The sister route to Soul Confusion. All belays are fixed, and the route avoids all tree islands.   Start: 25' right of Soul Confusion, scramble up a fern slope to a birch tree. 

  P1 5.9 G: Climb a slab up and left to a right-leaning crack. Follow the crack to its top, then go straight up the face. Trend left on the slab to a fixed anchor (shared with Soul Confusion). 100' 

  P2 5.9 G: Follow Soul Confusion up clean face for 15', then straight up. Move right to a crack that leads to a ceiling. Over this to a fixed anchor. 90' 

  P3 5.9 G: Up right to groove, up stepped corners to fixed anchor. Classic and fun. Small brass nuts are necessary to keep the climb G rated 90' 

  P4 10a G: Up and slightly right to bulge and a stand-up crux move. Continue straight up over bulges trending left to a fixed anchor. 80'

Valar Dohaeris

Tier Pressure

Return to Sender

Fistful of Stoppers

The Dark Side

Magic Carpet Ride

Deja View

Superman Flake

Heroes

Sole Fusion

Soul Confusion

Dreadnaught

Stellar.  The best of the loaf.  Coupled with Soul Fusion, climbers can have the best slab day of their lives.  Another must do for the 5.10 slab climber.  4 pitches of varied climbing...hard friction, crack climbing and pulling overhangs. These pitches are graded 10a 9+ 10c 7 by the FAs.  Im posting my opinions for now and am curious to see a consensus down the road.  Friction moves can be tricky to grade and feel so much harder on lead.  I felt like p1 was PG but after the first bolt the rest of the climb is G. 

  P1 5.10b - A test of your rubber and your head. Climb slab past horizontal to first bolt.  Be careful here as you have to commit to hard moves on pure friction to make the clip.  More hard moves lead up to another bolt.  Join a crack and follow it to a stance under a 4' roof (bomber gear here).  Over this, then up more tenuous slab, passing a few bolts to a fixed anchor. 

  P2 5.9 - Up past bolts arching left to a right facing corner.  Up the corner (gear) then head dead left following a photogenic horizontal crack traverse to anchor. 

  P3 - 5.10a/b A beautiful and outstanding pitch.  The Money.  Straight up on increasingly difficult slab, clipping 4 bolts.  The super thin crux comes just before reaching the security of the nice vertical crack.  (The FAs rate this 10c but we thought the move was no harder than the multiple moves on the first pitch.)  The bolt is in your face and it is literally just one move.  Continue up the splitter crack, with one thoughtful section to anchors under obvious large overhangs. 

  P4 - 5.8 Dramatic but easier than it looks. Step up into a steep corner and pull around overhang/arete (bolt) to the right.  Trend left up the face to a crack system that angles back right and through a final overlap (cool move) then easier slab to the anchors.

The rightmost route on the face.  The first pitch corner is the world's most perfect habitat for ferns and moss, or so it seems.  Bring a stiff brush and wait for DRY weather if you want to climb this.  The rest of the route, however you decide to do it (there are 4 ways to go - see the guidebook) is really good climbing.

A fine route that saw exploratory action early and often.  It tops out at the highest point on the face and has it all: corners, cracks, runout friction...and great views.

This is an old route that has been straightened out and extended to the top of the cliff (the extension is known as Fistful of Draws). It is almost all 5.8 climbing with a single hard move on P3. The rock is naturally clean throughout, and every pitch is high quality. 

  P1 5.8 G: Go up to the dike with no protection, then traverse right to a left-facing corner (first protection here; 5.5 R up to this point). Up the corner to its top, then up and left (bolts and gear) to an overlap. Over this (crux) to gain a crack that begins as tips and widens to hands higher up. This "Exasperator-like" crack is stellar. At the top of the crack, mantel onto a ledge, then step left to a fixed anchor on its far left side. 140' 

  Above the P1 ledge is a giant "death" flake adhered to the cliff by magic. The route cleverly avoids this monstrosity. 

  If you rappel from this anchor, be aware of flakes that may snag your rope. 

  Also know that the crack expands and contracts with heat from the sun. A nut placed in this crack in the morning may be irretrievable later in the day. 

  P2 5.8 G: Step left from the anchor and make a couple hard moves up past bolts to better holds. Trend up and right past horizontals and a small right-facing corner. Pure friction up and right across a blank slab leads to a perfect perch and fixed anchor. 80' 

  P3 5.10b G: Step right and friction straight up a slab to a tiny left-arching overlap that sits below a giant roof. Follow the left-arching overlap to its left end, then friction left under the large roof until you can reach above the roof to jugs. Make a puzzling move over the roof (5.10b crux, or A0 if you pull on the bolt), to a good stance. Continue straight up on knobs and edges to a horizontal, then go up and left to a fixed anchor. 130' 

  P4 5.8 G: Go straight up a narrow, clean section of pocketed rock to the open slab above. Cross a left-leaning crack and up a final slab to a fixed anchor. 80' 

  Descent: Every belay is fixed and it's possible to rappel from any of them. However, the straightest and best pulls are as follows: From the top, rappel 200' to the P2 anchor, then another 200' rappel to the base. 

  The top anchor sits in a bowl just below the rim. It is possible to friction up and right to the very top of the cliff and walk off climbers left. You can also walk 150' left and use the Sole Fusion rappels (all bolted stations), thereby allowing you to scope that route (and maybe toprope some of the pitches).

P1 5.5 G: Make your way up the slab and belay on tree ledge with fixed anchor. 80’ 

  P2 5.9 G: Move left under roof to gain access to left facing corner. Continue along and break onto the slab before the corner becomes dirty, stay left of tree island. Continue up crack to a fixed anchor. Be cautious of rope management. 100’ 

  P3 5.7 G: Climb up and left across slab to right facing corner. Step left then follow varied size crack to fixed anchor. 120’ (Shared with Pitch 3 of Dread Naught) 

  Descent: Rappel Valor Dohaeris with 60m rope. Single rope will not reach to rappel The Dark Side

One of the few routes that's good right off the ground.  Look for the obvious layback-able flake (photo).

Nice climb on mostly clean rock.  Aesthetics are marred by the insecure steps into the trees for a couple of the belays.  The route is notable for tackling significant overlaps in the steepest part of the face.

A great route if you can find the first pitch.  The upper pitches are beautiful, up a long corner past two significant overhangs.

Instant classic testpiece for the friction climbing crowd.  27 years in the making.  Tackles the biggest, baddest sweep of open rock on the face.

Start: Same as Valar Dohaeris. 

  P1 5.8 G: Start as for Valar Dohaeris: up diagonally left to a crack, then up right-leaning crack to its top at a dirt ledge. Cross rightwards onto a clean slab, then up right to blunt arête that leads to flakes. Belay at prominent 1"-2" crack. 105' 

  P2 5.7 G: Straight up crack, overlap, then up face to bigger overlap. Over this, then up face to a fixed belay (shared with P2 of Valar Dohaeris). 100' 

  P3 5.8+ G: Up face into shallow groove, then follow variably-sized cracks on right edge of slab to a fixed anchor. 95'

500 ft slab, faces SE.  Granite friction climbing.  Consult Adirondack Rock 2nd Ed. for route descriptions.

Description

Protection

Routes in Sugarloaf