hanman Posted August 23, 2012 Posted August 23, 2012 (edited) Trip: Exfo Dome- Proxima Wall - Ancient Melodies (of the Future)III, 5.11- Date: 8/19/2012 Trip Report: Danny Coltrane and I finally finished a new route on Exfoliation Dome in Darrington last weekend. This route is situated on the southern flank of Blueberry Hill, and provides a unique view of the buttress route and summit massif, along with some really exciting climbing on great features. In 2001 or so, good buddy S. Packard and I did an exploratory foray up the right hand margin of this wall, getting a long 3 pitches up and blanking out completely on a vertical smooth headwall before resorting to a few desperate bathooks to a ledge. The new route shares the first pitch of our 2001 effort and the previous high point anchors situated at the bottom of P4. Fast forward 2 kids, 2 dogs, a goldfish, a dozen years, lots of beer, a few pounds of penalty weight, and several new routes in between; I was drawn to the place once again in 2011. A big thanks to good friend JR Storms for humping loads on several occasions! Upper right flank of BBH P2 View from Blueberry rt Workin the veggies Frog pond on the sidewalk P4 Part way up P3 Route tops out at the gendarme straight up from my sexy head Danny on P3 crux traverse Pronounced rib at P1, top of approach gully Edited August 23, 2012 by hanman Quote
benmurphy Posted August 23, 2012 Posted August 23, 2012 Nice one boys! I remeber Smed and I watching you trundle death blocks on a cleaning day last year! Looking forward to testing er out! Quote
mountainmatt Posted August 23, 2012 Posted August 23, 2012 Wicked Awesome! I guess I will have to make another trip up the endless granite sidewalk for this one. . Quote
fgw Posted August 24, 2012 Posted August 24, 2012 It was a pleasure running into you guys last wknd & congrats on the FA. Think we got an ok pic of you guys on the crux (?) pitch but I'll have to look for it. In the meantime here's a lousy pic of the top out...gotta look real close Quote
JonNelson Posted August 24, 2012 Posted August 24, 2012 I just missed you. Nicola Masciandaro and I went partway up Jacob's Ladder on the 20th. We were scared off by the thin flake on pitch 6. But then, I got gripped just walking up and down the granite sidewalk. Has anyone tumbled down that thing? Anyway, looks like a nice addition to a great piece of rock. Thanks for putting it up! Jon Quote
hanman Posted August 24, 2012 Author Posted August 24, 2012 fgw- nice to meet you up there, glad you had a good day, it was cool to see you guys getting to the summit just as we pulled the final moves. Jon- It would not be good to tumble, though I've never heard of anyone taking the ride Our hope is to clean up a direct 3 pitch west slabs start by end of summer in an effort to avoid the gully approach, which is not too tedious in reality...It would be about 5.8 methinks. MH Quote
shapp Posted August 24, 2012 Posted August 24, 2012 Holy goat turd and sheep excrement! Have a look at the big block on fgw's pic on the left side next to the white rock fall scar. Next freeze thaw cycle and I bet that thing is a goner. Quote
hanman Posted August 24, 2012 Author Posted August 24, 2012 I have traversed gingerly below this perched mess on a few occasions. It's been in this condition for about 5 years, but will surely be coming off in the not too distant future. Quote
hanman Posted August 24, 2012 Author Posted August 24, 2012 Indeed- We thought the new/old aspect was fitting, and songbirds were plentiful up there. MH Quote
hanman Posted March 29, 2013 Author Posted March 29, 2013 Bump- Put it on your Dtown list. It's a good 'un. Anyone grab the second ascent out there yet? Sounds like the approach road was spared this year. M. Hanna Quote
hanman Posted June 30, 2014 Author Posted June 30, 2014 Three direct pitches (5.6, 5.7, 5.8) up the apron slightly right of center now reach the Proxima Wall and start of the true Melodies route. Makes for a nice warm up to the real business. Danny and I put this together a couple weeks ago- Enjoy M. Hanna Quote
Otto Posted July 7, 2014 Posted July 7, 2014 Nice work you guys, glad to hear about the three new pitches! That slab looked like it had a lot of potential; I'm sure you made better use of the resource than that original winding route with all the runouts. I've got to get over there soon! Quote
Riley81 Posted July 7, 2014 Posted July 7, 2014 It is direct, but still fairly runout on the easy parts. Quote
wayne Posted July 19, 2018 Posted July 19, 2018 Nice work on this route!! The sun hits it at noon in mid July. Did a report on this outstanding climb on my journal Quote
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