| Art Brazee, Owen Garland, and myself started this route but bailed high up for a variety of reasons (late start, flu, weather, routefinding, alien attack (okay, there were no aiens)). Owen led the first 3 slabby pitches without putting ONE SINGLE piece of pro in. The three of us were roped up but totally soloing. Finally, when he got to the giant undercling he put about twenty-seven pieces in to make himself (and us) feel better. We went up and right to the corner, which I led (the 5.8 crux). Then I led up the rotten gully, but I never knew when I was supposed to break left, and I ended up at the top of that gully where the Kain route intersects. At that point, for all of those reasons we bailed down the Kain route. Later, in 2003, I did the Kain route from the bottom, which was awesome. I can't say that I recommend this route because of that poorly protected, if protected at all, lower section (although it is easy) and that horrible gully (bring your helmet and riot shield), but the 5.8 corner is very nice and maybe worth the trouble. Plus, the upper section, which is the same as the Kain route, is absolutely amazing - except the routefinding can be tricky. The final 2 pitches of 5.7 crack next to the big ugly chimney (I think it's the Perren variation) are definitely the highlight of the day. |
Canadian Rockies Alpine Climbs