Way Of The Ancients

This is a long grade III logistically with lots of easier climbing in an amazing setting with beautiful views. If you are familiar with the routes under the chock stone in the chillumstone gully then you are aware of their committing factors due to the rappelling to reach the start of the routes and the difficult nature of assistance as well as retreat. There’s actually a chuckle worthy little story behind this route. Maybe Paul Ross will chime in with it.

Pitch 1: start on the left hand side of the wall. Traverse out left over the giant chockstone into an exposed position with the river below you. Amble up the cracks to a large, right-facing corner. Climb this till its end, then climb right across slab under roof to a corner, and pull the bulge on the right. Then climb up into crack system, and traverse right across juggy flakes to belay under a right-facing roof/corner in some peg below a shallow dihedral.

Pitch 2: climb directly up corner, exit left when it fades, and traverse on small sloping rail. Get some gear in, do an easy boulder problem, and climb up face to belay at a giant, detached, car-sized flake on nuts.

Pitch 3: climb out right, and pull over a bulge keeping it together until gear is acquired. I put a number 3 in some peg, and it might slow you down before it blows. Climb an easy groove to another steep, little crack which I climbed on the right in the middle of the feature putting you on a ledge where you can build a belay on the left of a dirty, left-facing corner behind a small solid flake. This is where we changed route from the original path of Way Of The Ancients, as they went out left in this pitch but eventually had to climb a 180’ traversing hand crack back which sounded less-than-ideal, and climbing in this fashion allows you to slab the super fun, runout 5.6 pitch on perfect pegmatite.

Pitch 4: climb up a dirty, left-facing corner and then onto the easy but super fun, runout, pegmatite slab. This is well worth the detour from the original pitch in my opinion. We belayed on the left side of ledge under a roof.

Pitch 5: from the belay, move out right and climb the left angling crack that ends too soon. Then climb dirt cracks to a large ledge moving the belay as far right as possible.

Pitch 6: climb up the easy chimney system out right to the top of the pinnacle. Traverse the ridge of formation with simul-climbing till you are at the notch between the fin and the next wall, and downclimb 4th Class into a notch.

Pitch 7: climb the face to the fun, vertical, hand crack on a bulge. Mantel up onto good holds, and climb slab above right-angling crack till on top of a large ledge.

Pitch 8: scramble into alcove on the right, and climb the left-angling layback finger crack till you are under the giant, orange, triangular roof. Turn the roof on the right, and belay on right hand side of ledge under an obvious, bushy crack.

Pitch 9: scramble up a vegetated corner to a short, little, boulder problem taking you into a corner and onto the ridge line above. Coil your ropes, and walk ridge line till the final wall on the formation.

Pitch 10: either climb the wide crack or go around right side of ledge, and climb quartz steps to gain a crack around the corner. Once again coil your ropes, and walk on the right side of an island until a gully is reached. Climb down this gully, and look across notch to the next gully locating the easy corner and chimney system. Downclimb exposed 4th Class to the base of corner system.

Pitch 11: climb up the easy corner system to the top of the final island, and coil your ropes. Walk across the top of this island, and do one more exposed 4th Class downclimb into a gully. Cut across hillside, and do a short jaunt upwards to rim proper.

Go down the Chillumstone Gully. I recommend rapping on your own rope, as the current fixed rope has 3 or 4 core shots to pass and is stiff as rebar. After the rap, traverse through the landslide wash to reach the big ledge. Go to the far left end of the ledge where it drops off, and the climb starts here.

A full rack of camming units 00-4 and nuts/tricams.