The Widowmaker

The Widowmaker ascends the ultra-prominent, top-to-bottom, monster dihedral on the west face of Cathedral Rock, just above the bottom of the steep Snaz descent gully. The route is characterized by abundant off-width, squeeze and chimney climbing on nearly every pitch, and suffers from stretches of poor rock and meager protection, but luckily not at the same time. Those in search of classic and safe rock climbing would likely give this one star, though I'm willing to offer three stars on the merits of extremely inspiring aesthetics, straightforward route-finding, big exposure and exciting, adventurous and physical climbing across a variety of styles. However, the typical perils of infrequently visited west facing Teton rock should be expected, and caution should be exercised not to trundle rocks into innocent climbers descending the south facing Cathedral Rock classics. In general, the steep and technical climbing is on relatively sound stone, but the low angle filler climbing requires a gentle touch. The original 1969 grade of 5.8 is a significant sandbag - in fact, I personally found this route more challenging and sustained than the Snaz, and similar to the Chouinard-Frost Chimney in style. One side of me wants to rate this 5.10-, but I'm willing to acknowledge my wide technique could use some improvement. Without a #4 Camalot (or equivalent) this could be an X rated route. With a #4 as your biggest cam (what we carried) it's R. With a #5 or even #6 there's potential for this route to be perfectly safe, though that's only a hypothesis. Assuming the first ascentionists didn't have anything close to reasonable wide protection, I think I know where the name Widowmaker derived. For me, this was an intense, memorable and worthwhile tick.

Approach - Hike past Phelp's Lake and up Death Canyon, past the Snaz, Caveat and Arial Boundaries. After the final switchbacks of the lower Death Canyon trail, spot the only top-to-bottom monster dihedral on the west face of Cathedral Rock. Approach via the choss gully along the base of the west face. If familiar with the Snaz walk-off descent gully, this route begins just above the bottom of the steep, fourth class, west facing portion.

Pitch One (5.7+ PG13, 40M) - Begin by climbing the obvious squeeze chimney that provides access to the dihedral. The original grade for this pitch was 5.7, but if you lack squeeze technique, like I, it will feel closer to burly 5.9. Backpacks and helmets are not your friend on the pitch. Chockstones, supplemented with a #4 Camalot, provide protection. Continue above the squeeze up low angle blocky terrain (5.5), taking care to direct the rope favorably around many loose blocks. Belay from a large detached block before the next stretch of steep climbing.

Pitch Two (5.8, 60M) - Climb the slightly vegetated off-hands three inch crack (5.8) directly above and right of the belay, right of an imposing dark chimney. The crack eventually transitions to off-fingers and a sweet layback on clean rock. (watch out for an unexpected loose flake in the lower finger crack) Above, climb a slab to the right of a large roof (5.8) with shoddy pro, and proceed up a nice hand crack on another slab into the mellow belly underpinning the deeper upper dihedral. A final unprotected 5.6 slab must be passed before building another terrain cautious belay that avoids the ample loose rock at the top of this great pitch.

Shift the belay about 20M up the gully (low-fifth), and belay beneath the steepening upper dihedral in sheltered terrain on climber's left.

Pitch Three (5.9R, 40M) - This pitch looks extremely attractive from below, and climbs even better. The original grade was 5.7, and is the most sandbagged pitch of "5.7" I have ever climbed. Stemming and wide jamming leads to a burly flare with strenuous laybacking on slick feet, high above desperate protection. A #5 or #6 Camalot could possibly protect this bit, making the climbing more reasonable - our #4 wasn't even close. Surmount a final roof and belay on a sloped ledge with a fixed nut, below a black chimney capped by a large white chockstone. Similar in character to the pitch three off-width of the Snaz. 

Pitch Four (5.8, 45M) - Continue up the chimney, with some more squeeze, and pass the white chockstone on a pleasant slab to the right (5.8). Cracks and steep slabs on progressively dirty rock follow the dihedral to a pleasant grassy belay beneath yet another steep, wide, crack/dihedral pitch.

Pitch Five (5.9R, 30M) - Another heady pitch. Blast up the widening crack which eventually stretches to five or six inches with a small uninspiring chockstone for protection. I placed a disgustingly tipped out #4 Camalot, said a prayer and moved up the difficult crack with honest 40 foot ledge fall potential. Once again, a #5 or #6 Camalot could possibly remove the R from this pitch. Follow the dihedral up steep cracks until an unlikely roof is passed on the right via underclings and mystery jugs (5.9). Belay from a flat stance just above the roof on climber's right. 

Pitch Six (5.9, 60+M) - Boulder a 10 foot flake directly off the belay with a mantle crux and no high protection (5.9). Consider placing an extra piece in the belay in the event of a factor two. Proceed up the final steep portion of the dihedral (5.8+). Above, follow the line of least resistance through broken but solid alpine terrain (5.5). The route avoids loose terrain directly overhead and finishes by an easy exit gently climber's left. We broke this into two pitches to reduce rope drag, but it could likely be done in one.

Descent - Use Snaz descent chimneys and gully to the south

West face of Cathedral Rock. See "approach" above. You could spot this feature from a mile away.

An ideal rack would be a light double set of cams to three inches, plus a single #4 and #5 Camalot (and maybe even a #6 if you own it, the approach is short). Full set of nuts. No fixed pins.