"The Russian Arête, you know, like Russian roulette." (Quote by Layton Kor taken from Black Canyon Rock Climbs by Robbie Williams.)

Fortunately, half a century of ascents have cleaned up this line nicely, making Russian Arête one of the better 5.9 multipitch climbs in Colorado. The route follows a continuous crack system up the arête, involving 8 rope-stretching pitches of 5.9 jamming and stemming, mostly quality rock, awesome exposure, great belay ledges, and wonderful views. This route has an alpine feel, being 1800 feet or so with a 4th class scramble to the start of the first pitch and an exposed 600-800 foot scramble to the rim from the top of the last pitch.

October 2019: Tom and I climbed this on the first day of an October weekend in the Black. Drive to Black Friday night + Russian Arête Saturday + Checkerboard Wall Sunday + drive back to Boulder Sunday night. A great way to spend a fall weekend! The route has a reputation of being a really long day, so Tom and I were pleasantly surprised when we topped out on the rim shortly before 3pm, exactly 5.5 hours after we started up Pitch 1. This route was one of my favorites in the Black so far.

May 2022: Nate and I had originally planned to climb Ghost Dancer, but after climbing the first pitch and part of the second pitch, we decided the runout had a bit too high of a consequence so we rappelled back to the base. Rather than the walk of shame back up SOB Gully, we climbed Russian Arête next door, a route Nate had never climbed. We lacked a topo, but I remembered enough of the route from my 2019 ascent, plus it is reasonably easy to follow the route. Although Nate was a bit nonplussed by the route, I was reminded of how much I enjoy the athletic crack and corner climbing, position, and the fact that the climb takes you from river to rim. Perhaps it is my 13+ years of climbing choss in the North Cascades that makes a route like this seem pretty awesome.