[Hide Comment] [TWZ is the] south-facing wall starting just right of Surf Bowl and reaches the top for a great view all around. Starts on slabby buttress and heads up forever. Rock is generally very clean, couple of raps traverse and have fixed draws. Climbing is mostly easy 9 or 10 with one 12a pitch you can french free.

[To get there] hike up past the Agujas and trend left to Surf Bowl/Dihedrals. Just before entering Surf, look for trail going right to slabby buttress. It's the only route there. Jan 6, 2008

[Hide Comment] I found this route fun. There are a few pitches with poorer rock up higher including the hard but uninspiring .12 pitch. Still the route is worth doing for the overall views and don't forget the bragging rights. It is not everyday that you can climb an alpine type route with only a handful of draws. The views at the top are spectacular too. Jan 10, 2008

[Hide Comment] Sweet route with very straight forward consistent moves for pretty much the whole route. Contrary to what we heard other people say, the rock quality is excellent and the 5.12 pitch is a very fun, powerful lead. Well worth the time. Jan 14, 2008

[Hide Comment] Excellent route with long stretches of consistent and fun climbing. The 5.10 pitches are all excellent, and I thought the 5.12 section was very good with good rock and 1,000+ feet of exposure below your feet - a very cool experience. Definitely free this section if you still have the energy after the first 20 pitches - I would assume that it would be an uninspiring aid pitch.

Watch for loose rock on the last pitch (5.6) with the fixed rope and be mindful of the conditions of this fixed rope - it was quite frayed in a few spots this Jan (2008).

70meter rope was great.

BASE TO SUMMIT TIME (w/ Travis Melin): 4 hours 17 minutes 10 seconds! Speed Record?? (it can definitely be done much faster) Jan 16, 2008

[Hide Comment] This is definitely an amazing line. In my opinion it is the most consistently quality climb of all of the El Potrero multi-pitch routes. I think the rock quality is great overall, and the climbing is super fun. The 12a pitch is good, but I do think it is way harder than any other 12a at El Potrero, and not only because it's so high up on the wall!

As for the speed record... I'm sure this climb could be done extremely quick. On 3/8/06, Tom Grundy and I climbed from the base to the summit in just under 3 1/2 hours, with no simul-climbing at all, just linking pitches. I'm sure a competent simul-climbing team could blast up this route in half that time, or less! Feb 19, 2008

[Hide Comment] Definitely agree with Jimmy. Is this really considered a grade III instead of a grade IV? Every pitch is a masterpiece...the crux pitch is no bolt ladder clip up gimme either! Thanks for quality in Mexico! A 70m rope is better than the 1x60m we took. The rappelling takes some time and care. Feb 10, 2009

[Hide Comment] This is an amazing route. It's well bolted and very doable in a day. The 12a pitch is a stinger at the end of the day, but, it is "aidable" through the crux. Bring plenty of water and food, it's a long climb with a LONG descent. Been there, done that, won't do it again. I am simply too old! Jun 18, 2009

[Hide Comment] An Amazing Marathon of a climb! My Partner and I climbed it in 6 and 1/2 hours just with linking pitches, there is no need to simul-climb it for times sake. Took us less then two hours to rap it but we both had gri gri's and were pretty motivated to get down for dinner. The 12.a pitch is not french free'able by any means but stepping up on draws can help you gain good holds for the climbing between bolts. We did this one in the blazing hot sun and two liters each was cutting it close, water and snacks are important on this lengthy route!!

One very important tip is that if there are alot of people planning on doing the route, which often is the case on this class A cluster funk of a route, either be the first party on the route or the last because being stuck in the middle leads to tons of hanging out at belay stations in your harness in the grueling sun.

Enjoy it while your up there because chances are you wont be doing it again any time soon, haha! Jan 10, 2012

[Hide Comment] An awesome climb!! Some of the belays suck a bit, definitely recommend linking pitches; we climbed with a 70m and simul-rapped. Great day of a ton of climbing followed by a ton of rapping, probably best to do right before a rest day! Try to get the 10d ones on lead, they were super fun (I was seconding those). The crux pitch is burly, has two distinct crux sections but apparently I missed a hold on the first of them. You will have earned your caguama of Carta Blanca and 1L margarita from La Posada afterward, especially if you climb this in the heat+sun like we did! Jul 31, 2012

[Hide Comment] Some beta on the bivy if you choose to do the climb in 2 days. There is a nice ledge at the top of the short 5.7 12th pitch. There is a flat rock free area big enough for 2 people with trees between you and the downstream cliff. Feels totally fine to be unroped. There is more ledge if you walk unroped further away from the anchors which might have room for more sleeping spots but we didn't investigate further.

Each of us climbed with a 20L back with a sleeping bag strapped to the bottom. I led the 5.11 2nd pitch with no bag and hauled both packs up. That pitch is pretty steep so the bags weren't being dragged across the rock. No need for a real haul bag. We climbed the rest of the pitches that day with the bags. Pulling the roof on the 5.10b 10th pitch was pretty burly with the bag, but otherwise not a problem. The second day we left all the bivy gear at the ledge and climbed the top half with a single follower pack. We were planning on getting our stuff on the way down and making it to the base the second day, but decided to spend another night on the ledge and rap in the morning.

I thought bivying was a good option for our climbing speed. We kept the baggage light to avoid some of the suck on the first day.

Jan 7, 2016

[Hide Comment] The grades on this thing are remarkably inconsistent. Pitches one, three and four are more like 5.3 than 5.7 or 5.9. There's a "10b" pitch later on that's no harder than 5.9, and the 20th pitch felt more like solid 5.11, especially after all the vertical mileage before that. The other 5.7 and 5.6 pitches were more like 5.2.

Also, for the 12a pitch, it's true you can french free through the hardest section, but there's also a few moves of mandatory 5.11 after that to get to the last bolt and anchors, so it's not a gimme, especially after 2,000 feet of climbing. It was sharp and painful, in my humble opinion.

But still a great route, and definitely worth doing. Jan 27, 2016

[Hide Comment] I agree that the 20th pitch felt like solid 5.11. Some inconsistency in the grades, but nothing really drastic. The 12a pitch is a very physical pitch even with the french free variation.

We linked the following pitches easily:
1&2
3&4
5&6
10&11
12,13,&14 (w/ a small amount of simul climbing on a 70 m rope)
17&18 (most strenuous of the ones we linked)

That made for a total of 16 pitches. We got it done with 18 quickdraws and 8 or so alpine draws. 10 hours up, 4 hours down - simul-rappelling. I kicked myself for not bringing some dogbones or cheap chains to replace the directionals on Pitch 6 and 18. That tat is looking pretty haggard.

If it is a sunny day, a good chance for shade on the route is spending a break hanging out on the palm tree belay at the top of Pitch 14 (awesome position). You could also try at the bivy ledge, but it would require relocating from the anchor. We had a 75-80 degree sunny day which felt pretty dang hot. We brought 3.5 liters of water each which was just barely enough.

Also - if you don't stay at Ariel's Chalet while you are in el Potrero, you are doing it wrong. theascentjournal.com/2016/0… Apr 8, 2016

[Hide Comment] A lot has already been said. This is way fun. The grades make no sense. The 12a pitch is stout for Potrero Chico and awkward, but easy to pull through on draws. Depending on your skill level the route could go very quickly and you will be back in time for afternoon margs. Simul-rapping is probably the way to go.

The most important thing though: if you bring a cell phone and turn it on on the summit you will get WiFi from La Posada. I swear. Aug 3, 2016

[Hide Comment] Park 30 feet beyond the cattle guard. Looking up you'll see the white and orange Outrage Wall on your right, and the two Spires will be in front of you. Take any of the several trails going up and head toward the spires. The trials branch a lot, but just trend toward the spires. Go up and past them, toward the saddle to hiker's left of the Outrage Wall. You'll know you're at the climb when you see a plaque that says "Time Wave Zero"! Feb 6, 2017

[Hide Comment] Three parties climbed it in our group. All took between 8 and 9 hours to ascend, and 3 hrs to get back down. Start early and climb the initial pitches in the dark, or rap in the dark. We chose the former since we considered rapping more dangerous by far. The only deaths on this route (apart from one free-solo climb accident) have been on the rappel. Tie knots, and strongly consider using a grigri if you simul-rappel. Its really helps.

As of Feb 2017, the fixed lines were in place on pitches 7 and 23 and were in pretty good shape. There are fixed directional carabiners for the rappel on a few of the pitches (pitch 7, maybe others). If you're going to do this route, consider taking some gear to replace them; they're getting pretty ratty.

Loved the route; it was amazing. Feb 6, 2017

[Hide Comment] Our Day on Time Wave:

February 6th: 80 Degrees

3:30 AM Breakfast, Hydrate, Pack-up.
4:10 AM Leave Posada
5:00 AM Start TWZ

Linked Pitches:
1/2
3/4
5/6/7 - with some stretch in the 70m.

8 - 3rd Class
9 - Could link, might cause significant rope drag.

10/11/12
13/14
15/16
17/18
19/20

21- The 12 Pitch. At this point just make sure your whole group makes it through this. We climbed in two groups of two and top belayed until everyone made it through the 12 to save time.
22 - Missing Bolt/Little Spicy
23 - To the Top!
(13 Pitches Total)

We made it to pitch 19 at about 12:30 and topped out at 4:00 PM. The heat and difficulty of the last four pitches hit pretty hard. We simul-rapped and made it down at a little after 8:00 PM.

Bring at least 3 Liters on water on a sunny day!
Totally worth it, not as intense as we thought it would be. Feb 25, 2017

[Hide Comment] March 11 ascent, and we followed same pitch strategy as Court's Feb 25 comment above, which we liked but YMMV. Here's a little more beta on it.

We timed our start so that the leader hit the bottom of the second pitch at first light (6:15am), which worked perfectly.

Most of the belay stances using this strategy, and most of them on this route, are not comfortable.

Individual pitch grades were somewhat inconsistent, but in general everything listed as .10b or under felt within the .8 - .10 range.

Ascent took ~9 hours with a few breaks. First half of the route went quickly, second half slowed down as fatigue and difficulty increased. Descent took ~4 hours simulrapping with a break at the ledge and a few minor stuck ropes.

Descent: consider down-leading p23 from the summit back to the p22 anchor to avoid messing with the fixed rope. The fixed rope is in decent condition if you do want to use it. Don't miss the rappel directionals on p18 & 7. The rappel anchor directly below p10 anchors is there and in good shape.

Pitch strategy:
1/2
3/4
5/6/7 - with a new 70m rope we had about 1m left when the leader got to the p7 anchor
8 - 3rd class, unrope
9
10/11/12 - We could not hear each other at all here with a full rope length between us. About 4m of simulclimbing was required with a 70m rope, so figure out a communication strategy beforehand.
13/14
15/16
17/18 - physical, and p18 is missing a hanger as it angles left, leaving a slight runnout on a traverse. Leader and follower should take care not to fall here.
19/20 - p20 was stiff
21 - physical, be prepared for hard moves between the aid sections, and consider standing on a sling while aiding to make things easier.
22 - stiff
23 - obvious, but watch for loose blocks Mar 13, 2017

[Hide Comment] Here's our beta for an 80 meter rope for those comfortable simuling 10b:

20 normal draws, 4 extending

- 1-4 belay until need to simul
- 5-8 simul
- 9-10 link
- 11-15 simul
- 16-17 link
- 18-19 link
- 20 belay
- 21 belay
- 22 belay
- 23 leave rope at the top of pitch 22, via ferrata to the summit on the fixed line.

There are two sketchy at-the-end-of-your-rope double-pitch rappels: From top of the 12a to the start of the 10d and from the top of the 7th (where you start on third class). Be really careful if you double rap these as they will go right to your last inch and require the second to pull down a strand.

Hands down one of Potrero's best! Dec 23, 2017

[Hide Comment] Not sure about the climbing itself, but for a decent 5.10 climber like myself this is probably quite a challenge in the form of just how long and tiring the whole thing is, but a great experience overall. Simul-rapping would save time if you're efficient, otherwise just normally rap if you're doing it in the dark and playing it safe. 70m rope recommended, and probably 6 alpine draws to reduce drag. Skipping bolts on easy sections helps too.

Timeline breakdown:

0300 - wake up

0415 - leave Rancho El Sendero

0500 - arrive at base

0630 - start P1+2 (waited for other parties. P2 crux is right before the anchors, probably 3 moves long)

P3+4
P5+6+7 (with slight rope stretch in 70m. P6 traverses left, lookout for directional draws for rappel)
P8 (3rd class scramble)
P9 (to base of roof traverse)
P10 (rap directly down from top of P10 to find rap rings. These rings are about 20ft right from the roof but still get you down to the 3rd class)
P11+12 (You can link P10+11+12 but requires ~15ft of simul climbing, we played it safe to break up P10)

1030 - arrive at P12 bivy ledge

P13+14
P15+16 (P15 I believe traverses left, look out for directional draws for rappel)
P17+18
P19+20 (5.9 then sustained 10d, this pitch was pretty intense)

1500 - arrive base of P21 (5.12a pitch, can be aided by stepping on bolts or clipping draws and pulling on them, bolts are closely spaced)

1630 - arrive top of P22 (technically summit)

1700 - arrive top of P23 (sketchy traverse on ridge with big loose rocks, wouldn't recommend doing to be honest, view doesn't change much, plus requires dowmclimbimg back to P22 which is a pain)

1800 - start rappelling from P22

2230 - arrive back at base (we were a little slow due to single raps+all rappel in the dark

Overall, amazing experience and would highly recommend. Train hard for it and enjoy the adventure! Jan 6, 2018

[Hide Comment] Here is how we linked pitches. In my opinion, this is probably the best way to do it as we were generally able to tackle harder/more wandery pitches without any rope drag and mostly had comfortable belays.

P1+P2: (Note if you aren't a very solid 5.11 climber, I recommend doing these pitches separately. There will be a lot conspiring against you on the 5.11 pitch, including the early start, no warmup, a full backpack, and you probably haven't pooped yet. P1 does add significant rope weight and rope drag even with extension, so keep that in mind.)
P3+P4
P5+P6
P7
P8 is just a hike. This is not a pitch. Pick up your rope and walk.
P9
P10+P11 (Some people linked P9 and P10, but you will be better off starting P10 clean since it is a traverse pitch, plus you will be set up to get the next 3 pitches in one and won't miss the palm tree belay, which is the best belay on the route and provides some much-needed shade.)
P12, P13, and P14: I had 5' of rope left on my 70m rope at the palm tree belay.
P15
P16+P17
P18
(Note, you could certainly link P15 + P16, and P17 + 18 - but you will have drag for the 5.10D and would miss the cave belay)
P19+P20 (Extend on P19 and you won't have much rope drag at all for the 10D pitch. It went totally fine for me. However, you might consider separating these two if you are tired or not confident in the grade, because the 10D pitch is probably 11A and quite tough after all of the climbing you've done to get there.)
P21+P22 (Be prepared for P22 - hardest pitch of "5.8" sport I've ever done by far. Also consider the strength of your second on the 5.12A pitch. Even with aiding, it is a solid 5.11A and very physical, so it might benefit you to stop and belay above that pitch so you can keep your second tighter and help them through.)
P23 - The fixed line has lost its sheathing entirely in many sections. While it might be tempting to just use these lines, I would suggest pitching it out to the summit until they are replaced. Jan 19, 2018

[Hide Comment] The 3rd class section is not 3rd class, it's a flat trail. The 5.6 last pitch is 4th class with frightening choss. The fixed line on this section is completely trashed and the downclimb from the summit was the single scariest, most exposed section of the entire climb.
The climbing throughout the route was much higher quality than we expected. Recommended. Jan 24, 2018

[Hide Comment] Quick note on safety - We were followed leaving La Posada by two men in a small car. They followed us from La Posada all the way into the park. They stopped at the park's gate. We then sped up our walking pace until we turned the first bend into the canyon and lost sight of them. When we heard them accelerate and saw the lights turn on, we started running and hid in some rocks on the side of the road. Two mexican men got out of their cars, opened the trunk of the vehicle and started looking for us. They looked mostly in the dry arroyo. I overheard them say "Well, they won't even come out to say hello to us." They continued up canyon, turned around, and came back down. They stopped their car again near us (maybe 40 feet), turned the car toward the arroyo, and put on their high beams. Again, they opened the trunk of the car and one guy got out and looked for us in the arroyo. They eventually left and we continued to Time Wave. This all happened around 4 am.

Time and again people told us el Potrero is safe, but we had this scare. Use extreme caution when leaving to climb early. It's unclear what these men wanted but we were deeply terrified and did not want to find out. Other than this incident, El Potrero seemed really safe during "regular" climber hours. But where there are tourists, there is money, and where there is money, there are thieves.

Climbed this about in early March of 2018 with a good friend. He onsighted the 12a crux pitch, which was hard for me to follow. Even pulling on draws it was not easy. If your second is weaker than the stronger climber, don't continue past the next set of anchors as the rope stretch makes it even hard to pull on draws and make progress. The 11a crux down low is like a gym climb as is the 10d crux above. Most of the route felt like 5.9 to 10a. Beautiful. 70m was perfect. Mar 29, 2018

[Hide Comment] If you aid through the 5.12 bolt ladder section, what does that drop the free grade on that pitch to? Are there still hard 5.11 sections that need to be freed on that pitch, or does the grade drop more? Oct 26, 2018

[Hide Comment] SGP donated two new fixed lines and we hung them yesterday. The P7 shortie needs edge protection or it won’t last long. Will someone bring up a canvas square or a chunk of garden hose? Jan 7, 2019

[Hide Comment] We climbed this on December 30, started at 4:30am and there were already 3 other parties that had started before us. I would call myself a 5.11b/c climber, and my partner a 5.11d/12a climber, and we moved fairly well but were still a bit slower than other parties. We ended up having to wait at the bivy ledge for about an hour, and again for another hour at the bottom of the 12a pitch (when we got to the 12a there was one party rappelling it, one party climbing it, and another party waiting to climb it, plus us, so it was a total gang bang up there). If you are a going to climb this mountain at this time of year, be prepared to either wait or to aggressively climb through people. If you are simuling its easier to climb through people at the belays. We simul rappelled 19 pitches in the dark without any issues. Note after the P11 rappel, the route raps straight down to the P8 traverse and doesn't follow the climbing route, so don't be surprised when you don't see any bolts at this point.

If I could climb this again here is how I would pitch it out:

P1+P2+P3 link - We were able to do this without simul climbing, with a 70m rope. Belayer at the base had to step up about 10 feet to make it work, but the bottom of the pitch is low angle ledge so its not really simul climbing. I think P3 must not be a full 100 feet (it felt much shorter), because we were able to link these 3 with a 70m rope at full length (with belayer stepping up 10 feet or so). Pitch 2 has an awkward hanging belay, the Pitch 3 belay is much nicer.

P4+P5+P6+P7 link + simul climb - P4 is pretty easy, so there should't be too much trouble simuling it.

P9+P10 link with some extended draws at top of P9 to help with rope drag
P11+P12 link (Yes there are about 3 or 4 bolts on P12, although it doesn't say so in the guidebook)

P13+P14 link
P15+P16 link
P17+P18 link
P19+P20 link I wouldn't call P20 harder than 10d, but it does have more 10d moves than the previous.
P21 best done single pitch unless both partners are good 5.12 climbers. We linked P21 & P22 and due to rope stretch/drag my partner would lose all his ground every time he had a take.
P22 single
P23 drop rope and via ferrata to the top. Fixed rope looked in OK shape and bolted at regular intervals, a bit bleached by the sun, I didnt do a close inspection of it however. Would recommend to keep climbing shoes on as there are a few 5.4/5.5 smeary moves it will help with.

Base to summit 18 hours 15 minutes, which included about 2 to 2.5 hours of waiting on other parties, and we struggled a bit getting up the 12a. But if you don't mind rappelling in the dark, the raps are pretty clean considering how huge of a wall this is. Jan 2, 2020

[Hide Comment] We Simuled in 4 links, 1-8, 9-18, 19-20, 21 to summit. We started at 9am and summitted right at noon, with some waiting to pass 4 or 5 parties. Some one might bring an adjustable wrench to tighten down the 30 or so spinners throughout the route, many are a tad smaller than the standard 9/16" bolt head, perhaps 1/2". A couple perma draws on the traverse pitches would be great as well for replacement rappel directionals. Jan 7, 2020

[Hide Comment] In 2017 a friend and I climbed Time Wave. We used a safer simul rapping technique by clipping to each other and did not simul rap traversing pitches. On the way down we timed our rappels when simul rapping. During other multipitch climbs we timed our rappels when not simul rapping. We found that simul rapping was on about 35 seconds faster per pitch. In other words, we discovered that simul rapping saved very little time for a competent party (we work as rock guides) and the risk is significantly higher. As a result both of us have given-up simul rapping. It didn’t seem worth saving a few minutes overall on a long day. Just some food for thought given the many simul rapping accidents on routes in EPC, and the loss of some wonderful people in our community. Enjoy the rocks! Feb 12, 2020

[Hide Comment] Started climbing a little before 5am and got lucky that we were the only party on the route that day. However, we scoped out the approach and climbed the first two pitches the prior afternoon (to suss out P2 beta) and ran into a couple just finishing at 3pm (they started at 2am) and told us that there were around 4 parties on the wall that day.

My partner and I consistently on-sight single pitch of 11a/b-ish grades and here is how we climbed:
P1 - we both tied in but free solo'd this. We free climbed this pitch the day prior, so we were confident in free solo'ing.
P2+P3 Link - Go right at the crux section on Pitch 2. It's tempting to go left bc of tick marks, but right is very do-able and maybe only 10d.
P4 +P5+P6+P7 - simul-climbing on P6 and P7. We had walkie talkies for communicating when simul-ing was about to start so that the leader could set a micro traxion. Also, this is the first time either of us had ever simul-climbed. Top of P7 was my favorite belay spot. It was a sitting belay that gave a great view of the canyon to see the sun rise.
P8 - Walk/Scramble - remember that you're looking for a bolt line here and not anchors/rap rings. There are no anchors at the bottom of this pitch.
P9+P10 - lots of drag on the P10 crux here if you link these. LOTS of drag. Non-trivial 10b.
P11+P12+P13+P14+P15 - we couldn't find info on how many bolts were on P12, but knew that this link would take 29 draws plus whatever P12 had. We only brought 27 draws, so we just skipped 5-8 bolts and ended up with 2 draws remaining. So P12 probably has 3-6 bolts.
P16+P17
P18+P19
P20 - we were pretty spent by the time we got here so just pretty much went bolt-to-bolt on this despite not having fallen at any point prior on the route.
P21 - We aided the 12a pitch. Very easily aid-able (especially with a Petzl Connect Adjust) up to the roof, and then there are 2 separate crimpy moves that I'd say are around 11a/b that you have to free climb due to bolt spacing. It took us a while to figure this out due to fatigue.
P22 - Definitely a challenging and pretty vertical-at-times 5.8. But we were also absolutely spent by this point with feet hurting and biceps and hands cramping so who knows whether the 5.8 grade is accurate or not.
P23 - Didn't really think this pitch was as scary as we had read about, but neither my partner nor I are very phased by exposure and there was very low wind on our day. Fixed rope looked in ok condition except for one part where it was running over a rock.

More notes:
- It was a sunny day and I'd recommend 3 liters of water each for a sunny day with a high in the upper 60s. Add liquid IV or some sort of electrolytes in there too. We brought too little, got dehydrated, and slowed down significantly at the upper pitches because of it.
- We summited at 130pm. Started our rappel at 2pm and hit the ground at 530pm. Would recommend simul-rapping on Gri Gris and using your quad to tether you together.
- The most strenuous part of the climb imo was pulling rope up on the top belay. Especially if you've linked pitches and therefore have rope drag. Make sure your biceps are in shape.
- You'd better love wearing whatever climbing shoes you bring for a very long time. Very few ledge belays. Jan 6, 2021

[Hide Comment] Anybody ever do, or scout, or think about doing the walk-off? I heard an interview where Honnold says on his solo of the route he summited and then did a low 5th class ridge traverse to a trail. I’m fine with rapping, but also like ridge traverses, doing big trail descents, running downhill, etc. Also it sounds like rapping could be clustery on a busy day Feb 11, 2021

[Hide Comment] I really don't think simul-climbing is necessary for the route. Most pitches can be linked with another making it about a 12 pitch route. We linked pitches with no simul and finished in about 6 hours back to ground with a half hour break before the crux pitch. Rapped by some parties simul-climbing all strung out, out of gear, desperate and climbing super slow because of it. If you link the pitches its really well protected and quick, you'll climb faster because the protection is good for the whole route and its much easier/faster to pass other parties. Oct 6, 2021

[Hide Comment] We replaced one of the rap directionals on pitch 6. One more could be replaced if someone brings some extra cord and a biner. Dec 16, 2021

[Hide Comment] Over 35 loose spinner bolts on TWZ were tightened down this afternoon, and a new steel-cable permadraw with theft-resistant steel biners was added to the upper traverse. I wish I had brought 2 more of these to add to the lower (pitch 6) traverse -- the current directionals are in fair shape, but a more permanent solution like steel-cable draws or a 6" length of chain with captive-biners might be a nice upgrade for the route. Sadly the wrench I had with me today was not useful for removing any of the countless old quicklinks/perma-dogbones that are littered on the route. Someone looking to do a bit of community service might consider taking a real adjustable wrench or pliers up there to remove some of the tat.

While tightening bolts on P17, one of the bolts completely sheared and broke under relatively gentle pressure (photo here: ibb.co/k92Zswv). This unfortunately means that this pitch is now slightly more run-out, but also raises questions about the fixed hardware on this internationally renowned classic.

Many of the bolts on this climb (especially throughout the lower half) are showing significant corrosion.
Photos here: ibb.co/HTRb37M, ibb.co/DYdtC3f, ibb.co/Zg8tmWz

Immediate action may not be necessary here, but I do think it's a good time to start the discussion about upgrading all of the bolts on TWZ, as I suspect much of the current fixed hardware will reach the end of its life-span in the next 5-10 years. Jan 2, 2022

[Hide Comment] The crux is harder than 12a in my opinion. Hard 12b or easy 12c feels more accurate. The 10d pitch before the crux is fun and interesting climbing.

Approach beta: follow the yellow arrows from the spires to get to the timewave wall.

We climbed with a 70m and 22 draws, and linked many pitches, but did not simul anything. Was at the base at 5am, on top at 2pm. Ate tamales from Esperanza at the top. Descending with individual raps (not a fan of simul raps) took 3 hours. Long day but the view from the top was worth it. Mar 3, 2022

[Hide Comment] I have a very fond memory of aggressively passing parties at the start of this climb. While 5-6 parties gathered at the base of the route, waiting to pitch out the initial 5.8, I soloed up the grassy variation and clipped a few bolts once in the .11 section. I belayed Stacy up, and within 10 minutes of tying in we were totally out of the cluster. What ensued was a great run of high-energy simuling on opposite ends of an electrified short-rope. Apr 8, 2022

[Hide Comment] For those looking for off season weather beta, we climbed it yesterday (April 23) and it wasn’t too hot. Luckily we had lots of clouds to give us shade until about 1pm, but we started early and by 1 we were on pitch 20. Rapped from 2-6pm and half of our rap was in the shade. I guess you could wait later in the day to rap to get more shade if desired. We brought appx 2.5 liters a piece and had a litre left over at the end. Apr 24, 2022

[Hide Comment] 7hrs ascent, 3hrs descent
we linked p1&2, p3&4&half of 5, then 5&6&7, then walked 8, led 9 separately, linked 10 and 11, linked 12&13, linked 14&15, linked 16&17, 18&19. split up 20 and 21 into separate pitches due to them being hard, then linked 22 and 23. Total blast, highly recommend.
also- approaching the climb in the dark in 5ft visibility is very hard we walked around in circles for a bit. I would recommend checking out the approach the day before.
gear was 15 qds and 8 alpines, 2 anchors and 70m rope Nov 23, 2022

[Hide Comment] great route, very clean rock, and very interesting moves(has a little bit of everything). Here's how we linked pitches/summary of what people in the previous posts have done.
p1-p3 with 2 meters of simuling. would recommend try out the 11a pitch the day before.
p4-p7 with 1 pitch of simul on 5.9
p9-p12 with 1 pitch of simul on 5.9
p13-14
p15-16
p17-18
p19-20
p21
p22-23 we felt fine linking it with the previous one with some extending
timewise, we started around 6 got to top of p12 around 9 lunch break there
topped out around 240ish start repelling little over 3 got down around 6ish. Nov 30, 2022

[Hide Comment] We got to the base at 6 am and there were 5 parties ahead of us, including two at the base and one doing P2. Luckily everyone was extremely efficient so we got started pretty fast (630 am). It still caused some delays both climbing up and rappeling down but we were able to come back early evening (730 pm). The earliest party started at 330 am.... Feb 17, 2023

[Hide Comment] Someone took the directionals/permas off pitch 6. I left 2 green biners on the quicklinks, hopefully it'll help Mar 17, 2023

[Hide Comment] An epic route with some not so epic belay stations. Awesome moves all the way up with some real memorable pitched here and there. Loved it when I was climbing, hated it when I was belaying:)

Climbed it on March 27, was pretty hot (90 F at the hottest) and we brought 7L of water which was barely enough for us.

Only fixed line on the route was on the last pitch and it was pretty shot/cut etc so getting to the summit required a little bit of soloing.

PRO TIP: swing by the area the day before so you can more easily do the approach in the dark. and while you there climb some of the dihedrals. Dead Man's Landing is incredible. The first two pitches of TMZ are also awesome so if you aren't leading them on grand adventure I would consider doing that too. Apr 5, 2023

[Hide Comment] I recorded the whole route

youtu.be/yzb2CL888TI Apr 18, 2023

[Hide Comment] Looking for some advice. Neither myself or my partner are 5.12a climbers and we will 100% need to aid that pitch and possibly the 11a as well. Any advice on what gear we could bring to best aid those two pitches? Are the bolts close enough that we could stick clip past the crux of both pitches or could we use some cams/stoppers/etriers to aid past them? For anyone who might be offended that we are considering aiding the route please be assured I will not tick it off as a flash ;) We just enjoy climbing and it looks like a rad adventure. We're not the fastest climbers so we're planning to break it into two days and bivy at pitch 12 so that we can take our time. Thanks! Jul 6, 2023

[Hide Comment] We climbed TWZ a few days after the major rockfall from Oct. 12th (see photo). Holds and bolts appeared intact.
- P8 (3rd class): trail was damaged. It took us some time to find the start of P9. On the descent we added cairns/cleared some vegetation/rocks to make the trail more apparent but this was a quick patch-up.
- P12 bivy: this was mostly trashed. The ledge is intact but the vegetation/soil is mostly gone. Oct 24, 2023

[Hide Comment] Pitch linking beta (NEEDS A 70M) from how I climbed it a week or so ago with slight modifications after the fact:
1-2
3-4
5-7
3rd class
8-10
11-12
13-14
15-16
17-19
20
21-22
unrope and free

Warning: pitch 18 is the permadrawed traverse pitch, I double extended and skipped draws, if you are not comfortable with runout I would maybe pitch this section out, you could also potentially to 17-18 and 19-20 but I would confirm with another source that 19-20 will link since I did not do it that way. I had like 15 or so feet left after linking all three no simulling needed.

Hard pitch beta: I practiced leading the first 2 pitches 2 times before climbing and it made a world of difference on the day we did the full climb, the 11a pitch is hard but the lower crux is foot dependent and you can easily clip through it. The actual crux is one reachy move and is harder to clip through, you would likely need a panic draw or stick clip. definitely recommend doing the first 2 pitches to make sure the 11a doesn't put a damper on you plan the day of, if you can make it through the 11a you should be fine on all the other pitches up to the 12a. The 12a starts off pretty mellow but gets hard quick, you can french through the crux and if you're tall (i'm 6 foot ish), you can stand in a sling and just reach the jug (its a real jug) then clip the next bolt, this will let you also get through most of the "11" climbing after the 12a crux from what I felt. There may be 1 or 2 moves of 11 though but again, I think if you can do the 11a at the start you can get through this. I also made a 3 step ladder out of a double and an alpine and is was super helpful for the 12a crux since I didn't have to worry about maintaining my balance as much. It also makes following significantly easier, highly recommend this, you definitely don't NEED it but it makes aiding go a lot faster and easier.

approach/gear beta: Like the hard pitch beta, do this before the day of your climb so you don't get lost the day of. The climb is not hard to find but if you're doing this in the dark it may prove challenging. We hiked up the day before and left all of our gear, rope, and water in a little cache spot by the surfbowl and it made the approach the next morning a world easier only carrying our empty bags and some food. Do this at your own risk, our gear did not get stolen or touched but that may not always be the case. we brought probably like 15 draws and 10 alpines, I honestly wish we brought more alpines, since we linked every pitch, there were some sections where I basically used exclusively alpines and daisy chained the draws a used.

Rappel beta: Make sure you clip the permadraws after you pass them on pitch 18 or else you wont be having a fun time. From the pitch 10 anchors we went straight down and did not follow the bolt line, there was a rappel anchor that let us get to the 3rd class in a straight line so we didn't need to follow the pitch 9 traverse. If you're seeing a lot of vegetation on the wall, chances are that you're rapping off route and you should look around to find the bolt line, most of the time we were following that down. We simulled but honestly, I think if you have your rap systems down, rapping one at a time is just as fast or faster, especially if you don't have experience simulling. You will be very tired so do what your most familiar with to keep you and your partner alive.

Fixed line at the top is in absolute shambles as of 12/2023, would not trust it, downclimbing the last pitch to the first set of rap anchors was one of the scariest parts of the climb for me. Jan 6, 2024

[Hide Comment] ballsy to sleep at the bivy ledge given the amount of rock fall Jan 30, 2024

[Hide Comment] My partner and I are 5.10 climbers and did this route in 12 hours ground to ground yesterday. Here is some info that might help more moderate climbers thinking of attempting TWZ:
- We brought a small rack of cams and it helped us feel more comfortable on some of the runouts.
- We climbed base to summit in 9 hours and the only links we did were 3/4, 6/7, 11/12 and 13/14. We wanted to pitch out the 5.10 pitches and traverses.
- Like many others we scoped out the approach and pitch 2 climbing before, no way we would’ve been able to onsight that pitch in the dark but taking our time to figure it out previously really helped!
- On pitch 21 my partner did the moves above the aid bolt and then dropped a loop of rope down to me to use as a fixed line to pull myself up as I was totally spent by then.
- We had our belay transitions and 5.10a and below climbing pretty dialed from years of climbing together and a week of climbing in EPC.

Other possibly useful info:
- the fixed rope on pitch 23 is in decent shape as of Mar 9.
- Pitch 8 trail and bivy ledge atop pitch 12 are in good shape.
- Most anchors have bolts close enough to each other that a single master locking biner does the trick, no messing around with slings or quads on all but 3 or 4 anchors.
- We left a couple of non-lockers on the pitch 6 traverse on rappel, there are a total of 3 now and hopefully it stays that way.
- On a 22 deg C day we were OK with around 3.5L of water total and probably could’ve got away with 3L.
- The hardware shows some rust lower on the route but generally it’s in great shape.
- Some belays are semi-hanging but overall it’s not that bad. Plenty of good belay stances too.
- We rapped one pitch at a time with knots and back-ups and did them all in around 2:45 with a short break at the bivy ledge.

Enjoy the route it’s a good one!! Mar 10, 2024

[Hide Comment] Amazing day of a climb. Ended up simuling most of it using the Chossboys method to save time, pitching out a few of the more cruxy parts. We brought 4.5L of water and ended up finishing all of it by P21 since it was sunny. Would recommend waiting for a cloudy day as we felt sick the next day from sun exposure.

We started at 7am and had one party that stayed 4-6 pitches behind us. They didn't catch us as they were linking instead of simuling, and I believe they may have bailed at P20.

Watch out if rapping in the dark on P18, you will need to redirect through the permadraws and the anchor is somewhat hidden at the bottom of a chimney-like formation. Feb 18, 2025

[Hide Comment] Climbed this route on 11/3/2025 and the 2nd bolt on pitch 20 was missing. I ended up threading a runner around the cool constriction in the pockets because I was afraid of the ledge fall potential. I then slipped and fell on it while trying to figure out the move above the missing bolt. The thread held but a hand sized cam would probably be more reliable. Better yet maybe bring a bolt kit and replace the missing bolt. Nov 5, 2025

[Hide Comment] P20, 10d move off the anchor is not protected, felt uncharacteristic of the route or EPC area. Not an obvious move, and high potential for decking and factor 2 fall. Maybe missing a bolt?! 2 days ago