I have my sights set on the "LA Freeway", a 38(or so)-mile ridgeline traverse from Longs Peak to Arapaho Peaks. I've been scoping out various "crux" sections. One section I wanted to scope out was Pagoda. I had been to the summit of Pagoda four times already, including twice traversing over Pagoda (on the "Walk in the Park" Traverse and the "Estes Skyline High Route"). On these traverses, I had opted for the NW Face (5.4) rather than the West Ridge (5.7), in interest of taking the easier route to solo. But I didn't much enjoy this route (it was cold and unaesthetic) and I wasn't really psyched about downclimbing it on the east to west direction required on the LA Freeway. But then I caught wind of a route that sounded ideal for an east to west traverse of Pagoda: the West Ridge Bypass.

The West Ridge Bypass is an improbable but easy way of getting from the Chief's Head-Pagoda col to the summit of Pagoda, or vice versa. It follows a ledge system across the southwest face of Pagoda, and then zig-zags onto another ledge and climbs through a short crux corner (easy 5th) before a scramble to the top.

Since I didn't want to hasstle with timed entry and crowds, and also needing to get some work done that afternoon, I started early and was done by midday. My car-to-car time was 7.5 hours (4:20 up, 10 min on summit, 3 hours down). My overall elevation gain was close to 5000 feet. A nice bit of productive morning exercise!

The following page gives a route overlay of the West Ridge Bypass and photos from the morning climb. Enjoy!