Sail Away

P 1: (The Onramp): Romp up an easy fifth class left-leaning slab and aim for a ledge with several pines. 70 feet, 5.5

P 2: (The Superflake): Follows a steep flake system on the left side of the dihedral which tapers to an airy spire adjacent to the dihedral’s corner. 70’, 5.9

P 3: Disco step right from Superflake Spire to the dihedral and follow this to a belay nook below a slightly overhanging off-width crack. 70’ 5.9

P 4: Tackles the slightly overhanging crack ((The SLOC) with good gear) to easier climbing ending at an angled ledge below an overhanging pair of hand cracks. 60’ 5.10- 

P 5 (The Gemini Cracks): Tight hands on the left and baggy hands on the right. Choose your adventure. Or start with one and traverse into the other halfway up. Top out on an angled ledge below the astounding crack arching above. 53’ 5.10

P 6: (The Sail Headwall): Tackle this elegant crack on its slightly overhanging sail-shaped headwall. Thin fingers, quickly widen to tight hands, baggy hands, then to off-width up to 4+ inches. From here, the crack spirals around to the west side of the sail formation and to easier ground. Aim for the rappel anchors for Solid Gold. 80’ 5.11.

Note: Pitches 5 and 6 or 6 and 7 can probably be linked if you are careful with gear placement.

Descent: Two rappels from the Solid Gold Anchors gets you to the backside walk-off.

Except for the first pitch, the route is consistently steep, and the climbing varied. The Sail Headwall is not to be missed. 

Backstory: This climb felt like a celebration of my turning 70 this year. David Wood and I had been eyeing this jewel for a couple of years. Craig Bartlett provided support and led the first pitch. Kristi Nicole helped carry gear up before peeling off to hike the rest of the loop. We spent a better part of the first day cleaning the route.

We found two pitons about 10 feet apart near the start of P 2 (The Superflake).

The climb took us about 8 hours, and we were not in a hurry. On the Sail Headwall, I scrubbed as I climbed along and, *ahem*, did not get the clean ascent of this final pitch.

Eye a giant right-facing dihedral about 20 yards left of Solid Gold.

Gear: We brought triples through 1 inch and doubles through 4 inches. We also brought a # 5 and # 6 inch cams. I placed the 5 when exiting the Sail but consider this optional. I’d suggest leaving the 6-inch cam at home. We found that gear from fingers through 2-inch range most useful. Overall, there are ample, straightforward gear placements, often on the left-facing wall of the dihedral. At first, we expected an off-width slugfest. Turns out this was rarely the case except in a couple of spots and small gear worked in adjacent cracks just fine.