- Edit (TBD)
The Big Arete
Description
This is a direct route up the arete feature from the ground to the top. The exposed last pitch follows part of the older route "Tall Order", and is one of my personal all-time favorites. An alternate pitch 1 is to climb "Help Mr Wizard" to the large ledge about 190' up.
P-1 5.11 Start underneath the arete of The "Big Corner", and below the left end of the block/ledge feature where "Armed Robbery" starts. Climb easy terrain to a short grungy chimney (extreme left side of "block") which leads to a 3 bolt line. Crank through this wild crux to better holds that eventually lead onto a pumpy 5.9ish face/arete. Continue up this to the large ledge about 170' up. Pro: #1 camelot down to #00 TCU's. Extra green & yellow alien sized pieces useful.
P-2 5.8 Move out right and pull an overlap to the vertical wall with a seam. Wander up and out onto the arete before moving back left to gain a nice ledge and a 2 bolt anchor. It is 190' down from here, not that you'd actually wanna go down...
P-3 5.10+? Move back over to the arete to gain a sloping ledge and a large block feature. Climb the left side of this feature to the short section of rotten rock that gains a small ledge atop the block. (Note: The original route comes in from the right and climbs the right side of this block). Clip bolt (pay attention to potential rope drag here) and start up into some of the best and most exposed climbing around. Keep your eyes peeled for a tricky shallow horizontal nut placement just above the last cruxy roof feature. This helps take the sting out of the funky mantel move, but is not neccessary and was not found originally during the FA. Continue up steep but more moderate climbing to the top.
Location
Starts just around the corner from "Help Mr Wizard" and climbs the large arete left of the "Big Corner".
Protection
Standard shortoff rack. Extra slings usefull on last pitch. Maybe an extra 2 inch piece as well.
Routes in Shortoff Mountain
- 44The Big Arete5.11Trad