Have been meaning to do FreeRide on Wallface for a while and finally got the right partner and the right weather!
We left the parking lot around 6am and were on the first pitch around 9am. The first pitch is the crux so it doesn't make for an easy start after 6 miles of hiking but with a bolt at your waist for the toughest move who cares! The next pitch went well then we were on the big alpine ledge beneath the enormous shield.
Here's the first shield pitch...
These next two pics make the wall look steeper than it is, is more like steep slab with great bolts. Some bolts are close together and a few spots are runout.
at the end of the shield...
Another pitch with a single crux gets you to Lunch Ledge which is a perfect place for a break. I think we hit it around noon. Another short hard move and some crumbly rock gets you to the base of the Endurance Corner the most aesthetic bit of the climbing...
Although it's called the Endurance pitch it has some great rests if you can stem but what makes it hard is that the climbing gets progressively harder and leaves the crux at the end just before you hit the anchors. I fell following this pitch when a flake broke. The rock is generally excellent on this route but there are still plenty of tenuous flakes.
I got the last pitch, the Perverse Traverse which takes you out right for a good distance with the full exposure of Wallface beneath your feet before 10 feet of upward climbing brings you to some tunneling in spruce.
At the top at the 1st rappel.
Rapping the shield...
We were back at our packs in Indian Pass around 4pm and had a wonderful hike back out. What a great route and kudos to the creators, they put in great anchors and chose a natural beautiful line that doesn't wander and takes you up faces, slab, cracks, corners and overhangs what else could you want?
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