Inti Watana in December?

Thinking about the Inti Watana\Res. Arete combo in mid to late December. Does the route get enough sun to make it doable or should I wait until spring?

for some of us, easily warm enough and enough light this time of year......I consider it a fast track rock alpine route...but based on your experience you might want to reconsider for when you have more daylight

at least it is easy to bail off the route. the hardest part may be route finding on the approach/descent, especially in the dark.

One consideration is if there is ice on or above the route. I went up there to do it on a warm day of February and was turned around due to ice. The first pitch was covered in it and there were ice avalanches down the face into the gulley we were belaying from. When the sun hits the upper part of the wall the ice falls off. There was at least a food deep of Ice pellets in the gully.

So be aware that the first pitches of Ini Wantana have morning shade.

After bailing (I climbed to the second bolt), we went sport climbing at the 2nd pullout and were climbing shirtless.

Have you done Eagle's Dance and Levitation 29?

- Luke

cassondra wrote:at least it is easy to bail off the route. the hardest part may be route finding on the approach/descent, especially in the dark.

Clarification: It's easy to bail off of Inti even on the last pitch. You would have to leave gear for the Resolution Arete portion and it wanders.

No sun on Inti right now or Dec. We were just up there last weekend with general temps in the upper 60s and it was reasonable to climb with light insulated jackets. With not exactly an alpine start we left our packs at the bottom, not expecting to have time to do the linkup. When we topped out we realized it would have been fine, though a long, dark descent. The Inti portion is straightforward/mostly bolted and goes quickly if you're solid/efficient at multipitch on those grades. Do the recommended pitch linkups.

For context, last Oct it took a little under 7 hours to do the climbing portion of the Inti/Res linkup and neither of us had been up there before.

If you aren't familiar with the approach I would recommend looking at Eric & Lucie's and Dow's beta.

Thanks for the responses guys and girls.

Dow and Luke - that was going to be my follow up question. To answer Luke's question, I haven't done Eagle Dance or Levitation. My partner and I are pretty fast (for the experience that we have anyway...I'm sure y'all would smoke us) but we we were considering just doing Inti and then rapping. We don't have enough experience with long routes in RR to know if we're fast enough to avoid a long hike out in the dark. Are those routes good indicators?

Fossana - thanks for the links to the beta.

Eagle's Dance and Levitation have all day sun. I've climbed both routes, and done L29 twice. I've done them in November, December, and Febuary. They can be pretty windy, which is an issue, but otherwise they stay warm when it is sunny.

If you want a long day you could climbing both routes. You can rap each route with a 70m rope. The approach is much easier than going up to Mt. Wilson. In both cases people get lost. I used Eric&Lucie's beta and got up to Inti without a problem. The Handren guide has good instructions for three different approaches to the Eagle Wall. If you are comfortable with a little 5th soloing, the route up the steep slabs is super fast and can be done under 1.5 hours. I would avoid going all the way to the two tall pines.

My thought with doing both Eagles Dance and L29 is that you would get a comparable number of pitches as the Inti+Resolution linkup.

I'm sure you would be fine to go do Inti and then rap off. As fossana mentioned you are just going to be in the shade. So if temperature is an issue go to the eagle wall. The only downside of ED and L29 is their popularity. The A0 on ED is easy to do without aiders and jumars.

• I never went back to do Inti, so follow fossana's beta for that.

I did go up on Dogma (Mt. Wilson) and did the first portion of that route before running out of time. We climbed 2 pitches past the crux pitch and then rapped the route. Lots of rappelling but super fun climbing. Most of the route is cruiser with much harder crux pitches. It would be a harder route for sure compared to Inti and I think the crux pitch is much harder than the one on L29. Closer to 11d/12a

Have fun!

- Luke

I remember the first two pitches cold and wet in March. I'd think you'll find a better route this time of year such as ED or L29, mentioned above.

Weather has been great for December in Vegas. We did it in January last year. Don't be dismayed. The approach is very well cairned, honestly hard to get lost... There won't be any ice or other shenanigans.

You can bail at any point, and i'm sure you'll be the only one on the route. It takes a light rack as well.

I remember doing that route a few springs ago and the first few pitches were shaded and cold as hell. My fingers were painfully numb. I would think the start would be frigid in December.