[TR] Exfoliation Dome- Jacob's Ladder 7/31/2005

[TrogdortheBurninator]

Climb: Exfoliation Dome-Jacob's Ladder

 

Date of Climb: 7/31/2005

 

Trip Report:

MattP and I climbed Matts route, Jacob's Ladder, on Exfoliation Dome on Sunday. This route is awesome. The pictures I have dont do it justice as I only had my camera phone with me and no real camera. The route takes a very direct line up the prominent and steep west face of Exfoliation Dome, while following a natural line. The route is safely protected with solid bolts and natural gear, while still preserving much of the adventure darrington is known for.

 

Pitches 1&2 offer easy but enjoyable runout slab climbing. These pitches are a nice warm up, but do not at all reflect the character of the rest of the route.

Matt leading P3

Pitches 3-7 offer exceptional sustained steep climbing with a considerable amount of variation. Pitch 3 is a fun pitch which moves into an LF corner where some tricky (bolt protected) moves are required. Pitch 4 is the crux pitch and is considerably harder than the rest of the route. I tried to free it, but after repeatedly blowing my footholds I gave up and resolved to pull on quick draws and stand on bolts until the major difficulties were passed.

 

Matt following the difficult crux pitch

 

Matt made a fine lead on pitch 5 which avoids a heinous looking chimney hand crack in exhange for unique sustained 5.10 blocky but downsloping climbing.

Matt leading on P5

 

Pitch 6 is really exceptional as it combines big sportoesque moves, moderate crack and flake climing, and 5.10 steep dike and slab climbing. This pitch comes at a really good height on the wall and for us marked the point when the sun hit the wall (not necessarily a good thing, but beautiful nonetheless).

Matt follows the dike (Jacob's Ladder) on P6

 

Pitch 7 is another good pitch that would be even better with more traffic. The climbing is varied again, and includes some longish sequences of difficult climbing before easing off. Pitch 8 is relatively easy (5.8), but still interesting and fun. Near the end you can either climb directly up an unproteted slab, or skirt the slab on the right via dirtier but somewhat protected climbing. On this pitch do not be enticed by the gorgeous handcracks half way through the pitch. They are formed by enormous detached blocks that according to Matt have visibly moved 6" in the last year.

 

We rapped a line suggested by CBS which makes a fairly direct descent from the terrace beginning at a large tree. At the base, we scrambled (actually I asked for a belay on the final low 5th section) back climbers left to meet up with the final 2 raps of Jacob's ladder.

 

A view back up the route as Matt completes the final rap back to our packs and some surprisingly cool gatorade. The line goes pretty directly up the face with minor zig zaggin reaching and passing the prominent white scar at 3/4 height.

 

Thanks again to Mattp for developing and showing me this awesome route. I really think this route deserves to get climbed far more often, and more traffic will only make it better. By aiding through the crux pitch, this route is within the cababilities of any solid 5.10 climber.

 

Gear Notes:

Used: ~12 draws (sporto and extendable)

 

Cams from black alien to gold camalot with doubles helpful from yellow alien to red camalot. Start early this time of year and you can beat the sun for most of the route.

 

Approach Notes:

Steep granite, don't slip.

Edited August 1, 2005 by TrogdortheBurninator

[mattp]

To the rack I would add a small handful or tiny nuts. RP's or steel whatever-they-are's to a small stopper or two.

 

Thanks for a good day, Mr. Trog.

 

[TrogdortheBurninator]

Oh yeah, forgot about those little things. Can definitely leave the medium and large stoppers (bigger than ~BD #6) at home

[MCash]

Nice work! That route looks amazing (we rapped down it on Saturday).

[mattp]

What'd you think of Dark Rhythm?

[MCash]

The first two pitches could use some cleaning, but 3 through 8 were fantastic, especially the crux 10C pitch.

[mec]

Jacob's ladder sounds excellent. I need to get out there and do that route.

I did dark rhyth, a few years back and loved it. Accidentally missd the first two pitches though... ooops.

[jshamster]

Hi Matt & Trog.

My buddy & I were on Rainman on Sunday. Thanks for the confirmation on where the route started.

Great day out!

[mattp]

What guidebook/description did you have for Rainman? Any corrections?

[jshamster]

I have the Whitelaw CDrom guide. Fantastic artwork and local knowledge. The scale in the topos is a bit skewed, but the features are very recognizable.

We actually weren't sure where the first pitch was until we realized that we had soloed the 5.5 variation thingy. Seems to me that pitches 2-5 are the real deal anyway. My buddy & I thought that the grades were spot on with what DW has in the guide.

Rainman is a great mix of different climbing styles, and I highly recommend it.

 

Cheers, Jimbo

[mattp]

Yes, pitches 2-5 are what make Rainman interesting -- each with a different character and each quite good. That stemming pitch was fantastic, eh? And those moves around the end of the "gull wing roof?" If you liked those pitches, you'll like Jacob's Ladder too. It has five pitches in a row of varied, excellent climbing on a line overall a little steeper than Rainman.

 

David and I have talked about how to show the start of Rainman, and I showed it a little differently on my website than he did on his topo, but it remains slightly obscure. Jacob's Ladder is a little easier to locate.

[mattp]

My brother from the flatlands picked a rather rainy weekend to visit Seattle for some climbing. However, we managed to climb most of Jacobs Ladder today before we had to rap off and head for SeaTac. You might be surprised what you can do in Darrington on a marginal forecast. Pitch 4 of Jacobs Ladder:

 

[pope]

How hard is that pitch?

[EWolfe]

 

That's a great shot , Matt!

[MCash]

Cool shot. Hey Matt that was Sergio Verdina and I you were behind on FR2060. We were on Green Giant Buttress. A nice day with no crowds.

[mattp]

We almost decided to crowd you, Mr. Cash, because we saw some drippage on the wall when we looked up before starting the hike up to Jacobs Ladder. However, I figured it would turn out OK and it did.

 

Pope, I think that pitch is some kind of .11. Your mileage may vary.