I believe there are 4 summit variations. The face Dan climbed on has two. Both old aid routes. The 'real' finishes are on the face around the corner to the left. At the very far left of that face is a 5.8+++ squeeze and offwidth over a roof formed by a detached pillar. Burly and ledge fall potential if you don't have 7 to 10 inch gear. In the center of that face is a killer 5.9 finger crack with jugs that looks like it would be 10+. You must traverse 50 or so feet left to reach these from the typical belay bellow. Seems most people climb 20 or 30 feet too high from the belay, look left and realize they can't traverse any more, and finish up that crappy, bulgy, facey crack thing with all the fixed pins.
That is good info to know, thanks for the heads up. I definately went on the bugly fixed pin line, but I felt that I got some finger-crack and jug action as well. I definately saw the off-width and immediately opted for something different. Thanks for the additon/correction.
Brandon's comment is correct, the two "standard" finishes are on the south face of summit tower. We opted for the figure crack, which is several feet right of the off-width. This is not 5.9. I found it no harder than 5.8 with plenty of jugs and bomber gear. There aren't any pins on this variation.
brandon - Jul 22, 2007 2:00 pm - Hasn't voted
Summit pitchesHey yal,
I believe there are 4 summit variations. The face Dan climbed on has two. Both old aid routes. The 'real' finishes are on the face around the corner to the left. At the very far left of that face is a 5.8+++ squeeze and offwidth over a roof formed by a detached pillar. Burly and ledge fall potential if you don't have 7 to 10 inch gear. In the center of that face is a killer 5.9 finger crack with jugs that looks like it would be 10+. You must traverse 50 or so feet left to reach these from the typical belay bellow. Seems most people climb 20 or 30 feet too high from the belay, look left and realize they can't traverse any more, and finish up that crappy, bulgy, facey crack thing with all the fixed pins.
Dan Dalton - Jul 23, 2007 10:38 am - Hasn't voted
Re: Summit pitchesThat is good info to know, thanks for the heads up. I definately went on the bugly fixed pin line, but I felt that I got some finger-crack and jug action as well. I definately saw the off-width and immediately opted for something different. Thanks for the additon/correction.
Dan
JonW - Aug 13, 2013 4:55 pm - Hasn't voted
South Face, Summit PitchBrandon's comment is correct, the two "standard" finishes are on the south face of summit tower. We opted for the figure crack, which is several feet right of the off-width. This is not 5.9. I found it no harder than 5.8 with plenty of jugs and bomber gear. There aren't any pins on this variation.