Franklin's Tower - Dark Star

Two independent pitches join "

The Mine Shaft

" for the third and summit pitch. This is a great steep line up a tower at a surprisingly moderate grade. A good OW climber will call it 5.9, a poor one not so much.

P1. Climb up to the obvious corner through the chinle start. OW and chimney up the clean corner above bypassing several fixed pieces that take some of the sting out. This is a full body workout on great stone, 5.9+, 100' +/-.

P2. Head up left into the large, double roofs with great gear and awesome three dimensional climbing. Pass the corner, and chimney to a belay up and left on a slabby ledge out side of the chimney, 5.9, 70' +/-.

P3. Mine your way up through the center of the tower. If you're fat like me, you're just barely going to make it through the squeeze. Tie in on the side of you harness for an extra inch, 5.9, 60' +/-. This pitch is not as stellar as the previous two.

Rap with single 70m off the summit, then two raps (one shorter and one a bit longer) off trees immediately to the skier's right of the tower get you to the base of the route.

On the SE side of Franlkins Tower, this route ascends the obvious, steep corner exiting roofs out left.

Singles from a #0.5 - #5 C4 and triples from a #2 - #5 C4. We had a Valley Giant #9, but you can easly get away without it. You can do this with a single 70m rope.