Parent The Tooth
Miles 6.6
Elevation gain 2800
Highest elevation 5604
YDS rating 5.9+
Pitches 7

Such a good route! Well bolted, accurate grade, fun climbing, good route! It’s basically like Flyboys but only 7 pitches. And it’s only a 2 hr approach. Only 3 rappels (and a little scrambling) to get down the standard tooth route too!

Big thanks to

Gear

13 draws, 60m rope. Or if linking, 15 draws (skip a couple bolts, 7 alpine and 8 regular draws).

No need for radios, even when linking all pitches we could still hear each other (had to shout but hearable).

Approach

  • 3.3 miles, 2,800 ft gain on summer trail (2:00 hours)
  • 2.0 miles, 2,200 ft gain on winter trail (2:30 hours)
    • Do NOT take when no snow, it’s a very rough bushwalk… We took this on the way down to avoid people on snow lake trail, not fun, no real trail, but at least no covid

To find the start, continue past the SW Face trad route along the west face for about 3 minutes and you’ll find a low angle corner with bolts on the left face, there was also a carin at the start.

We combined pitches 1 & 2, 3 & 4, 5 & 6 with a 60m, it worked out well and there wasn’t bad rope drag. We did end up skipping a few bolts. It took us 1 1/2 hours up.

Pitch 1 – ~5.6, 6 bolts

Short pitch, pretty easy. Start up the corner and then go onto the arete.

You can link this with P2, you’ll probably want to skip a few bolts and definitely extend bolts. There was a bit of rope drag but okay for a confident 5.9 leader. About 50m linked.

Pitch 2 – ~5.8, 13 bolts

Some really fun arete climbing! One tricky ~5.8 move that has some slightly overhanging but mostly juggy holds that moves slightly left. Sometimes you might not see the next bolt till you climb up over a ledge.

Looking down from top of P2

Pitch 3 – ~5.7, 5 bolts

Kind of dirty climbing, least fun pitch, not difficult though. Climb through easier terrain with a slight bit of brush and dirt.

Would recommend linking with P4, not much drag, probably again about 50m linked.

Pitch 4 – ~5.8, 7 bolts

Some more thoughtful climbing (at least when the route was slightly wet it required more thought).

Pitch 5 – 5.9, 9 bolts

Crux pitch. First climb left and up onto a slabby face, then do a short two step traverse on the slab and pull some more vertical moves up. If you’re linking pitches you’ll probably want to skip clipping the bolts before the traverse (or back clean).

After that, the actual crux is slightly higher, a roof move that’s a bit overhanging. As usual, well protected.

Can link with P6 (if you skip initial bolts, rope drag is good), again ends up around 50m).

Pitch 6 – ~5.7, 5 bolts

Easy climbing up to the final anchor.

Pitch 7 – 4th class, 1 bolt

Scramble or climb to the top (about 15 meters), staying to the right. Sling a block if you’re belaying a follower.

Plans

The Tooth Fairy 2020

Itinerary 3:45 AM – Leave home (1:05 hr drive) 4:50 AM – Trailhead 5:00 AM – Start hiking (3 hrs) 8:00 AM – Base of climb 8:20 AM – Climbing (7 pitches of sport, 4 hrs) 12:20 PM – Summit 12:45 PM – Descend 2:45 PM – Base 3:00 PM – Hike back 5:30 PM…