Valhalla

Valhalla, a hall of rock in Norse mythology, where warriors slain in battle fight for eternity to ready themselves to aid Odin in Ragnarok or “Doom of the Gods”. After battle, warriors feast and drink. Prepare for eternal battle. Valhalla packs varied, sustained and quality climbing in a beautiful setting. Bring your confidence and wide gamut A game. 5 Stars!

P1 - 5.11+

Blerch out of the sand into a rough warm-up boulder problem on bolts. Power out the leaning finger/tips corner. Work the flare/flake, clipping bolts, to a bulge and invent a sequence to the anchor. Stellar! 8 bolts.

P2 - 5.12-

Prepare for battle. Work up right (Optional #1) and clip a bolt. Then blast off onto the black frey. Tech your way through killer patina until the holds disappear and you can move left into a odd flake/crack/corner feature. Make your way up under the roof (small gear) and pull it on jugs. Stem and climb loafy jugs to the anchor. 9 Bolts

P3 - 5.11

Grab your jewerly. Move up past two bolts (avoiding a spooky hollow flake in the corner) and some gear in horizontals into a thin corner. Clip a bolt and pull your way up on tips locks. Wrangle the tree and enjoy a short OW warmup. 3 bolts

P4 - 5.11+

Prepare for the 2nd day of battle. The best pitch ever! Climb dreamy finger to baggy hands on perfect rock to the base of a A-frame roof. Rest, don your armor and then charge, or squirm.., out the roof on #4s. Continue up more fists and OW to the ice box belay (A layer here is nice, cold air pours out of the crack). Note: This pitch could be significantly harder depending on how tight 4s work for your hand size.

P5 - 5.11

Grab your big cams and stumble your way up the offwidth to victory. Overhanging but not technical. 1 Bolt

P6 - 5.7+/-?! PG-18

The guy at the party who sucks but all his friends are cool. Not amazing, but fortunately short. Summit with confidence.

All Belays are bolted.

The first two pitches of the route get sun around noon. The upper 4 pitches are in a north facing dihedral and get all day shade. An early start should allow you to climb in the shade all day.

Do to the rap-in, climb out nature Valhalla is a committing endeavor and not to be taken lightly. Be sure you are ready, the easiest bail route would be to rap into the drainage and make your way up a gully/ridge on the west side of the canyon. Then hike FS 778 to FS 231 to FS 9019M or bushwhack back to your car. This being said, the route is well protected and all the hard climbing could be aided/dogged through.

The shortest approach to Valhalla is from above (the West Fork parking lot car to car speed record is unsent and ripe for the taking!!). Drive out Woody Mountain Road (FS 231) to FS 9019M (26.5 mi). Park at the end of the left fork of 9019M (Labeled 9014D on some maps). Parking area GPS coordinates are 34.993501, -111.779052.

From the parking area head north along the ridge, continue following it as it heads down and left. (There is currently a faint trail but the brush is growing up fast after the slide fire) After a few minutes you will come to a coconino outcropping/point with a decent sized carin. Wrap around the downhill side of this to the back (north) side (carins) and head down a very steep gully with a short hand line. Continue down a steep but short slope to a saddle. From the saddle head west (left) down another gully keeping to the right side until you can exit right to a large flat bench of burnt manzanita. Follow this bench past two gullies, after the second look for a old fallen over tree stump on your left (You will be almost to the end/point of the bench). Duck under it and follow a beaten trail down and right to a ledge at the top of the cliff. Look for a set of glue-in rap anchors to your right. Make 6 raps with a 70m rope (tie knots, a few of the raps are stretchers) down the route to a grassy ledge. Approach is short but steep, about 20min but expect 45 your first time.

The following rack should be plenty for most parties. If you don't want to walk your big cams very far bring extra 5s and 6s for pitch 5

2x - #6
3x - #5
4x - #4
3x - #3 & #2
2x - #1
2x - .75
1x - .5
1-2x - .4 & .3
2x - C3s down to 00
Set of small to med stoppers
12 runners/draws
1 70M Rope

Since you rap the route much of the gear can be stashed along the way to lighten the rack you have to climb with. Leave the following at the following rap anchors.

3rd Rap Anchor (Bottom of 5th pitch)
1x - #6
2x - #5

4th Rap Anchor (Bottom of 4th pitch)
1x - #5
4x - #4
3x - #3
1x - #1
2x - .75

5th Rap Anchor (Bottom of 3rd pitch)
1x - #6
1x - .5
1x - C3's
Nuts