Sacco-Vanzetti Memorial

Sacco-Vanzetti Memorial is located on the west face of Disappointment Peak near lesser known climbs like West Side Story and more recent additions like the Kim Schmitz Memorial Route. A substantial portion of this route is shared with the Whiton-Wiggins line from 1981, although Sacco-Vanzetti starts and finishes independently. In general, the climbing on this route is excellent - steep, varied and exposed. However, some sections of scabby rock, lichen, and looseness detract somewhat from the overall quality.

P1- This is a stout 5.10 pitch right out of the gate! Start in the right-leaning dihedral that leads to a wider crack/bulge about 10-15m up the wall. Climb some off-balance thin-finger/tips layback moves (5.9ish) to reach the bulge. Pull through this overhanging 5.10 section (steep, awkward, but big holds eventually) then foot traverse right along the face to reach another right-leaning crack system. Continue up this crack (5.8-5.9) eventually moving back left along a ramping ledge. Follow this ledge up and left, clip a fixed pin, bust a few moves, and belay on the far left edge of the pine tree ledge beneath the obvious wide corner of P2.

P2- Topos for this route call this next pitch 5.8, but it felt about as hard as the 5.9+ dihedral finish. Climb the slightly overhanging wide corner/dihedral through awkward jamming, stemming, and laybacking, eventually exiting right to a good stance. Continue up and right in a prominent weakness (5.6-5.7). At a sloping ledge with a piece of ancient tat hanging from a bolt, move up and left along the ramp to belay at the upper end of the ledge.

P3- The third pitch climbs the large open book weakness with white streaks on dark rock and a large chunk of black rock protruding from the wall at the top. Move directly up from the belay and climb a series of fun jamming and stemming moves (5.8ish) up the broad dihedral. Stem over some loose blocks and exit right. Continue climbing 5.7ish terrain to one of many belay ledges above.

P4- Pitch four involves somewhat nondescript wandering up 5.7-5.8 terrain which can be a little run-out depending on which way you go. Find the path of least resistance, shooting for the prominent open book weakness at the end of the climb. Belay near the end of the rope on a small grassy perch below the steep dihedral with a large roof above.

P5- Gear management is key on this pitch as it is sustained 5.9/5.9+ climbing to the top. Start up the dihedral toward the roof, staying primarily on the face to the right. Good incuts and edges appear, but the gear can be somewhat tricky. Pull around the right edge of the roof and launch into the final steep stemming dihedral moving up and right. The last thirty feet of slightly overhanging and exposed climbing is perhaps the best part of the whole climb! Belay on 4th class terrain above.

Scramble up-hill for a few minutes to reach the summit plateau of Disappoint Peak. Move east to reach the obvious descent gully for Irene's Arete that leads back into Garnet Canyon and the Caves (a good location to leave items that you don't want to carry up the climb). If you didn't leave anything at the Caves, another option is to descend the SE Ridge of Disappointment to Amphitheater Lake.

Sacco-Vanzetti Memorial is located in the Red Sentinel Gully (the big couloir between the west face of Disappointment Peak and Fairshare Tower/Watchtower). This is clearly visible from the Caves in the North Fork of Garnet Canyon. Walk another 20-30 minutes uphill past the Caves, eventually cutting right across the boulder field to enter the gully. Walk about five minutes up the gully, looking for a massive triangular roof about 30 meters up the wall. The first pitch of Sacco-Vanzetti begins about 20-30 meters up-gully from this roof in a prominent right-leaning dihedral (see photo) and ends at a ledge with a smaller pine tree.

doubles from .3 to #2 camalot, (1)#3, #4, stoppers and a nice selection of small cams (0 and 00 tcu were nice) - we also had an old #4 size cam and found it helpful in a few spots