Ascent Notes for: Epinephrine - 5.9 popular Average Rating : 4.65/5

Climbed with SF and split the leads up as so. SF linked 1-2 doing some harder crack to the right instead of the 5.6 chimney. WF 1st 'hard' chimney. SF led what we felt was pointedly the crux chimney. p5 WF. SF linked 6-7 to the top of the trunk. p8 WF. SF linked p9-10 with some simul. WF linked p11-12 with some simul. And we did the ramp with simul climbing. Went super light and super early , once you get past the 2nd hard chimney the rest of the route will fly by. I think it was 8-9 pitches total for us with a 70m rope.

Descent was not too bad for us and we got off the ridge fine, took some route finding down the 3rd class slope though.

-simul-climbed with Whiteflash (5th classed the chimneys though)
-long and exposed

Chimneys were hard for me. I hung in the two hardest chimneys.

Definitely worth combining P1 & P2 at the start, then leading the first pitch after the Black Tower to the top of the Elephant's Trunk in order to combine the two 5.9 pitches above that into one pitch.

I really think that move out of the P5 chimney is harder than 5.9.

Can definitely see why the descent confuses people. That large hill off to the right? You've got to walk over that before the long walk along the ridge really begins. It is definitely key to find those descent cairns into the gully leading down to the Frogland descent before dark hits. Otherwise, it's one mistake and...

Awesome route. The chimneys are definately a trip and the 5th pitch chimney was definately the crux for me. Stayed deep in for the gear and had to do some bouldery overhanging moves that felt harder than 5.9. We combined several pitches and used alternative belays that broke down like this. Combine pitches 1 & 2. Do regular pitches to the top of the Black Tower, avoiding the old intermediate belay in pitch 5. At the top of the Black Tower run the pitch longer to the top of the Elephants Trunk so you can combine pitches 8 & 9 without ropedrage (stellar pitches by the way). Break the rest of it up like normal for a climb of only 10 pitches with a bunch of simul-climbing at the end. We got up and down to the col between Whiskey Peak and Black Velvet before we needed headlamps. I can see how people get confused in the dark but if you've got good vision and can't figure this out in the daylight then you need some work on your routefinding skills. The descent is the hardest part of the day by far. We got done at about 6 after starting at 6:30 and didn't get back to the car till almost 9.

Climbed on 3/23/10. I'm not going to lie...the chimney pitches were pretty rough for me. I guess I have very little experience with that type of climbing. They were ok when wide enough, but when they narrowed up or I felt the need to move in for gear, it became physical. I was very glad to have an old style #4 Camalot and probably would have liked two. I'm guessing that if you are confident, you can stay out in the wider parts and run it out a little more, but keep the climbing easier.The chimneys were hard enough that we did not link any of the pitches and used all four belay stations. This was also useful since we hauled a small bullet pack as well. The upper face climbing pitches were fantastic and went much faster. Because of our slowness through the chimneys, we never really hit the sun on the upper pitches, so it was a fairly cold day. In all it was a 45 minute approach, and I think we did 13 pitches plus the last 600-800 ft of simuclimbing, which took almost 12 hours. This could easily be shortened if you can link the chimney pitches and maybe a few others. Despite the reputation, the walk off was pretty straight forward, thanks to ample cairns. The trick is to climb up to the summit of Whiskey peak after reaching the top of Black velvet peak, by way of the saddle between the two. After that, there were cairns marking the way down the ridge until you reach the large double cairns. Here, you drop down a gully system and eventually hit the decent from the top of Frogland.

Start early and bring a lot of water, headlamps, and warm clothes.

16 hrs! sketchy long dark walk back to truck. bring plenty of water and snacks!

Didn't finish! Started early and were still behind 3 groups.

Did this route with some friends - we were the only people on the route all day. Bring warm clothes, we were freezing in the shade all day. Overall awesome route, the chimneys are pretty well protected - on the 2nd/3rd pitch, we opted out of the squeeze, and stemmed out to some easy face moves - good alternative if you're feeling sketched. The upper pitches are absolutely fantastic.

This is a classig natural line, following chimneys and a dihedral/ramp system. Many pitches can be linked if you run out full 60 m pitches. For example the two 5.9 pitches from the base of the Elephants trunk make one nice 60 m pitch. The grade is reasonable in the chimneys (where pro is also good). The upper pitches seem soft for the 5.9 grade.