Rubicon

P1 - 5.7 PG I'm fairly sure we did this differently than the guidebook describes (Vol. 1 pgs. 460-461), but we got some great climbing out of it so . . . climb an open book corner past a few cedars to an obvious crack which goes to the skyline. Where the crack changes to a lower angle we continued up through dwarf cedars to a crack that took a good cam, then traversed straight rightward to a distinct pointed flake and cedar ledge. The alcove and roof that mark the start of the next pitch are not visible from where we set our belay in the middle of the ledge. 150'

We removed some dirt and much loose rock from this pitch, but beware, surely more of the same is lurking. The steep crack part of the pitch was really fun but was likely harder than 5.7. The P1 belay is in a cedar tangle and our anchor gear was a total hodgepodge of small, from-every-direction pieces and slings. The gear on the pitch itself was G. The belay gear was PG.

P2 - 5.9 G A few moves rightward from the P1 belay you find yourself beneath a roof with a crack in its left side. Great jams get you over and up to a series of leftward rising flakes that take you in short order to a small ledge with a vertical crack on your left.  50'

Clean rock, well protected, great moves, short crux. Perfect 5.9 fun.

P3 - 5.9 R Climb an open book crack to a series of three leftward rising "slashes" below a right leaning arete. We climbed the top slash but you could take the first one at probably the same difficulty. Getting onto the face left of the arete and clipping the lone bolt is straightforward thanks to a good little platform. The first moves above this on small face holds are also relatively straightforward, but the crux moves onto lower angled rock up and right toward a leftward rising ramp . . . with the bolt quite a ways below you . . . are on slopers and crumbly friction divots. Arriving on the ramp, you are beside Mental Blocks' P4 anchor (which is also the second rap anchor for that route). Move left up the ramp to its top. 160'

P4 - 5.8 G Climb the clean crack just left of the mossy crack in a right-facing corner to one ledge at 15' and another at 30'. Continue up an offwidth/chimney to a low-angled chimney which is followed to the top. 165'

Fun, varied climbing throughout this pitch. From the ledge 30' up the next 10' looked like an offwidth more than a chimney. We skipped this by climbing well featured, low angled rock on the face to the left. Though this face section was unprotected, the rest of the pitch had adequate pro. 

Descent: The P4 chimney ends at the first rap station for rapping down Mental Blocks. We did this in three raps with two 70m ropes. We cleaned and freshened up the top rap anchor. The next rap anchor with two stoppers and a sling was safe. The last rap anchor (also Mental Block's P1 belay) could use some remodeling soon. Note that our rap down Mental Blocks is not the "Mental Blocks rappel" as described in the guidebook. The later is leftward from where Rubicon tops out and we did not explore it. The peak of the pointed flake on Rubicon's P1 was slung with aging rap tat. We didn't do this but it would be simple to descend to this rap anchor from the second Mental Blocks rappel. A third rap from the pointed flake lands you back at your packs. 

Wallface has a limited number of climbs that are accessible to the moderate climber. It is well stocked with poorly protected and/or hard routes for folks who breath that rarefied air. If you find yourself on one of these routes, you get a vivid picture of what the previous generation was made of. Big, abiding respect to Mellor et al. Rubicon is currently one of those routes and as such, sees very, very few ascents. Rubicon has 505' of stellar climbing and 20' of runout terror. It is a superb route and could be as popular as The Diagonal if we could remove that R rating. Combined with Mental Blocks, it would give Wallface's north end destination status for backcountry climbers in the region.

Rubicon's start is a short distance (about 100') left and uphill from the Mental Blocks start.

Doubles .3 - #2. Stoppers. A few micro cams and one each #3, #4. Make it triples of .5 and .75 for total confidence.