[Hide Comment] A disclaimer on the beta photo. This is the way we decided to do the climb. It made more sense to us to make P3 a short pitch and get a belay in the chimney. Otherwise we would have had to do a hanging belay halfway up the big pitch. You may choose to do otherwise. CO. Mar 6, 2006

[Hide Comment] Putting the belay in the chimney makes the route a 5.9+; if you run it straight through to the ledge where the 4th class begins, the route is more like a 5.10-, according to Croft (and most others, including me).

Fantastic route, excellent rock, very clean. Triples of hand-sized pieces are not uncalled for, especially if you choose to do most of the corner as a rope-stretcher pitch. Great finish to the corner, too. Mar 14, 2006

[Hide Comment] Hmmm, 5.9+ or 5.10-? Well I for one can't tell the difference between the two, especially at 14,000ft where they'd both feel like 5.11 to me.... Mar 15, 2006

[Hide Comment] In general pretty sustained climbing. Regardless of length of pitches, I'd say 5.10- is fair as there's a ton of 5.9. With all the sillyness with pitch lengths, here is what I thought worked well.

Pitch 1 and 2 as described by Croft. If you start late enough both belays will be in the sun.
Pitch 3 - 175~180' belay on the first real ledge worth the name, *not* a hanging belay as such.
Pitch 4 - 100' finish the last part of the dihedral.
Pitch 5 - Carry on until rope drag bites real bad
Pitch 6 - 400+ feet of 4th class

As for triples in the 1.5" to 2.5" ( as described in Croft )... I feel that triples in say .4 to .75 Camalot with doubles in the 1 and 2 Camalot's would be more valuable. We also thought the dihedral was longer than 250', pehaps 275'? Sep 11, 2006

[Hide Comment] Thanks Murf -I did the route a long time ago, didn't have a 200 foot rope, a topo, and had a very basic rack (set of hexes, set of rocks and a few friends), so we weren't sure what to expect and were inclined to stop and belay where we could. Doing the route as you suggest would therefore involve only 2 pitches in the dihedral instead of 3 and is, without a doubt, worth considering. Oct 4, 2006

[Hide Comment] I thought this route was just OK, not as great as its made out to be. I saw that picture of the final layback on the exit move in a climbing magazine and said HOLY SHIT I've got to do this route. The rest of the climb is not quite as good as that picture looks. Oh well it's worth doing but I wouldn't go up there just to do this one route. Dec 19, 2006

[Hide Comment] Did this route yesterday, cold at the base at 7:30am. We climbed the first pitch about 160 to an obvious ledge below a wide section. 2nd pitch was 120 ft to a decent narrow stance at the start of the dihedral. 3rd pitch was full 200ft. to where the corner gets less steep, obvious from below, two decent ledge systems to belay from, we chose the higher one. From there it was about 100ft. to the end of the dihedral with one of the best 5.9 finishes anywhere, this pitch made the final pitch on 3rd pillar look like a pile. We camped at Upper Boyscout and took about 2 hours to reach the base of the route. Absolutely killer and a way better setting than Whitney, Russell is steep and remote, shame that the Mithril is only four long pitches....We descended the east ridge, a cool traverse all the way down to Upper Boyscout, straightforward but with great exposure. Jun 22, 2007

[Hide Comment] awesome route. pristine granite, twin hand cracks in a corner with a view.

if i recall correctly, we belayed at the base of the dihedral proper. then one very long pitch (that i seem to recall almost finishing our 60m) to a great stance with good gear where the angle kicks back just a bit. not a hanging belay. then a shorter pitch over the upper crux and onto ledges above. that first long pitch in the dihedral is wonderful.

shame it isnt longer. but- it means you can afford to start late (and thereby climb in the sun).

i would stack things so you can go down the east ridge. i think its faster, infinitely more interesting, less chossy, etc. much better finish. Mar 8, 2008

[Hide Comment] Agreed- if the dihedral is run through for 200+ feet, it's 5.10, if it's broken up into 100' pieces, it's 5.9.

Go for the 5.10, woohoo! Sep 20, 2009

[Hide Comment] IMO, the route is no harder than 5.9. While sustained in places and above 13,000 ft, the moves themselves are 5.9. Secor calls it 10b, Croft calls it 10a and McNamara gives it 10b, but those ratings seem a bit too hard for this route. There are some good rests along the way that make it totally managable. With that being said, it is one of the coolest routes I've ever been on. CALSSIC for sure!!! Aug 10, 2010

[Hide Comment] I was very winded hopping on this route about 12 hrs after leaving sea level. Still, even with the thin-air-leading-with-pack pant-fest, I'd have to say the route honestly is 5.9 or 5.9+ by the hardest technical move. Hands-free or hands-less pant rests are there for nearly every few moves on the entire route if you know how to rest in a crack that is in a corner with face features. However, if you want to do the route clean and solid, you should be a 5.10 leader as the climbing is sustained and it . . . just . . . keeps . . . going! Great for every inch too.

I agree with the above statement that it is better to bring triples in the smaller sizes. I never managed to use 3 of the following Camalots (#1, #2, #3). I found a #4 handy here and there but probably not required. You can probably be just fine sewing up the climb with only doubles if you don't link any of P3, 4, or 5. Also, we used fewer cams in the gear anchors by using some tri-cams. We only placed one nut on the route and it was very optional. Jul 2, 2012

[Hide Comment] PLease make sure you are prepared to descend a sharp ridgeline and possibly in the dark. If you have to wait for the sun to warm up the rock, it can start your day off a bit late. Just know the topo of the descent to get back to camp. We got ledged out by assuming the wrong decent and had to hike back up and make another guess which was thankfully the right one. Sep 28, 2012

[Hide Comment] First pitch to obvious ledge. 2nd pitch to a small sloping ramp, make sure you have good rope management here. 3rd pitch up the dihedral, past the chimney, to a small stance on the left face. 4th pitch finish up the dihedral, belay at any one of the large ledges above. Solo the last ~3-400ft of 4th class. some exposed and loose stuff, be weary. Descended the east ridge to upper boyscout. Rack: doubles in BD .75,1, 2, triples in orange Metolius TCU, doubles in red, yellow blue tcu. bring long slings for the first 2 pitches and the final placements of the dihedral so when you go over the ledges you wont have severe rope drag. WHAT A STELLAR CLIMB! Jun 26, 2014

[Hide Comment] We did the Mithral in 16 hours car to car... I would recommend doing the climb like that rather then hiking stuff up to iceberg... Unless you have multiple climbs planned. On the descent be sure not to go for the big ridge you can see from the west summit, in stead go over to the other summit and look for the other obvious ridge line...

Little video of the climb!

m.youtube.com/watch?v=WXAYU… Sep 16, 2014

[Hide Comment] That's my problem, I can't justify a 16hr day for 6 pitches. I wish I did not despise hiking... Sep 17, 2014

[Hide Comment] "Mithral"... Apr 24, 2017

[Hide Comment] Mithral is a spelling error for the mythical metal used in the Hobbit; Mithril. Apr 25, 2017

[Hide Comment] Do it car-to-car if you're only going up there for that route. Combine pitches 3 and 4 and fight your partner to lead this long glory pitch. It's worth the hike alone. Feb 9, 2018

[Hide Comment] Stellar Route.
P1-P2 can be linked with 70m
P3-P4 can be linked with 60m, this is the meat of the route..
P5 short pitch of heroic layback.
No need to bring the #4.
Having triple of hand sizes is needed if you are planning on linking pitches.
The most important beta, that corner is freaking cold, the sun rolls in around 10am first week of August. Aug 7, 2018

[Hide Comment] Ticked this route on 7/28/19. We left Upper Boy Scout Lake at 7:20 AM, relaxed at Iceberg Lake, and started climbing at about 10:45 AM. The start was in the sun, but the main corner was in the shade. The main corner came into the sun around noon. We linked P1 and P2 w/a 70m rope, but it required some simul-climbing. We then led the entirety of the main corner in two pitches: linking P3 and P4, and doing P5 (flake lieback) as the last pitch of the corner. Four moderate pitches after that brought us to the summit. The climb was stunning.

We brought triples from yellow alien to #2 C4, two #3 C4 and a #4 C4. The reason for the triples was that belaying at the second stance above the steep portion of the corner required a #1 and #2 C4, with another piece. The main corner takes a variety of gear though, from nuts, to yellow alien up to a #4 C4. Jul 29, 2019

[Hide Comment] Brian M. Climbed it July 31, 2020. Was the first time but climbed through just fine! Felt like 10a to me. Oct 7, 2020

[Hide Comment] just came to this post cuz of this video... worth a watch youtube.com/watch?v=ke-bbgV… Feb 12, 2021

[Hide Comment] The descent back down to Iceberg Lake is very straightforward and not difficult. As I recall it was about 100 ft of 4th class downclimbing. Jan 9, 2024

[Hide Comment] Dihedral gets sun right at noon on sept 1.
However, rock temps were comfy with cloud cover or even in the shade (for reference, I have very cold-sensitive hands, and the NWS forecast was high 53F / low 38F).

We started exactly straight up the dihedral at the bottom, instead of on blocky stuff further left. This still kept p1-2 at 5.7-8. Combined, p1-2 were 65m. Leader was on easier ~5.6 terrain once follower started simuling on a 60m rope.

Currently there's a convenient single 25m rap into the descent gully. didn't look too hard for a downclimb but the rap was fine. Sep 3, 2024