(Pitches as per Handren guide) | Photos: | Notes: |
APPROACH | | The approach took us 1 hour and 40 minutes, but could easily take longer if you get off route. See my route overlay. Basically, you scramble up White Rot Gully past where you cut off left for Resolution Arete, and then find a shaded narrow gully that runs along the base of Aeolian Wall. |
PITCH 1 (5.9+, 90') (~7 bolts, no gear) | | Cruxy face climbing right off the deck. It is entirely bolt protected, and well-bolted, as is the route in general. Jorge's original bolts have been replaced (the photo on the right shows an original bolt on the right, and new bolt on the left). The next day when I joined the Uriostes for dinner, I asked Jorge how he placed the original bolts, and I was impressed and rather astounded to hear how he had placed them on lead, holding onto a tiny crimper with one hand while holding a heavy drill and drilling the bolt with the other. I found this pitch hard enough to hold on with two hands and no drill! |
PITCH 2 (5.10c, 100') (~10 bolts, no gear but you can place a 0.5 cam if you want) |  | This is the crux pitch of the route, fully bolt protected, although a 0.5 cam is nice to have for extra protection near the crux. Danny led these first 2 pitches, and I was happy to follow. We swung leads after this. |
PITCH 3 (5.8, 130') (~12 bolts, no gear) |  | Pitch 3 is a fun bolted 5.8 jug fest. |
PITCH 4 (5.9, 140') (Gear + a few bolts) |  | Fun climbing on Pitch 4. The third photo shows the view over to Aeolian Wall Original Route (1800', 5.9, A3). |
PITCH 5 (5.7, 130') (All gear) | | Fun climbing on Pitch 5. |
PITCH 6 (5th, 130') (Small gear + a few bolts) | | Fun climbing on Pitch 6. Did I say fun? It's interesting that route descriptions don't give a rating for this pitch, but it felt like mostly 5.8/9 climbing, protected by a mix of small gear and a few difficult-to-spot bolts. |
PITCH 7 (5.9, 165') (All gear) |  | Pitch 7 was one of my favorite pitches on the route. No bolts on this pitch. |
PITCH 8 (5.9+, 130') (Gear + a few bolts) |  | Pitch 8 was fun too. The second photo shows a climber leading this pitch as we descended. There was one other party ahead of us (they continued on to the top via Resolution Arete) and one other party behind us. |
PITCH 9 (5.9, 50') (~5 bolts, no gear) (we linked with Pitch 10) | | Pitch 9 is short and fun. Begins with a juggy roof that ends up being easier than it looks. And fun. Did I say fun? |
PITCH 10 (5.9, 110') (~12 bolts, no gear) (can be linked with Pitch 9) |  | Pitch 10 looks steep and hard from below, but it ends up having positive varnished edges wherever you need them. And it is well-bolted. Awesome pitch. |
PITCH 11 (5.9, 60') (~5 bolts, no gear) (we linked easily with Pitch 12) |  | We linked Pitches 11 and 12 easily to bring us to the top of the route. Danny and I had been swinging leads up to this point, so this was technically my pitch, but I was happy to let him lead the harder face-climbing stuff. |
PITCH 12 (5.10c, 70') (~7 bolts + a few offset nuts to supplement) (we linked easily with Pitch 11) |  | Looking up Pitch 12. There is supposedly a 10c section on this pitch, but nothing felt too much past 5.9. Maybe 5.9+. Nice to have a soft rating on the last pitch. This pitch is fully bolted but a few nuts are nice to supplement the bolts. |
TOP OF ROUTE!
| | First photo: Looking up towards the continuation on Resolution Arete. Danny and I had originally planned on continuing to the top of Mt. Wilson, but had decided at the car that morning it would be more fun to climb Inti Watana with no packs, and get back early enough so I could join the Urisotes for dinner and climb something the following day. We never regretted our decision. Someday I want to come back and climb the Resolution Arete in its entirety. Second photo: You can see down the entire route from the top. Third photo: View of Red Rocks to the north. |
DESCENT (rappel route with 2 ropes) |  | To descend, rappel the route with 2 ropes. We did this in 1.5 hours and 8 rappels, as follows: Link Pitches 12-11 Link Pitches 10-9 Rap Pitches 8, 7, 6 individually Link Pitches 5-4 Link Pitches 3-2 Rap Pitch 1 on single rope On the hike out from the base of Inti Watana, you can avoid scrambling down White Rot Gully by scrambling down the gully to descender's right of White Rot Gully and making a single double-rope rappel (or 2 single-rope rappels) from the bottom of the gully. See my overlay for a visual. I'd definitely recommend this way as White Rot Gully would be no fun to scramble down. Last photo: Danny and I decided to call these "iron pimples" and someday put up a route that climbs this sort of rock called "Iron Pimples." |