[TR] Prusik Peak - South Face Beckey Route 7/21/2013

[davidk]

Trip: Prusik Peak - South Face Beckey Route

 

Date: 7/21/2013

 

Trip Report:

On July 21, 2013, Kevino and I climbed the Beckey Route on the South Face in a car-to-car push. Left the Stuart Lake trailhead at 4am, roped up at the base at 10am, summited at 4:30 pm, back to the car at 11pm. Glorious weather, a beautiful walk through the upper Enchantments, and some fantastic climbing!

 

We found this route to contain very diverse and physical climbing. Multiple chimneys, blocky ground, slabs, cracks of all shapes and sizes, chicken heads, traverses, and mantels galore. Route finding was not too difficult, and was mostly based off the written descriptions out of the guidebook and summitpost, since we didn't find any useful overlay photos on the web. We found this route to be pretty sustained, with each pitch earning its grade for the entire length.

 

Pitch 1: obvious man-sized chimney at center. Beckey says unprotectable, but I found ample pro no problem.

Kevin at the belay atop pitch 1

looking up the start of pitch 3

pitch 3 from its top. Can you spot Kevin?

traversing right off "Snafflehound Ledge" to the base of the crux. Shoot for the pillar that has a snag at its base and a small tree at its top. Belay from the small tree at the start of this crack:

Kevin hiking the business. Beckey 5.9 is no gimme

Belaying from the notch on the ridge. The last pitch to the summit has two options. If you're a 5.10 climber, take the beautiful crack straight up for about 15 feet from this notch. The rest of us: "step down" from the notch to the north. It's actually a fairly delicate move down to the ramp, which is narrow and off-balance. The descriptions make this pitch sound 5.8 due to the jamb crack at the end, but it's likely due to the sketchy ramp.

On top.

 

Gear Notes:

doubles from blue Metolious to #3 BD, one #4 BD, set of nuts, 10 alpine draws and two doubles, 8.9mm 60m rope. We placed the #4 on all but one pitch I believe.

 

Approach Notes:

Should've brought more deet

[olyclimber]

ah...so that was Snafflehound ledge.

[olyclimber]

how close to accurate is this?

 

[davidk]

We had that photo with us (albeit not blown up very big, so limiting its use), and that's pretty much the line we took. I think we accessed the ledge from a little further left, but it is actually a series of small ledges in the middle of the face. Pitch 3 was a bit "choose your own adventure," with most lines seeming probable for routes to the ledge system.

[kevino]

This was the best mantel all route!

 

Edited July 26, 2013 by kevino

[jordansahls]

This was the best mantel all route!

 

 

Ha ha, Awesome. Weird belay shenanigans are the best. I had to have a partner crawl through my legs once due to my shitty rope handling and the inherent awkwardness of the belay ledge.

[curtveld]

Mantle?! That looks more like an attempted headstand..

 

Nice TR and photos of a route that's intrigued me for awhile and now does even more. Might not put it on the list of 'day-trip' options though.