dberdinka Posted September 25, 2015 Posted September 25, 2015 Trip: Vesper Peak - True Grit II 5.8 - another new route Date: 9/25/2015 Trip Report: After intermittent work over the last two seasons I finished up another new route on the North Face of Vesper Peak. Once again extensive cleaning revealed a sustained moderate line in an outstanding position. The highlight of the climb is a long finger crack up the middle of the headwall followed by positive face climbing to a great belay perch. Some of the climbing is only so-so but overall I was pretty happy with the end result. Belays are all bolted and protection is about 50/50 bolts and gear. Bring a rack to a #2 Camalot including small-to-large stoppers and some extra finger to off-finger cams. Seasons starting to get a bit long in the tooth up there but it should be doable for a bit longer if you don't mind the chill and give it a day or two to dry out after rain. Pitch Description P1 Easy climbing on clean granite. Step left to a bolted belay below an obvious narrow chimney. 5.4 ~200' P2 Up a groove to the squeeze chimney then a difficult move onto a short bolted slab. The chimney can be avoided by moving right into a short corner (watch for loose blocks at it's top) 5.8 100' P3 A nice pitch. Slab, then a shallow corner, pull over a small overhang and follow jigsaw rock to a tiny belay ledge. 5.7 100' P4 Climb the long sustained splitter with a crux step across where the crack disappears briefly. Fun juggy climbing leads to a belay at the crest of the headwall. 5.8 120' P5 A short scruffy pitch of easy face and slab climbing leads to the top of the face. 5.6 (not 5.8 like in the image below!) 80' Click for Larger Image Looking down the headwall at the intermittent finger cracks Climbers on Pitch 4 of the Ragged Edge Gear Notes: Bring a rack to a #2 Camalot including small-to-large stoppers and some extra finger to off-finger cams. Approach Notes: See Ragged Edge TR Quote
Apdavids Posted September 25, 2015 Posted September 25, 2015 Sweet Line! Look forward to hopping on it. Quote
Devin27 Posted September 25, 2015 Posted September 25, 2015 This is fantastic. Loved the Ragged Edge, cant wait to try this one. Thank you Quote
Rad Posted September 27, 2015 Posted September 27, 2015 How did you get the route overlay shot? Friend w drone? Google earth? telephoto from Sperry? Quote
JasonG Posted September 28, 2015 Posted September 28, 2015 My guess is the little bump on the ridge between Sperry and Vesper, but Darin will set me straight. Quote
dberdinka Posted September 29, 2015 Author Posted September 29, 2015 Jason of course is correct. Such nice fall weather right now. I'd be up there again working on route three if I hadn't grievously sprained my ankle last week stumbling out that god forsaken trail with a 50 lb pack. Love that area. Quote
NDrake Posted June 27, 2016 Posted June 27, 2016 We did the route yesterday. Took a loose chossy gully instead of the 1st pitch due to snow. Fun day out, thanks for all the hard work establishing this! Quote
Sidviscous Posted July 15, 2017 Posted July 15, 2017 We climbed this route 6/24/17. Firm snow on the approach ledges make it a little more intense... I'm pretty sure the rope would have caught on a tree on the edge though, right? I really enjoyed this route. It isn't quite as good as Ragged Edge, but the setting is so fantastic. Thanks Darin. BTW, I found the crux to be low on the 5.8 pitch in the finger crack- the step over seemed pretty easy to me. Quote
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