Sunset Slab - Far West

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Early in May my buddy Charlie and I went to Peshastin to check out the "new" Far West Sunset Slabs. We found the routes to be typical of Peshastin and worth the couple of hours of monkeying around.

 

The most recent Leavenworth guide has an improved description of the area and describes the routes well enought but I'll add my comments (l to r):

 

Cinderella Story, 5.9: The best and most straight forward route. Classic Peshastin padding! Bring a long runner for the last clip.

 

Original Route, 5.8: Runout over the inital 30 feet or so, then some sketchy gear, then new bolt(s). Do-able for the experienced leader who pays attention to the exposure.

 

The Story of My Life, 5.11c: Too hard for me. Worked the moves on TR and it seemed the bolts were in good places with no major runouts.

 

In general, the gear one may finagle here would probably be marginal, LOTS of decomposed rock at the to, bring some light colored slings for the bolt anchor station, and tread very lightly on the way in and out: recent fire activity has severely loosened the soil. For me, the quickest and most rewarding method here is to lead the 5.9, then TR the other two.

 

And of course, if you don't like the sandy, slabby, chossy, bolted nature of Peshastin, you probably won't like these routes. For the rest of us, enjoy!