[Hide Comment] This climb is not as popular as Regular route for its X rating, so you don't have to wait much in line if the first pitch is dry and you can run it out pass the point where Regular branches out. Small gear, but you may want to bring gold and blue camalots for anchors. Off-width protects nicely with small gear, but if you're not sure, you can bring a #4 camalot - it gets pretty windy on that arete. Watch out for those crumbly flakes - my partner broke off a huge piece while holding onto one. Jun 1, 2010

[Hide Comment] A fantastic climb, but as the description says be sure that at the base of the X pitch begin straight up from the perch, do not traverse right to the fixed gear, if you do there are no feet and traversing into the main line is a little dicey. A great climb for someone solid on slab and solid in the mental aspect of climbing haha. Aug 2, 2011

[Hide Comment] As Adirondack Rock mentions, I'd avoid belaying at the top of the OW. A fall on the runout and unprotected slab directly above would be directly on the anchors. Keep going up another 40 feet and belay at the obvious vertical crack at the overlap. Aug 11, 2011

[Hide Comment] Once you are past the OW it gets really run out. We were not expecting there to be almost zero protection but that is most certainly the case. Jul 17, 2012

[Hide Comment] Awesome varied route. I think it gets my nod over the regular route in everyway, except the gear rating i guess :) Jul 25, 2012

[Hide Comment] About as varied climbing and terrain you could have given that it's all still a friction slab.

P1 - nice warmup of friction -- check if your head is ready today for what lies above. Careful not to make the anchor too high, or you'll have to down-climb to the "steppy" rock that starts the next pitch.
P2 - different rock textures ... right across the "steppy" rock, then up white-ish rock to make an anchor near base of giant L-facing corner.
(? alt P2 ? The reason not to go directly to the bottom of the crux pitch P4 is then you miss out on the interesting rock types and features that make this route different from most slab routes).
P3 - up a little along the giant L-facing corner, then out left before it overhangs, and keep traversing ... first across the low part of a thin flake, then up onto th first hump, below a second (less distinct) hump, and finish on top of third hump.
P4 - pretty much straight up, perhaps trending a little left toward the off-width. The reason it's rated X instead of the usual friction slab R is because if the leader falls, it's not just a long slide to the end of the rope -- rather the fall comes done hard onto a substantial rock ledge with a big elevated lip - (or smashes onto the unfortunate belayer).
P5 - I thought the off-width was pretty fun with my feet outside it on its left side the whole way up -- nice way to retain the character of the route as a friction climb. Anyway followed by another runout friction section up to a obvious (but narrow) overlap.
P6 - less steep friction up to a big stone lying on the surface, with trees nearby to right.
P7 - we were taking the north descent, so we traversed right (actually the easiest line seemed a little downhill at first) to the right side of the slab to the trees, found an informal trail up thru trees and across exposed rock sections obvious to the (non-trivial) north descent. Jul 27, 2012

[Hide Comment] Super classic friction route; definitely NOT for beginning or shaky leaders. Two spots, as mentioned, would be terrible fall zones: the third pitch's 90' runout, and after stepping off the block above the big crack. Dec 7, 2012

[Hide Comment] Has anyone done the 5.8 variation to the right of the off-width? I did it, or something like it, on solo top rope once. I went quite far right of the crack, and I am wondering if I was off route. I doubt the variation gets climbed much, so perhaps there is no by-the-book way of doing it. Nov 11, 2014

[Hide Comment] On the pitch above the belay on the "3rd hummock", if you moves a bit left and then up, you reach a fine left-facing corner that can be (climbed with protection) to finish on friction and then to the belay below the "Empress Crack"; then this pitch is only about "PG-13 / R" and not "X".

Also, with a 70m, or a "long 60m" it is possible to climb directly (in one pitch) from the top of P1 to the 3rd hummock by climbing up and left. In spring, or after a rain, there a bit of water to cross (rope might get wet) and a few bushes, but this "saves" a pitch. May 12, 2015

[Hide Comment] If you want to take the north descent, climb ALL THE WAY to the top, PAST the small island of trees as Kenr describes as P6, to a very large boulder perched at the top [and rap station at a tree to its right]. You can barely see the top of the boulder from the tree island. You can traverse across the ledges from the tree island at P6, but at the end of the ledge was 20 feet of exposed, wet, and dirty slab. Wouldn't want to slip there.

P7 is easy 5.0 friction. At the top put the rope and gear away, then head directly into the woods 20 feet, then right following a faint then more obvious series of paths up and right. You'll eventually cross one section of wet slab but there's trees to keep things safe. Around and down a couple trees, then up and right 40 feet on dry, easy slab. You're now across the main slabs.

Once you're in the woods for good, after ~75 feet there's a path DOWN (quasi drainage) to the main Regular Route walkoff.

As has been explained regarding the regular route walkoff, we prefer taking the second rap line ((2) 60m raps) starting at a tree above a ledge [NOT the first rap down a steep wet chossy gully]. At the bottom [you end up next to the small waterfall] heading across the creek below some large boulders and down the Chapel Pond Gully trail. Although this is not a direct line back to the base of the slabs, we find it as quick because of the established trails. If you don't have any reason to go back to the base this spits you out near the parking areas for Giant Mt. Jul 12, 2015

[Hide Comment] Linking into the route Greensleeves after the X pitch is a fun variation to this climb (better than the off-width IMO) if you are looking to avoid parties at the top or just change it up. Apr 17, 2016

[Hide Comment] With a 70 meter we combined pitches 1 and 2. As noted, both pitches 4 and 5 (the OW pitch) have very long fall potential with bad landings. Pitch 4, the big runout, is also the technically hardest pitch. The center of the slab pitch is great rock, the sides where the corners are (that do have some cracks) are rotten in places. Sections of the runout slab can be wet when other things around are dry. At the top we went for the south gully descent, since the top of it was very close and avoided traversing to the north side. It was not a happy choice. There are a couple of obvious rappels, then things peter off into dense bushwhacking, unobvious rappels, and moss covered slabs. Jul 6, 2016

[Hide Comment] The belay point below the "off width" connects with a strip of tress (to the left of the OW bulge) which is large enough to unrope and walk around ..... and is a large rest area or a possible place for an emergency "call of nature" break ....lol... Oct 6, 2016

[Hide Comment] Great route. Don't let the X rating scare you away. Yes, you need to be solid in the mental game, but none of the slab moves are difficult - it's mostly about leaning forward and keeping moving. The X pitch was not X scary.

P1/2/3 also offer some runouts so you can test your mettle before getting into the X pitch.

Consider the traverse into greensleeves. It's worth it! Aug 28, 2017

[Hide Comment] Climbed it on Sept 23 2017. My leader was unable to build an anchor at the overlap 40 feet above the offwidth crack at the spot stated in the guidebook. He said the rock was loose and could not even hold one placement. He did not feel it was safe to down climb to the top of the offwidth crack as it was about 12-13meters of unprotected slab. Instead he tried to continue up to the tree island which is supposed to be the top of the following pitch. In order for him to reach the tree island, we had to simul climb a distance equivalent to at least half of the offwidth crack. This was not a decision I took lightly as there are long sections of unprotected climbing on the slab above the offwidth. We only had a few good placements in the offwidth. Therefore a fall by either of us would have had severe consequences.

I'm wondering if other climbers have noticed the same thing with respect to the quality of the rock allowing the building of an anchor at the overlap above the offwidth. Perhaps we missed something? Sep 24, 2017

[Hide Comment] @ B L Didn't your partner build an anchor right on top of the OW?
We climbed that the next day after you guys and I lead from the top of OW. From there I stepped 2-3m right onto the slab and went toward the large flake that supposed to be the next anchor. I agree, it is not the best for belay. So I put cam there and continued to the tree island. There was maybe 10-15m of rope left after linking those two pitches. Sep 25, 2017

[Hide Comment] @Michal Szafarski: My partner felt uncomfortable to downclimb the slab to the top of the OW due to the runout. Building an anchor at the top of the OW is not ideal as there is a runout on the slab and a fall would result in a factor 2 fall on the anchor. However if the spot above is no longer in condition to build an anchor, I guess building an anchor above the OW possesses the least disadvantages of all options available. Sep 28, 2017

[Hide Comment] Much better route than "Regular Route" which we climbed earlier in the day.

We had the intention to simul-climb the route but ended up soloing the entire thing. If you're comfortable on slab the route is extremely easy and there's not many options for gear anyways.

You'll need big cams to protect the offwidth and theres a nice crack above the slab pitch past the offwidth to build an anchor or place pro. (.75) which also has an old pin that seemed pretty bomber. All in all a fun route to solo, the slabs aren't that bad! Lots of friction! Jul 29, 2019

[Hide Comment] DECENT DESCENT (as newbies to this wall, we did find the descent and we want to share what helped, which is same as much of what others say, we just want to emphasize the MOST IMPORTANT points): YES, it is a GREAT DESCENT, you just have to FIND it, and we felt it could use some more markings (Cairns please? and thx to whoever pitches in on this, ...seriously, and also there are some mis-leading cairns up top on the slab). We traversed over from the EMPRESS tree island top-out (not going to the top of the slab) and it is very easy to find THIS trail in to the woods, yet you then MUST FIND the "barkless tree" fallen across the trail which you WILL find if you stay low while traversing above Bob's Knob, and it is easiest to stay low simply by staying at the same height as you traverse, enough if you keeping most of the trees up and to your left (up-cliff), and then once you finally enter in to the woods on a clear trail there is this IMMEDIATE encounter with this (infamous?) "Fallen Barkless Tree" across the trail at which you must then TURN IMMEDIATELY RIGHT and follow the path down, down, down, and you WILL soon find the 1st handrail rope on the right side of the descent, and then VERY(!!!) SOON after this there is a small cairn on the LEFT marking the trail further down, so turn left here and this leads you (if you keep staying RIGHT) to the 2nd Handrail (which could be a rappel as there is a rap-ring on the tree), and thereafter the quite obvious trail continues down, down, down, perhaps loosing it during moments when it weaves in and out of the steep/rocky river bed, but you are best to always make decisions bearing right to keep you closer to the cliff band, and then very soon the road and the CHAPEL POND SLAB BASE of cliff (where you started) will magically appear! -- total time 30 minutes. And YES, EMPRESS is a great climb :) Jun 13, 2020

[Hide Comment] Great route. The x rated pitch is easy climbing, but obviously a no fall zone. The OW is run out unless you bring wide gear, and it would be excessive to bring wide gear just for that. We followed the guidebook which said to take the South Descent, and ended up doing about 4 or 5 rappels. The descent was a fun type II adventure, but save yourself the trouble and just walk over to the North Descent instead. South Descent gully also has a shit load of loose rock, so be extra careful if you end up there Sep 27, 2020

[Hide Comment] Conditions were perfect this morning! Couldn't have asked for a better climbing day! Jun 17, 2021

[Hide Comment] Went up Empress into Greensleeves for the first time this weekend. I thought the tree island on the top slab looked bad. It's potentially just trees sitting on 8 inches of dirt. No way to know if they're really rooted into the rock. Just a note to be cautious and think about it. I found a thin overlap about 25 ft up and 15 ft right of the tree island. Took 0.4 and 0.5 cams. Looked like a larger overlap 20 feet directly above the tree island as well.

The slab traverse directly to the right, straight towards the north descent was soaked so we opted to head straight up into the trees. We got pretty lost trying to shwack. Lots of wet slabs in the woods to avoid. We wound up far climbers right past the north descent apparently cliffed out; however, there was a two rap sequence off of bomber trees with new blue 7mm cord and rings. This double rap deposited us into the middle of the north descent route, after the normal rap section. We had a 70m rope and the 2nd rap took most of it. Not sure if a 60m rope would work. Jul 24, 2023