Ascent Notes for: South Face - 5.8 popular Average Rating : 4.88/5

... in a beautiful location. This was my second attempt - got a pitch and a half away from the summit on my first attempt before being snowed off.

We had a terrific time. We had never done the hike in before, so it took us 3.5 hours. Found some good beta from ShawnB, so I'm going to repeat it here for others that have never done it: The first pond you get to above the waterfalls is NOT Sky Pond, so don't waste your time looking around. Continue to the right of it and you will round a bend and Petit will immediately come into view to your right.
We had a 60m rope and combined P1&2, 3&4 and 5&6. They were rope stretchers but worth it. Exposure comes into play starting in P6 and continues till the summit. Super, super fun. We rapped down--the top 3 are rope eaters so be careful. Always look for the next set of rap rings down and climbers left.
2.5 hours for the hike out.
An unbelievable day--and we lucked out by having perfect weather--not a cloud in the sky from sun-up to sun-down. And only two other parties on the Petit. A perfect first Alpine experience!

The setting, exposure, and moves make this one very difficult to argue as a 50 Classic. Was able to do it in 5 pitches with a 60 meter doing 3 200 foot rope stretchers to the shoulder and then a 150 and 200 foot pitch. Probably would have been better to break up the last long pitch into two due to its wandering nature. Prepare to have fun.

my first alpine climb. the pizza pan ledge was spooky! i've never been so scared on a .7 in my life!

This was my first alpine route in high school. We did it early season and there was a LOT of snow. Back then you couldn't rap the south face and going down the N side was quite a challenge. And then there was the post-holing...

Great route! Hada "save" a couple newbies that climbed with a single 60m and 1 liter of H20! They did not summit...Got em back to the car ~ 10 pm...spent, but WAY Happy!

nice summit, good exposure

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The feeling I got from standing on the summit was indescribable. the First 4 pitches we just went through the motions, easy climbing plenty of pro. After leading the 5th pitch the exposure kicks into high gear and I understand why its a classic climb of NA. The top two pitches of 5.7 and 5.6 were the best pitches Ive climbed anywhere anytime, simply astounding.

the big one - bivvied the night before, spent all day on it, returned to find only one piece of pizza eaten by the marmots - feckin' amazin. We did it in 7 pitches, Chris combining the last two