The Night is Dark and Full of Terrors

Note: the 250-300 feet tall and probably 40 feet wide on average feature shifted in 2018 at least an inch!

Part of South Chasm View Wall is closed due to a 300' x 40' slab of rock that shifted one inch in one week. The slab is estimated to weigh 6 million pounds or more. The NPS is consulting with geohazards specialists for further direction.

See

nps.gov/blca/planyourvisit/…

for updates.

This route starts out with 4 pitches of clean crack climbing on beautiful rock with a good, built-in warmup. That is followed by a heady, thin .11+ R pitch with big fall potential on fairly steep slab. After this pitch, wild traverses, burly and spicy technical corner climbing, perfect cracks in flakes and corners, and a mega-stout overhung, left-leaning, flared crux tips splitter will give you a good whoopin'.

Climb this route at your own risk!

P1.

Climb a left-facing corner with some blocks and the occasional bush up to a ledge. (9) This is the original start for the Flakes, just to the left of the commonly used start for that route, and two lines left of the Astrodog splitter variation.

P2.

Climb two opposing corners on mostly fingers and stemming on clean rock. (10-) Pull over a couple bulges past some old tat anchors and belay on a ledge.

P3.

Proceed up a thin splitter that widens into thin hands perfect rock. (10-) Exit left on a ledge and climb a shallow, thin hands, left-facing corner on more incredible granite. Scramble up and left onto a ledge below a finger crack and huge offwidth (9).

P4.

Do not climb the finger crack (although it is fun!) nor the offwidth above it (200+ feet, 5.12). Instead, skirt left around the finger crack block, traverse some face (10+ PG-13), and pull into a hanging left-leaning, right facing fingers corner with black streaks (11 or easier). Climb up with good fingers locks and good feet. Traverse left to the bolt (11 PG-13), clip it, and climb up to the next bolt, clip it, then lower down to the first bolt (recommended to avoid a factor-2 fall onto the anchor). Not redirecting through the bolt makes the start of the next pitch, 5.11 R.

P5.

Start up the slab with a pre-clipped bolt (11) or sketch up to the bolt (11 R). Run it out quite a bit up to some very thin gear up thin slab (11 R) going mostly straight up. Continue up to some gear placements (10), then fire off a balancy and thuggy crux traverse across a sloping rail trending left (11+).

P6.

Climb up some licheny and somewhat questionable rock (10 PG-13) to a small arete with a piton just to the left. Clip the piton, traverse left to clip a bolt, and then pull hard, thin slab moves with terrible feet left to the corner using your best ninja beta (12). Fall into the corner, and traverse the hanging flake left and down runnering all gear placements to keep the rope away from the sharp edge(burly 11). Arrange your last gear low for your follower, then either downclimb down and left (11+) or jump (11) to a small, sloping, leaning ledge. Climb up an unprotected corner and plug a piece before a small sloping stance. Run it out as much as possible to try to protect your follower. Downclimbing to the sloping ledge is 11/11+ R for the follower. Get ready to start running if you blow it so you don't take a huge, cheesegrating swing.

P7.

This was the sketchiest pitch. Do not fall until you get to bomber gear in the hanging corner, lest you rip gear and deck on the slab below. The gear down lower looks questionable at best. Climb up a vague corner (11+/12- PG-13/R) with gear placements in brittle rock. Place as much gear as you can to keep you off the deck, then commit to slabbing into a hanging, hard right-leaning corner. Tech, stem, and burl your way through the corner (12-/12), climb down and right on some hands and liebacks, and pull into a steep, right facing corner on beautiful, if somewhat lichenous, rock for almost 100 feet (9+).

P8.

Climb up flakes (9) and easy slab up and right to the base of a steep, thin, left-leaning splitter on dark rock. If aiding (I did), continue up the splitter (12+ or A0). If not, set a belay and climb the hard, overhanging, flared tips crack. Med/large nuts, offset nuts, small cams, and offset cams are useful for protecting this beast. I pulled out a shaky piton with bodyweight, freeing up a key foothold. Belay on a bushy ledge.

P9.

Make a sketchy unprotected mantel off the belay onto a small ledge (10+ R), then teeter up around an arete onto a sloping stance on an overhanging wall. Garden out some finger locks and gear placements, then fire off a burly mantle move up and onto a sloping ledge (12-/12). This sequence felt like V4/V5 to me with dirt in my eyes from cleaning out the crack. Climb up some easy slab and up a juggy flake to the base of a crack in a lovely flake. Clip a fixed nut, maybe fire another piece in, and make a reachy move up to a bomber finger lock (hard 11+). Climb up a juggy, handcrack flake to a slab (9), then run it out up the slab (8 R) to a stance at the base of an arching corner. Save some rattly finger sized gear or big nuts for the belay.

P10.

From here, we couldn't find the last two pitches of Jonathan's route, so we proceeded to exit via the easiest escape. Climb up a somewhat dirty broken corner (10), escape right when possible, and continue up a slab/groove/open book system up to a peg chimney through a roof. Climb an easy ramp to the right of the chimney and belay.

P11.

Walk a ledge right for a ropelength to the skyline.

These pitches constitute the Astrodog escape pitches:

P12.

Climb up blocks and handcracks (10ish) and up some easy slabs to a comfy belay.

P13.

Climb up easy slabs, pull a bulge (9) to the right of a roof, continue up more easy slab, and then climb a fun chockstone chimney (9+) with chockstones and nuts for pro. Escape left to a bolted anchor that marks the beginning of the Astroslog rappels.

Take the Astroslog rappels down to the start of

The Flakes

on the original

Flakes

start, left of the Astrodog variation start. This route starts just left of

The Flakes

in a big, left facing corner system right off a vegetated ledge. It follows clean, beautiful, left-facing corner systems and cracks up and left for 4 pitches before embarking on wandering face climbing with intermittent cracks.

Doubles from tiny microcams to #2 C4, 1 #3 C4. RPs, brass offsets, alloy offsets, and offset microcams are recommended. Bring a few long runners, many slings, and many quickdraws.