The Crescent Moon

The Crescent Moon has been described by some locals as the grand wall of the Eldred. A Valley classic and must climb for anybody spending time in the Eldred. The best time to climb this route would be late spring or early September. The route receives a lot of sun so try to find an overcast day if climbing in mid summer. At time of writing (October 2023) the route is in good condition for climbing but not in perfect free climbing shape. All of the cruxes of this climb can be easily aided in a pinch and be climbed around 5.10. If you plan to attempt the FFA you may need to put in some work.  

Pitch 1 (the blocky ledges) and Pitch 2 was already established by another party and had greened over by the time of our ascent. Currently pitch 2 is the dirtiest and could use some scrubbing. The anchors on pitch 2 need to be swapped out for rappel rings so bring a extra bail beaner. other then that the route is well equipped.

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Pitch 1 Bypass. 5.6 Jungle. Climb up blocky ledges and pull on the vines until you reach anchors on a large ledge. If your going to pull on vines belay gloves might be the beta.

Pitch 1 Direct start. Dark night of the soul 5.11***** A standalone pitch that could be a great addition to a day at the YSF. Follow the splitter finger crack until you can gain a quartz pinch. Delicately mantle your way on top of the courts dyke and pull some airy friction slab to gain the ledge. There is a fixed nut on the Crux. This is the recommended start to the route.

Pitch 2 unknown 5.10 follow the bolts, then traverse right into a left-facing dihedral. Climb the dihedral until you find a nice ledge with trees and anchors.

Pitch 3 Av's jam 5.8 Climb up and left following a hand crack. Passing a small roof traverse right on the slab to the anchor.
 (alternatively if you are looking for a new route it may be possible to climb right and up from the start of this pitch instead.)

Pitch 4 slithering 5.10 traverse right and climb up to a bolt. Follow the bolts, then traverse left over blocky ledges then on some friction moves too a small ledge. Follow right trending crack towards another ledge. Climb up through small cracks onto a slab and the anchor.

Pitch 5 the slab ocean. 5.10 Follow the bolts up the slippery slab pitch until you can achieve an anchor a large comfortable ledge.

Pitch 6 and 7 F.S.R (fucking shitty ramp) 5.8 together they are over 75m and your rope will be slightly too short to link them. follow the left trending ramp. Some awkward 5.8 moves but mostly easy 5th. There is an Anchor half way up that splits the two pitches 

Pitch 8 The shadow 5.11 b/c ***** A classic. Traverse left across a low angle slab achieving two bolts. Gain access to the slightly overhanging hand crack. (Alternatively, you may be able to move the belay directly below the crack) jam your way up until the crack splays out. Crank up some wicked face holds and a tetchy black totem placement. Climb the flake to the ledge with an unnecessary bolt at the top (this may be removed by future parties). Layback the dihedral crack until you reach a roof Make a huge move to the aret and savor exposure. Climb your way up the final flake to a small ledge.

Pitch 9 Cirrocumulus 5.10+/5.11- or A0. An airy traverse left on small holds to gain a jug. Follow the bolts up easy holds to the base of the crescent Pillar.

Pitch 10 The Crescent Moon 5.10 ***** The namesake pitch. Pay your respects to the ancient tree in the base of the pillar. Then lay back Crescent Pillar. Follow the pillar until it turns into an under cling traverse. Gain the huge ledge and enjoy the view.

From the ledge if you wish to summit, you can climb a tree up from the anchor to gain a right trending ledge and traverse right into Against the current. This was not attempted as the pitches above are dirty easy 5.7 and there is no trail to walk off the summit at time of writing.

Rappel the route with 2x 60m ropes 

Note. When climbing in places like the E.R.V. it is common courtesy to bring a wire brush with you and do some scrubbing on your Rappels. If everyone does 20 minutes of scrubbing on the descent then it will ensure awesome climbing for years to come. Wire brushes are sold at climb on or Lordco in PR. Thank you

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Ascent Record: In late summer 2021 I partnered up with my friend Avila Holland and headed out to the Eldred River with the intention of putting up a new route. The Buttress had an easy approach and no hassle of a river crossing. It was a mostly blank canvas with splitter lines all over it. On my second day to the valley I spied a formation high up on the wall reminiscent of the split pillar in Squamish and knew I found the line. The route was so dirty that the only reasonable way of making a repeatable line was a siege ascent. We spent 6 days on route jugging fixed lines, bolting on lead, and putting in hours of work scrubbing on each descent. We did a mix up of free climbing, french free, and straight up aid climbing. The aid climbing was especially useful on pitches like the shadow where I spent 5+ hrs on lead. Hacking out root bound cracks with 2 inches of moss growing over takes time. Vertical gardening indeed. On day 6 we jugged our ropes and put in our last bolts on lead, we trundled some massive flakes and found our way to our objective: Crescent pillar. It was one of the most aesthetic and pleasant pitches I have ever climbed. It is guarded by beautiful stunted old growth cedar growing out of the pillar, hanging majestically like a Sentinel over the Eldred River Valley.

After our ascent we spent an additional 5 days scrubbing, prepping the route for free climbing, working crux sections, and free climbing on our favorite pitches. Unfortunately after that, our time in the Valley was at an end. The past two years I was able to return to the Valley but during both years I have struggled with injuries. Though much free climbing has happened on the route, a free ascent was never attempted. As its been 2 summers without an attempt we have decided to open the route for all to enjoy and for others to make the first free ascent.

There is a twin route that parallels most of the pitches climbers right of this route that would be an easy ascent for any keen developers.  

The Crescent Moon is located on the West face of the West main buttress in the Eldred River Valley. Drive or walk up the Goat Main, past CAD camp, to the YSF pull off. Hike up the YSF trail until a splinter trail on your right will bring you across a big log leading to a large opening at the base of the wall (The lower buttress area). Alternatively, if you do not see the side trail you can continue to the base of the wall and hike climbers right along the base until you reach the clearing. Continue through an open field of salmon berries and ferns. (This section of the trail will need annual maintenance to keep the trail easily accessible for all. so please do your part and bring a machete or garden snips with you.

Walk along the trail for a couple of minutes until you reach either a blocky and bushy ledge that is marked by a singular bolt, this is the mid 5th class jungle pitch. Alternatively, if you are going for the direct start, continue on the trail until you find a large Dihedral section. Ignore the dihedral line (Thug mansion5.9) and start up the splitter finger crack climbers left of the Dihedral.

Gear bring 2x60m ropes (one as a tag line)

A double rack cams up to number #3

Triples in #1, #4 optional

Wire brush