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[TR] Monkey Face - West Face 2/2/2014


bbauer

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Trip: Monkey Face - West Face

 

Date: 2/2/2014

 

Trip Report:

Soloed the West Face on Sunday (2/2/14). Started at 8:30 summited at 1:30.

 

A few notes... The mantles on pitches 1, 3, and 4 are scary while soloing but 1 and 3 can be mostly negated via a small nut on 1 and a #1 Camalot at the top of 3. Off the mid pitch anchors on pitch #3, a hook to a bomber #00 master cam gets you to the first bolt with minimal effort. I also used a hook to reach another bolt on pitch 3. First bolt off the anchors on pitch 4 is flexing...

 

west_face_summit.jpg

 

Gear Notes:

1 #1, 1 #.75, doubles to .33 with offsets. HB Brass offsets, 1 talon, 1 cliffhanger.

 

Approach Notes:

Misery Ridge sucks worse on the way back

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It was way more fun in the early 1990s when you could pull out every other bolt, inspect, then re-insert, and when half the belay bolts were no good, kind of overshadowed the mantles then.

 

However, the mantles weren't that fun "with" a belayer :)

 

 

Edited by shapp
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There is a hook move right off the ground to reach the first bolt which I didn't mention. The second is to the left of the mid pitch 3 anchors and the 3rd is a bit higher up. Both could be free climbed instead of using hooks (I just hate free climbing while soloing...see pansy reference above). The 3rd can also be done hookless with a strenuous top step, but I found it more efficient to just throw the hook in real quick and move through it.

 

I've never linked those pitches before. I'm not sure I'd recommend it though. You'd need a shit ton of draws for it...or you'd need back clean a ton and piss your partner off...

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you can clip the first bolt of p1 by either a) being 6'7 or b) stacking several convenient rocks on top of each other for a step :)

 

i've never used a hook anywhere on route, though i do usually use a mini-cheater stick to get to the high bolt past the third anchor

 

p2 and 3 combine neatly w/a 60 meter rope and is the recommended way - you don't need to leave draws but on every 3 bolts or so to keep it reasonably easy for the second to clean - i do recommend either a rope protector at the lip into the cave or to just fix the rope for the 2nd at the bolt below the lip (with the line then back up to the anchor in the cave of course) - i sawed through half my rope there once :)

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i've never used a hook anywhere on route, though i do usually use a mini-cheater stick to get to the high bolt past the third anchor

 

Why skip through it? That's my favorite part of the route...

 

+1

 

Those hook moves are frankly the most interesting part of the route

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