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Pagan Sacrifice

5.11, Trad, 1400 ft (424 m), 9 pitches, Grade IV,  Avg: 2 from 2 votes
FA: Robert Warren, Steve Johnson April ‘97
Nevada > Southern Nevada > Red Rocks > Mt Wilson > Aeolian Wall
Warning Access Issue: IMPORTANT notes on Wet Rock and Human Waste DetailsDrop down

Description

Pagan Sacrifice takes a direct line up the “wind god tower”. It shares the first 6 pitches with gift of the wind gods to where that route traverses right. The line is aesthetic and the climbing is good, the bolting seems a bit botched making the route confusingly runout at times. Worth doing if you want more adventure than gift was dishing or if the line particularly calls to you.

P1-6 Follow gift of the wind gods to the belay at the base of the 10d traverse pitch. You can link 5-6, and would not be able to link 6 into 7.

P7 180’ 5.11 (or 5.9 A0) From the belay, downclimb left to the first of two bolts. The crux is a boulder problem above the second bolt. The rock here is super fragile and I could see someone ripping stuff off, while it wouldn’t change the grade much you could potentially hurt someone on gift. There is an ancient sling here that I’m guessing was put in place to assist in aiding. After the roof, climb a face slightly left to a bolt, then back right to a seam, follow this to a comfy ledge and wonder why the belay bolts aren’t here. Continue up the face to the right with 2 more bolts and a runout to a hanging belay on 2 bolts.

P8 190’ 5.9 climb the face straight up to a bolt, then traverse on easy but questionable rock to the left and up to another bolt. This is the last bolt on route. Trend back right to a crack, there was a fixed nut here. Climb the crack until it widens and becomes bushy, then the face to the right up to a belay stance below a flaring OW.

P9 170’ 5.8 climb the crack above past some bushes, then the obvious OW up to a sloping stance where you can see an obvious ledge with a tree on your right. Climb a funky flake reminiscent of the elephants trunk to this ledge.

From here you have two options, decent via the gift of the wind gods decent or continuing to the summit. To descend, traverse until you meet up with the massive treed ledge just below. To summit, follow your nose up blocky ground to the top.

Location

The route cuts off of gift of the wind gods through an obvious bolted roof on the left side of the maroon spot.

Protection

Single rack .2-4 doubles in the .4-.75 range can be nice for anchors.

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

The roof at the start of pagan
[Hide Photo] The roof at the start of pagan

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

Rprops
Nevada
[Hide Comment] Was it actually good? I've thought about it, but the bummer is you have to give up that great crux pitch on Gift of the Wind Gods. Is it just like 20' of good hard climbing and not that great to the top, or is the moderate stuff enjoyable? May 26, 2020
Sam Boyce
Changes with the seasons
  5.11
[Hide Comment] I feel that “good” is a bit subjective for this type of route. The route is very fresh in the sense that it never saw traffic so some edges are crisp and the wall has plenty of lichen. The climbing isn’t as good as gift, partly because gift has seen so much traffic. The climbing is more similar to the face climbing on gwondonna. The appeal it may have is position, exposure and adventure. If you’ve already done gift then this could be an adventurous way to check out a new piece of the mountain... May 27, 2020
Matt Kuehl
Las Vegas
[Hide Comment] Nice one Sam, way to keep charging up Mt. Wilson! Nov 13, 2020