Inti Watana is an excellent face-and-crack climb on Aeolian Wall, high on Mt. Wilson. Although most pitches are bolted, it’s not a sport climb—bring a single rack to supplement the bolts and be prepared for some minor mandatory runouts.
I first climbed
Inti Watana in
2018 with Danny Urioste. The next evening we joined the family for dinner—of course Jorge was curious how we liked it, given it was his FA back in 1997. A memorable day all around.
I was back in Red Rocks with my friend Sean, who hadn’t climbed
Inti Watana, so I was happy to return for another lap. It was a cooler day with winds coming from the west, and we figured
Inti Watana would be a good choice, with Mt. Wilson blocking the wind and the route getting morning sun.
We climbed in a fix-and-follow style, which worked well for this type of route. Bringing a single 80m rope made the rappels straightforward and kept things efficient. Sean led the first half of the route, and I took the second. The crux was definitely on Pitch 2—cold fingers didn’t help, but both Sean and I managed to figure it out (Sean on lead). The rest was enjoyable 5.9-ish face climbing, with occasional cracks adding variety. No falls/hangs/takes by either of us.
With an 80m rope, any pair of pitches can be linked, and we combined a few as noted in the pitch-by-pitch breakdown below.
We climbed the 12-pitch route in 3 hours and 49 minutes—about 19 minutes per pitch (3.14 pitches per hour). A solid pace.
Inti Watana can be linked with the upper pitches of Resolution Arête, but with high winds and plans to climb again the next day, we opted to rappel the route with our single 80m. The descent went quickly overall, though we did have to reclimb Pitch 7 after the rope snagged on a flake.
What a fun day.
This page includes a route overlay, time stats, and pitch-by-pitch photos.
