The Rainbow Bridge

P1: Climb straight up the vertical, broken cracks to their terminus. Traverse up and right on crimps past a large block, and into a short right-facing dihedral. Move ~15' left up the large ramp and belay directly below a right curving tips crack. 5.10, 50M.

P2: Climb straight up from the belay, nest some cams in the base of the tips crack, and launch right, then up on crimps and some hollow flake holds. Continue up into the splitter right-facing dihedral, save some tiny cams for protection here. Climb the dihedral past a fixed nut, passing the first large ledge to belay at the second large ledge below the steep upper headwall. 5.11 PG13, 40M.

P3: Move the belay ~100' to the left and set up directly below the obvious right-facing dihedral. Stem/jam up the dihedral past a few bulges. Belay below the last bulge ~20' below the large roof at a hanging stance in the dihedral. 5.9+, 30M.

P4: Finish the dihedral and climb out of the roof via the 5" crack. Round the corner and continue up a short chimney, belaying at a ledge below a left-facing chimney/corner. 5.10, 20M.

Note: Linking pitches 3 & 4 is a reasonable option. 

P5: Climb the left-facing corner, then wander up the low-angle slab, finding protection in horizontal cracks. Belay at the ridge crest "Au cheval". 5.7, 60M. 

Query: We saw two old rap anchors & a pin in the gully to the left of Pitch 5. Would love a history lesson if someone knows about these or has climbed this pitch, or any of the others before this! 

From this belay, 4th-class travel up and right (south) for ~300 feet leads to the top of the Grandstand. Climb the GT North Ridge route of your choice to finish the day, or descend back into the Gunsight notch and down the west ledges of Mt. Owen into Valhalla.

This route climbs a northwest-facing shield of high-quality rock on the west side of the Grandstand. We approached from Valhalla Canyon via Cascade Canyon, which took us about 4 hours from the west shore of Jenny Lake. Other options for access include, but are certainly not limited to, taking the Valhalla traverse via the lower saddle or descending the west ledges of Mt. Owen.

Once you are in the West Gunsight Couloir, ascend until you can identify the vertical cracks that comprise the start of pitch 1. Cross the couloir and rack up on the black rock ledge below. (~11,700', or about 350' down the couloir from the gunsight notch). If approaching from Valhalla, the main dihedral/roof of the route will be visible from far below; use that as your guide. 

Double set of cams from .1-#3, single 4 & 5, offset stoppers. 60M rope