Sky Pilot

Sky Pilot is the north arete of Rearing Stallion peak. It is a long fun route. The second pitch crosses a couloir and upper pitches follow the ridge crest. There are short sections of harder technical moves some of which can be avoided. The entire route has great exposure. Rock quality is ok, you'll run into more loose blocks than solid. Finding anchor points in good rock is a challenge.

First pitch begins at the headwall above the lake on the approach, look for an obvious ramp system with a dihedral that trends to the looker's right. If pitched out, this section contains about 4 pitches on a 60 or 70m rope with an obvious break about halfway up between pitches 2 and 3. Comfortable climbers will be okay to solo or simul through these 4 pitches to save time as the climbing is very easy, save a few more exposed moves. 

After this ramp section, turn climber's left (south) and head up a couloir. Depending on time of year this can contain some snow still since it is north facing. The couloir ends at the 1st notch. 

From here, climb up and gain the main arete of the route. Enjoy about 3-4 pitches of easy climbing until reaching a comfortable ledge with a nice terrain belay on a large block. After this, there are approximately 6 more pitches to the 2nd notch with the first crux pitch of the route being pitch 4 in this section. Gain the 2nd notch and enjoy a nice break, this is the largest ledge area on the route (most people will feel comfortable being unroped here). 

The final 4 pitches trend west from the 2nd notch, make sure to stay on the ridgeline as much as possible through this section to the summit to avoid excess rope and harder than 5.7 climbing. The ridge contains 3 high points with small descent sections in between before arriving at the base of the the final pitch, which contains a short but engaging dihedral problem with stemming moves that are easily protected.

Approach:

Start at Wildhorse campground and hike the road south until you get to an old mine. Alternatively, drive or ride mountain bikes down the rough road and park at the mine (roughly 3 miles from the campground). The road is extremely rough! Once you arrive at the mine cross Wildhorse Creek heading west and start your ascent up the old mining roads. At the end of the mining road, you'll come across three old mine shafts. These are good indication you’re on the right path. Continue past the mineshafts until you reach the creek, ascend the south side of the creek for about 20 yards to find a log crossing that takes you to the north side of the creek. From here ascend directly up the fall line paralleling the creek and following game trails until you break the treeline into a meadow. Once in the meadow, continue to stay north of the creek while roughly following it up to the lake. Cross at the outflow of the lake and work your way up the scree fields beneath the headwall looking for an obvious ramp system with a dihedral where the base of the climb is.

Descent:

Upon reaching the summit of Sky Pilot, you’ll need to descend the south face of the mountain. This descent requires scrambling over large loose boulders and 3rd-4th class ledges which seem to never end. From the summit, head west down-climbing through ramp and slab systems until you reach the top of the scree fields. From here, start descending down the fall line (roughly to the south) until reaching the another series of slab descents. Follow these slabs down the slope into some grassy areas above a small tarn. Descend down to the tarn and traverse the northern shoreline. Continue to traverse and find yourself above some convex slabs. Find the ledge system which traverses through the slabs and follow it until hitting an obvious standalone tree in the slope. From here, descend the fall line into the meadows below. After making your way down into the meadows, you’ll need to follow game trails and aggressively hug the terrain, wrapping around to the north. With enough bushwhacking, you’ll make it back to the creek in the original/approach drainage. Hop across the creek, parallel it and follow your approach track back down to the log crossing just above the mineshafts. Take the mining roads back down to Wildhorse Creek to finish.

Standard alpine rack. Single rack to 3. Small nuts were very useful up high. Cams more useful lower.