The Penitent Path

“Only the penitent man shall pass. The penitent man is humble before God… Kneel!”
-Indiana Jones

Follow the path of blood from my slow-to-heal knee gobie to the top of the Stairway to Heaven buttress. Use the alpine knee, maybe even a kneebar, and you too can drink from the cup that promises eternal onsights. Fully bolted sport drytooling for 12 pitches with most between M7 and M9. No ice and no figure fours necessary.

First Tier

P1) The entry fee. Start left of the Apron mixed line and right of Trample Me Elmo. Climb a shallow groove to a ledge, then angling left through a couple trees, a short right-facing corner to another ledge. M4 35m 8 bolts

P2) Climb out a right-facing corner and roof to get your arms warmed up. Bolts continue up the slab before you move right through the small gully to belay in a rock outcropping. Hike up the slope to the base of pitch 3. M7 20m 9 bolts

Second Tier

P3) Pull hard with bad feet to get established in a corner. Follow a crack up and left, then make big moves on hard-to-find holds over a bulge. Best without snow on the slab above the bulge. M8 15m 7 bolts (2 permas)

P4) The left-facing corner at the left side of the roof goes both dry and sometimes forms ice. Watch for the low crux if dry. M5+ 20m 5 bolts

Third Tier

P5) Angle up and right on thin, techy slab. Traverse right on a ledge system to a crack in the headwall. Belay to the left in an alcove. M7+ 25m 9 bolts

P6) Steep, pumpy climbing through a flaring crack, sometimes with ice in it. Bring your sport climbing technique. Climb slab just left of the horn, then rejoin the crack through the upper face. M9 25m 9 bolts (4 permas)

Fourth Tier 

P7) Climb face edges into a right-facing, big hands corner. Work on your mantles on the next few shorter steps, then a gently overhanging wall to finish. M6+ 35m 13 bolts

Fifth Tier 

P8) Torques in a right-facing corner, a devious and powerful sequence through the first roof, then another roof. Climb edges to connect seams on the headwall. M9 30m 12 bolts

Sixth Tier

P9) Welcome to Fossil Ledge - keep an eye out and add to the collection under the boulder. Move the belay up and left past the giant boulder to under the steepest part of the wall. Body positioning in the lower corner gets you past a blank looking section. Good holds and intricate footwork take you through a couple blocky roofs up and right. M9 25m 11 bolts (2 permas)

Seventh Tier

P10) Move the belay up to the base of the next rock band. Put away the tools for a minute and jam the steep crack. M7 20m 6 bolts

Eighth Tier

P11) Move the belay right 15 meters to the right side of a tall boulder. After the first couple bolts, you enter the eighth tier choss band, 5 meters of bottomless, black “crystals”. Move carefully up under a roof, clip the extended draw, and climb actually good rock for most of the pitch to a treed ledge. Continue past a boulder to the anchors. M7 40m 11 bolts (1 perma)

Ninth Tier

P12) Move the belay right 25 meters under the wall at the top of Stairway. You will pass two spaced belay bolts under a roof (for P3 of Farmer’s Daughter). From an anchor bolt on the right side of the ledge, climb up a right-facing corner through the first choss band into a left-facing crack under a large black roof. Traverse left, pick your way through the second choss band, then pull a couple roofs and enjoy the exposure. M8+ 30m 15 bolts (2 permas)

Descent

Rappel the route with a single 70. P3/P4 can be combined in one rappel. P11 and P1 are full length - watch your ends.

Left side of the apron between the Apron mixed route and Trample Me Elmo