Northwest Face/Beckey Route

This was the second route completed on the Monolith, after the formation's first ascent via the obvious north face chimney. As Fred writes in his otherwise vague AAJ description, "I have never seen better rock, anywhere." I'm fairly sure that I have, but it certainly does rank among the most crucial stone in the range, and in my humble opinion is every bit as good (if not better) and more adventurous than the nearby northeast buttress of Pingora. If the Cirque of the Towers is mobbed, I would absolutely recommend either moving camp or daytripping down a few miles to climb this route.

Since Beckey left no real details about where the climbing went, we began at the base of the northwest prow, and followed our nose generally up and a bit left. We then headed back right a bit to the upper prow where Beckey mentions two chickenhead pitches, though I think we may have followed a slightly different line.

Fred mentioned dubious protection, but we found that modern gear was more than adequate and made this a safe and well-protected outing. Cracks, features, and high-grade stone abound.

The route tops out on the football-field-flat summit of the Monolith. The easiest descent is to head right past the summit of Dog Tooth Peak and descend Lizard Head Meadows, looping back on a game trail (or all the way to the North Fork Trail) and into the cirque proper. We descended the steep, obvious couloir to looker's left of the Monolith, the snow was rock hard, the rock was insanely chossy and the whole experience was utterly terrifying with no crampons or tool—not recommended.

We encountered a bit or two of tat, but we found none of Beckey's pins or the bolt that he mentions placing.

From the North Fork Trail and Papoose Lake, choose the path of least resistance toward to Monolith—the big, bad, and obvious north-facing monster at the head of its namesake cirque. When you near the base of the north face and the beginning of Discovery, hang a right and pick your way up the jumbled mess of talus toward a higher hanging cirque. The Beckey Route begins at the base of the northwest prow, more or less directly across from Lady and the Tramps on the opposite wall.

The route is in deep shade for nearly the entire day - I climbed several pitches in my puffy in early August.

Doubles to #3, one #4.