Ascent Notes for: South Face - 5.7 Average Rating : 5.00/5

This was a fun, long day. Start EARLY! I consider myself a somewhat efficient 5.10+ climber and it still took 8 hours or so. The descent was a bitch though. Too much bushwacking if you cant follow/find the trail. The 5.9 was a great choice. The dihedral takes small gear and then is a little runout but was really fun. Don't go left onto the face. It has no pro and I made that mistake a few yrs ago. At the ledge, there was no bushwacking for me, so I dont know what the "nightmare" was. We did the chimney boulder problem at the base of the ledge and then made our way on boulders to an easy chossy crack system. I led that pitch (5.5) quickly and that took us to the bottom of the 5.7 face climbing on the knobs. I protected near the dihedral and out onto the face a bit. It wasnt really too bad until you have to make your way left over the ledge with a long runout. Going into the offwidth size crack felt good to get some pro into. I climbed up and put a nut up about 10 feet to jumpstart the next pitch with a piece overhead because the belay ledge was tiny and the slab didnt feel that secure. This way, in case I fell I wouldnt hit my belayer. After that, the climb was great. There was another quick runout section with the pseudo-mantel. Not easily protectable but not hard. Walk to the top with confidence and then have tourists ask the same 3 questions on the quick way to the car.

the descent/approach wasn't too bad. good climbing, but the jungle at half way up was a nightmare. took the 5.9 start and it was a good choice.

No comment