Start date 20240621
End date 20240622
Posted on

We were going to climb This, My Friend, but the currently snow-covered traverse to the base looked too annoying, so we decided to switch to Acid Baby.

Overall, there were some good things and some bad things about this route. It’s definitely tough and tiring.

Positive things…

  • Good views
  • Great belay ledges (all big ledges except P4 and final end)
  • Sustained climbing
  • Usually well protected

Negative things…

  • Kinda traversey…
    • P3 is a big traverse
    • P4 traverses some (traversey enough follower couldn’t clean the final nut before cutting left)
    • P6 is also kinda traversey back and forth, but not as bad as the other two.
  • Some runouts.
    • P3’s traverse is decently runout (definitely wouldn’t want to fall).
    • P4’s traverse is also runout, climbing ~15 feet above your last piece on slabby face moves.
    • P6 and P7 are slightly runout on edgy airy moves, got to be confident on them.
  • Route finding can be a bit tricky
    • P2 was unclear halfway up whether you should continue up the corners, or take the right cracks. I took the right corners which climbed fine, but then it was really difficult to pull the rope.
  • Rope getting jammed up on flakes
    • On P2 the rope was really difficult to pull, must have been around something. Could barely pull it as Alexis started climbing.
    • On P3 traverse, I initially extended one piece and continued traversing right, but that allowed the rope to go underneath a flake and jam up as I continued climbing, so I had to climb back and place an offset nut higher up to keep the rope out of the flake.
  • Long approach. Camping at Colchuck Lake sounds kinda nice, I was more tired than I thought during the climb.
  • Communications can be somewhat difficult (bring radios). Often out of sight of each other.
  • Unclear descents…
    • We just rapped from the very top of the sentinel into the first gully (even though you’re supposed to continue up and to the second gully).
    • Some say “just continue up to the very top and walk off”, but that also looks like it’d be a ridiculous amount of 5th class climbing.

Pitch 1

This pitch started with some crack climbing above a small snowpatch and ended on a nice ledge beneath a corner.

Pitch 2

This climbed up a really tough corner.

Pitch 3

This started up an easier corner, then did a sharp traverse.