Rhombohedral

If you like chimneys and choss, then this is the route for you. There is plentiful loose rock on the first pitch after the wide section, but with careful selection, one can find some relatively solid rock and even some good gear. The second and third pitches have only a little loose rock but not enough to bother the seasoned Eldo climber. Anyway, the pitches:

P1. Scramble up to a ledge and enter the chimney with a flake in it. I thought the crux was getting established in this chimney. Continue up to a large tree straight above. Our path of least choss took us a bit left at times. Make a belay on the large ledge, 5.8+, 120 feet. (Note that this puts you at the base of

Muscle and Hate

.=)

P2. Move the belay about forty feet to the left. Be careful not to dislodge the small, hanging scree field as you walk over to the new belay spot. You'll see a low-angle slab; I made a belay on its left side, but build an anchor wherever you can find gear. Now climb the slab towards a corner with a large tree at the top with rappel slings. Continue past the tree and go up and right to the base of a wide chimney, 5.4, 100 feet.

P3. The money pitch. Climb the chimney to the top and exit under a natural arch composed of teetering blocks, 5.8, 70 feet.

For those not well-versed in the art and science of wide-crack and chimney climbing (like me), you may want to take some big gear to feel more comfortable. I used a #5 and #6 Camalot on the first and third pitches.

This route starts just to the left of

Practice Climb 101

. It can be identified by a steep chimney that widens after thirty feet to a chossy looking gully. Although there are a variety of trees in the area with slings to facilitate the descent, we opted to scramble to the climber's left up to the

Handcracker Direct

walk-off and used that to get back to the trail. It's a very quick way to get to the ground from that area.

Standard Eldo rack plus some wide gear.