Start date 20220715
End date 20220717
Posted on

We did it! 33 pitches in 6 hours and 10 minutes! And it was EASY! Everything was super fun and good except for the descent, really hated that steep loose gully where it was really bad for a 30 min section of the gully.

WHY TO DO IT: 3,500 ft of pure climbing! You don’t even have to move belays once! Yes, the climbing is all quite easy, yes, the 5.10 portion of the hard pitches are short and not sustained (some might complain too easy), yes there is some loose rock you have to be careful about, and yes the descent has ~30 mins of steep loose gravel/rock down a gully. But where else can you find that much pure climbing with a 25 min approach and all super well bolted with nice belay ledges and good views?

OVERALL
– 15-25 min approach on good trail
– Super moderate climbing, goes fast simuling
– 24 quickdraws was plenty, nice to have ~8 alpine and ~2 double alpine, routes are mostly straight but useful to help prevent drag when linking
– Radios useful when linking pitches
– Really well bolted. Cruxes are every 5 feet and even non-cruxes are typically every 8 feet
– Great anchor ledges. Only P23 anchor was hanging.
– Cruxes are short on each pitch. There’s never sustained 5.10d climbing on any pitch.
– Loose rock actually wasn’t too bad! Definitely want to be careful what you pull on, but overall only about 5 pitches had 10 foot sections where I was particularly concerned about the rock quality.
– Descent is down a steep loose gully. If you don’t like steep loose gullies, be warned that there’s at least 30 minutes of on edge steep loose dirt that you might find yourself butt scooting sometimes. Descent could take up to 3 hours total depending on your comfort level and breaks along the way.

Timeline

Friday

  • 12:30 PM – Left home
  • 8:00 PM – Arrived at Marble Canyon Campground (stopped in Bellingham first, but still it was a long drive with traffic)

Saturday

  • 4:00 AM – Woke up
  • 4:15 AM – Parked
  • 4:25 AM – Hiking in (another group just parked at 4:25 AM)
  • 4:40 AM – Base of climb
  • 4:50 AM – Climbing
  • 11:00 AM – Top of climb (10:59 AM to be precise)
  • 12:05 PM – Descending
  • 2:55 PM – Car

Sunday

  • 4:30 AM – Woke up
  • 5:00 AM – Driving home
  • 12:20 PM – Home

Key times

  • Drive: ~7 hours
  • Car-to-car: 10:30 hours
  • Approach: 15 minutes
  • Climb: 6:10 hours
  • Descent: 2:50 hours

Gear brought

The following gear was PERFECT!

  • 24 quickdraws (with 9 single alpine and 3 double alpine)
  • 2 sliding X sport anchors
  • Radios
  • 2 liters of water (1.5 would have been plenty, super shady on route)
  • Sandwich for lunch
  • Sunscreen
  • Left long anchor cord, prussiks, and rap gloves at home

Weather info

Forecast was low of 52, high of 70, clear skies till noon, increasing to 50% clouds at 6pm, ~5mph winds. Was PERFECT temperature. Felt slightly cold when getting out of car, but actually didn’t need a jacket at all. It was slightly cold on P23 and 24, but then got warmer.

  • Dawn: 4:35 AM
  • Sunrise: 5:13 AM
  • Sunset: 9:13 PM

Sunlight info

9am sun at trailhead
9:50 sun on lower pitches
10:25 some sun on final pitches

Climb info

P1-2 (linked): P1 well bolted and easy, straight up the ramp. P2 then turns right, quite a direction change so use alpine draws, and P2 traverses right. Nothing on P2 felt harder than 5.9. You end basically straight above your belayer, so be careful about loose rocks.

P3-5 simul, easy climbing 5.6

P6-8 simul more fun easy climbing with a few 5.7-5.8 moves
– P7 – loose rock for 2 bolts
– P8 – loose rock for 2 bolts

P9 separate 5.9- loose crimpy rock for several bolts, pitched out, felt a little more challenging than the other pitches, partial due to the loose rock

P10-14 simul – worked well! P14 well bolted every 5 feet at crux, felt more like 5.9

P15 – Separate, felt 5.10b, goes way left and then mantle up

P16-19 simul (P18 10b crack/layback corner was well featured and felt secure enough to simul)

P20-21 linked- climb up corner, well bolted

P22-23 linked – P22 seemed 10d for the starting 3 bolts. P23 felt 10b, easier than P22 for sure (Note that you can’t link 23-24, P23 traverses left and then P24 traverses back right around the corner again)

P24-25 linked – P24 also felt easier than P22, maybe 5.10b

P26-33 simul as all one, i still had one QuickDraw left at the top!