Black Dagger - 5.8

Spectacular! Really long approach though. Took us two hours+ to get to the base of the climb. Our guide book said only an hour and a half. Psh! Anyway, it was well worth the hike. Plus no crowds!

Climbed with Cliff D.

Handren guidebook lists this as 5.7+, but Cliff and I agree that the Handren ratings are way sandbagged on every pitch.

My favorite route that I've climbed in my short climbing career.

With Patrick. Not quite what I was expecting. Not as good as Armatron in my opinion. Two neat pitches though, #2 and #3. Climbed Myster Z to get to Brownstone Wall this time, that is a pleasant way to ascend to this level vs hiking past Crimson. Did not have to lie back or anything on the 3rd pitch. Seems 5.7 to me. I understand the two run outs might be a bit much for new climbers. Great rock though. Pitch 2 had much more exposure of course and the rock not as sound, but fun and exciting to do. Do not have to rap on this descent, can squeeze down everywhere. I did take a #5 which makes sense for a placement at the beginning of the first run out on the 3rd pitch. Cheers.

Like many Herbst routes, this is an outstanding climb following a prominent feature. First belay is bolted, then there's an odd bolted station just above the roof. Pitch 2 has a couple of 5.7 moves, the 3rd pitch is sustained 5.7 with holds that appear just when you need them. We screwed up the approach and it took 1:25, the route takes 2-3 hours of climbing. A nice day in the hills with a tremendous view from the top of Brownstone. Swapped leads with B. Parry, I took the odds.

This route gave me an epic adventure! The approach takes about 3-3.5 hours of difficult and tiring hiking and scrambling... so be wary. As a result of the under estimated approach, we had to climb last pitches in the dark, with 40 mph winds...impossible to hear belay commands and cold. Shivering, we topped out at 10:30 pm. Finding walk down was killer in the dark with the wind whipping...cairns where far and few between. I eventually found gunsight gully which was a pretty technical: some loose boulders in tunnels that could be pretty bad if rolled. There was a 25 ft down climb on chock stones (might want to rappel it, we didn't) which racks the nerves at night. The had to bushwack across desert to the highway (scenic loop was closed)... We started at 8:30 am didn't get back until 3am next day. As for the pitches: all pretty straight forward...the traverse around the roof is easy. The ominous dihedral (the 3 pitch?) was challenging but exciting, and definitely runout in my humble opinion. The tunnel is not bad, make sure to climb left through narrow hole...although big fellows will not fit through this. Pull packs up on rope if possible...trying to smear up with pack slung over one arm is not a great idea...but do-able. In short, this climb is awesome....just do it in the daylight!!!!!!