The Ascentionist

Edit as of 5/20/26

Kyle and I went up and replaced most of the mixed metal hardware, moved some of the anchors to more convenient locations and adjusted some of the bolting so it is more friendly. We ran out of hardware at the last pitch so that still needs stainless bolts. We added a glue in reinforcement bar to the flake on the last pitch. Hard to say of that will help, but it was worth a shot. There are still a number of studs on the route from the FA, we intend to come back and cut them off and patch when we bring hardware up to finish the last pitch.

 The winters have been harsh on the route, in its current state I would not recommend climbing under other parties. 

The description below is also updated such that every anchor on the route is described as a pitch, to limit confusion. Link these short "pitches" as you see fit. Comments below will be inaccurate. FA story is kept at the end for historic context.

P1 (5.9, 120ft, 13 bolts) Climb up the left facing corner to the massive roof, traverse left, counterintuitively staying a bit below the roof. Then climb up a low angle face to a sloping ledge with chains.

P2 (5.10a, 70ft, 9 bolts) Clip a high bolt on the right. Then step further right to gain some holds. Make a big reach and step left into a groove above the anchor. Then climb easy, low angle terrain to a steep wall. Follow this to a big comfortable ledge with a chain anchor. 

P3 (5.10c, 40', 7 bolts) Step right and stem off the tree, then steep moves up (crux) then lead you left past some more broken rock. Belay at a stance, 2 bolts with no chains. Back clean the second bolt to avoid crazy rope drag. 

P4 (5.10b, 100ft, 13 bolts) The money pitch. Traverse right through amazingly moderate terrain to a sloping mantle. Then traverse left with wild exposure to gain a comfortable belay ledge with chains. Extend the 4 bolts at the apex of the zig zag on this pitch. 

P5 (5.9, 60ft, 6 bolts) Climb straight up the face to a ledge with a tree. 4 bolts no chain. 

P6 (5.8, 40ft, 4 bolts) Scramble up moderate terrain to a chain anchor at an ok stance. 

P7 (5.10a, 80ft, 8 bolts) Continue up easy terrain past a mild runout (20' 5.6). Traverse right on the ledge to gain super steep, wild climbing. Then continue traversing a chossy dike to a big ledge and belay on an anchor with no chains, do not rappel from this anchor. 

P8 (5.9, 60ft, 5 bolts) Steep moves off the belay, then climb up and left to the top.

Descent: 5 single rope raps straight down the route.

I believe this project started one desperate rainy day March 2017. Too wet to do ANYTHING, but the stoke was high. Kyle touted "I want to do something stupid." I had it in the back of my mind that this wall existed, but never had a reason to explore. We went out armed for bear, full double rack, aid kit and a hammer drill. We were going to siege our way up the wall in the rain. A couple hours later and out of rivets the first pitch was done... Over the course of the summer we would go out and chip away at a pitch, limited by the battery life of the drill (hand drilling in this rock was crazy, way more effort than granite it seemed). Most of the rack was left on the ground after pitch 2. I daisy whipped on a #2 and had it pull, tomahawking backwards through the moss for 40 ft. With full aid kit and the drill in hand it was an entertaining fall. We eventually made it up the wall 5.9 A2+ R. (Side note: if some of the bolting seems weird, many bolts were placed on aid lead through a blanket of gravel and moss so...) So then commenced the absurd task of cleaning this wall. Hundreds of hours went into cleaning it to the state that its in. We had caution tape up for quite a while and gated off nevermind on days we were planning to release big stuff. Most of the climbing is surprisingly fun, some being legitimately wild. Be prepared for some post cleaning dirt and the potential for holds to pull. Overall the route cleaned up fairly well, but until this thing sees a lot of ascents rockfall may still be commonplace. Bring a hardhat!  

Approach to Nevermind, then continue to the right past the crag a couple hundred yards. The route starts in the large, obvious left facing corner.

15 quickdraws, of these you'll want about 6 alpine draws. 60m rope. Helmets.