. Currently, the final bolt on the pitch is where the old anchor used to be. It's in an awkward location that creates a swing potential for the leader and the follower. Ken may move the bolt over to the left. 

Pitch 3: 5.7. 3 bolts + gear to a bolted belay. I've heard others refer to the upper portion of this route as "Missing Captain Kirk". Linking P3 with P4 is the way to go if you intend to reach the top of Helen's Dome. Start by heading straight up the short finger crack and placing a cam or two in the 0.3-0.4 range. Continue up the slab past 3 bolts that are relatively far apart. The climbing through here is much easier so the bolt spacing should feel adequate for most. An old 5.9+/5.10- R alternate pitch exists off to the right. I believe this alternate pitch only has two very old bolts. They looked like 1/4" Rawl buttonheads with Leeper hangers. Do not climb this alternate pitch if the old bolts are still in place. If you look closely, you can see the first old bolt from the P2 anchor. 

Pitch 4: 3rd/4th class. No protection to a bolted anchor. This pitch is mostly a slab walk/ scramble to the easily identifiable 5' table boulder that rests on the Upper Bench. There is a nice bolted anchor at the top of the pitch just below the boulder.  This anchor also serves as the P4 anchor of Helen Highwater. I don't think there are any options for gear on this pitch and there aren't any bolts, but you can clip an old rusty chain anchor 3/4 of the way up if desired.

Descent:

Every pitch has a new bolted anchor that is equipped for rappelling. Every rap can be done with a single 60m rope. If you don't plan on continuing to the top of the formation, I suggest skipping P4 and rappelling after reaching the P3 anchor. 

12 draws should be sufficient with a few of them being alpine draws. Single rack of cams 0.3 - 2. I did not find nuts to be necessary.