Type: Trad, 300 ft (91 m), 3 pitches, Grade II
FA: Bolt in the Sky Unknown ... Life by the Numbers Ed Webster Rope solo Oct 1986
Page Views: 1,681 total · 17/month
Shared By: Robert Hall on Nov 7, 2015
Admins: Jay Knower, M Sprague, Lee Hansche, Jeffrey LeCours, Jonathan S, Robert Hall

You & This Route


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Description Suggest change

A nice link up. I supposed I could have called it "Bolt By the Numbers" (Joke)

P1 is 5.8 and well protected with bolts. P2 is 5.7+/5.8- The first 20 ft of P2 used to be 5.7+/5.8- "PG13/R-ish" but the crack's been cleaned for a gear placement and Webster's pin had been replaced. (But seems to have been pulled, perhaps by someone unfamiliar with Ed's FA of this pitch.)  P3 is hard to rate. The first few feet off the belay is easy (5.5 ?), but there's no pro until the corner. "The Move" out of the corner left onto the face I sometimes feel is 5.6, other times 5.8. Wire nut(s) protect well; Just keep telling yourself the FA was a rope-solo ascent!

START: Hiking right along the base from the South (Left) Descent Gully you pass "Suzy Q" (at the height-of-land) and then drop down steeply to a nice, flat area. Life-by-the-Numbers starts on the left side of the slab. Bolt in the Sky starts on the right side of the slab. (photo)

Coming from the North (right) Descent Gully, or from the Center Cliff Rap Line this slab is about 80-100 ft left of sea of Green, just after the trail climbs up, passing some downed birch logs, for a few feet.

P1 has six (6) bolts leading to a double-bolt anchor with rings.

P1 - Climb to the double bolt anchor. At one point, about 25 ft up, it is a bit easier to move right, almost to the arête, and then come back left. Above the 4th bolt the climbing eases.  75-80 ft 5.8 G/PG

P2 - (Joining Life By the Numbers) Face climb (5.7 / 5.8- ) up just left of the crack (here's where the piton has been pulled, and small TCU placement, if the crack is clean enough), then step right to the crack (pro, Red #1 Camalot), then up the crack ( 5.7/5.8-) [The crack was first climbed by Ed Webster in 1986 as part of P1 of Life by the Numbers.] The crack leads to a hollow flake (easy layback) and then back right to clip a new 3/8” bolt, (from another climb, I'd hope!) then up to the 'Quad bolt' anchor ( a new 3/8" SS, plus one old ¼” buttonhead from Ed, plus two old-ish 3/8") shared with Bolt in the Sky. 70 ft 5.8  Can be combined with P1 [Beta: The crack is climbed more on the face on the left, although near the top cross back to the right for footholds. ]

P3 - From the multi-bolt anchor climb across the slab [photo] to the right and enter what feels like a 'semi-slot' on the right outside corner of the arête. (Piton above, back up with small wired nut)

Move/step left, up onto the slab/face ( his 5.8 ?) then up slab/face to nice flakes-with-cracks (medium cams or nuts) “…and when the [flakes] end, climb up and a bit right (5.7-5.8 PG-13)on the sticky slab headed for better holds just left of the exposed arête. …past a bolt [ ¼" now replaced with 3/8"SS] to easier ground and run out the 5.2-5.4 R/X to the top. 145 ft 5.7 - 5.8 PG-13 / 5.3-5.4R A very nice pitch, and (I think) less exposed and 'R-ish' than Webster rated it. Surprising, since (in my opinion) the first pitch of the original Life-by-the-Numbers seems way 'sandbagged' for both the grade and the protection rating in Ed's guidebook!

Protection Suggest change

Std Rack, small wire nuts

Photos

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