Who's On First

Standing in the meadow below the SE Face of Warbonnet, staring up at Black Elk and Brown Cow, we got interested in a sweeping roof on the lower right side of the wall that led into what looked like a system of cracks and corners on the nose of the E Buttress. So naturally, we decided to investigate...

Approach as for Black Elk from the boulder field. As you walk along the base of the blocky ledges below the main face, keep an eye out for an obvious grassy/sandy 3rd and 4th class gully leading up and right. Scramble this gully to its end. Pitch 1 begins at the top of the gully below the obvious curving roof of pitch 2.

Pitch 1: Climb the low angle face and flakes to a corner that leads to a ledge below the curving R-facing corner. 5.9+, 140'

Pitch 2: Climb the corner and roof past an ancient fixed pin. Leaving the roof, follow an excellent finger crack that leads up and right to a ramp and grassy ledge. 5.10, 190'

Pitch 3: Climb straight up from the right side of the grassy ledge following seams that connect two roofs. Head left out the upper roof. Move past a slot to gain a right angling ramp and crack system. Belay off the ramp to avoid an uncomfortable belay. 5.10+, 90'

Pitch 4: Head up to the next roof. Work your way out and left, and pull the lip to a balancy tips crack in a corner. Take the corner until it intersects a right trending ramp. Bypass the ramp by making an airy move left into the next left facing corner system. Take this second corner system to a grassy ledge. 5.11-, 110'

Pitch 5: Take the blocky corner on the right through 5.8 terrain that leads to a hand crack. Follow the hand crack up and then trend left, aiming for a grassy alcove below the upper-left of two parallel, right angling crack systems. 5.8, 160'

Pitch 6: Climb a thin flake/seam and then pull left into the fantastic hands and finger corner. Follow the crack system for 100' to a large ledge. 5.10, 110'

Pitch 7: Step left from the belay around a corner and wide ramp towards a steep chimney/slot. Traverse in (sweet!) and stem, jam, and thrutch your way up to the bottom of an innocuous looking overhanging handcrack. Pull the bulge and scramble up and left to belay below a gorgeous white R-facing corner. 5.10+, 160'

Pitch 8: Fire the steep, thin, white corner for 60'. Above the corner head up easier ground to belay on 4th class ledges. 5.11, 190'

From the top of pitch 8, scramble 4th class terrain to the summit.

Alternate Finish: From the top of pitch 8, skip the summit for now and scramble/downclimb the large loose gully behind the top-out of Who's On First. Aim for a chimney system at the base of a prominent semi-independent tower with a large curving off-width up the face. Scramble the chimney and then step up into a spectacular splitter hand crack to corner. 200' of one of the most fun 5.9 pitches you'll climb in the mountains. From the ledge on top, climb to the airy tower summit (f'ing cool) and then climb one more pitch along the crest to regain the main summit ridge of Warbonnet.

Side note: We found evidence of a previous ascent on pitch 1 and up to the curving roof on pitch 2 (fixed pin), but did not find any sign of passage above the curving roof. Looking through the newest version of Joe Kelsey's Wind Rivers guidebook it's possible we climbed the first pitch of "Lichen Never Sleeps" and then continued straight up instead of trending right, but the description in the book of, "beginning...from the approach to the Plume col" leads us to believe that route lies further to climber's right and higher up on the E face.