The Daddy - 5.6 popular

Short: Tedious approach and return hike but good climbing.

Long: The MTS trail section is nice and goes by quick, and there was a cairn to ID the turn for the amphtr trail. That section was all downhill (all the better to suck harder when it's all uphill on the way out) but in fairly good condition and is easy to follow. Continuing down from there to a rock with a little overhang cubby and another rock cairn on it (good to stuff packs here and rack up) there is a trail that heads back up a bit - this is your return trail (more on this later). Continue to hike down just a little more and you come to the rather steep tiered dropoff into the main descent gully. This was muddy and wet and tedious, although it didn't seem overly dangerous. In spite of the flowing water here, the route was dry. It seems to go on forever. FYI you start at a higher elevation than the top of the mummy buttress. Continue to meander down and across toward the other side of the ampthr and eventually you'll see a huge section of rock that looks to be sort of split off from the rest - the last section is the mummy buttress. Continue on down to the base where you can start to wrap around next to it and your climb starts here. I found it extremely useful to print out a picture of the start of the first pitch. I think it's easier to see the start of the Daddy than the Mummy.

Regarding the climbing, it was mostly pretty straight foward. P1 was a breeze and I blasted up it to a big ledge using minimal gear. Note there is a fake-out ledge midway up. P2 was a little more challenging in places but took gear well. P3 - I took the traverse and it was very easy with about 15 feet of actual climbing and the rest just walking. P4 was a bit more interesting, definitely upping the challenge a little more. I went from the left side of the boulders at the base and traversed up and right per the diagram. In spite of comments that this can be runout, I got pretty decent gear most of the way and set up a gear belay in the pod/corner. The final pitch was definitely the most exciting. I chose to go left out of the pod and face climb until I could move back right over the pod; this was fairly runout and had some serious exposure! I got a cam low and then dashed up another 15 feet until a small vertical seam accepted a small TCU (plus a fixed piece I clipped). Moving right got me into the dihedral, which was great and ate all the gear you could throw at it. Up a bit more and you're at the top before you know it. Great! I slung a huge boulder for my belay. This route is shaded pretty much the whole way until afternoon.

We chose to hike out rather than rappel; which basically follows a path straight back from the topout. This also takes you by the rappel area (a big dark cleft in the rock that we didn't see bolts in or scramble down into). Continue past this till you see a tall wall ahead and some squared off boulders on your left - climb over the boulders and then trend left and forward till you can scramble up a steep slope. From here aim up and left more or less and try to stay on the path (at times vague) and eventually you end up walking along side the high rim of the amphitheater (when you reach a high-dry/low-wet choice in the trail, go high) and eventually this takes you back to the rock cubby before the descent. Whew!

Get to the MTS trail before dark if you can but definitely try to be out of the big gully and/or the topout hike! It's thin, muddy, and vague and goes near sheer dropoffs.

I'd say the climb protects pretty well on the whole but it is long hike out I'd say PG safety (RC.com doesn't have that so I put PG-13). This is why I opted to not try the p3 5.8 variation, although it did look mighty appealing.

Solo. Walked down the gully barefoot with chalk bag in my pocket and my shoes tied around me. Potter style. Awesome solo

late start...no matter!
climb it anyway!! topped out
at midnite ( i said it was a late start)...
definitely fun in the dark!
maybe climb it in the day next time...

Easy , some vertical , climbing with great exposier . P4 and 5 make this worth the walk out. 5.6 moves are not difficult at all, only top of P4 is the belay ledge small ( not too small ) I'm going to go ahead and say the descent gully is not desent at all, neither is the hike back out. In summer humidity its a killer!

Climbing never got too difficult even on the last pitch. Link P2 and P3, and P4 and P5 with runners. P3 and P5 are really short. The topo for P3's ramp is exaggerated, like less than 20' of vertical climbing. The corner on P5 is probably the most fun.