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1. Creek crossing on the trail up to Headlee Basin. 2. The view of the pinnacle from the trail up to Headlee Pass. We were a bit worried since it looked like the rock was still wet from the previous day's rainshowers, but fortunately the route on the crest of the pinnacle turned out to be mostly dry with just a few short wet sections. 3. Looking ahead at the easy traverse to the base of the pinnacle. We left the trail at the end of the last major switchback before the trail began to head up to Headlee Pass. 4. Sam starting up Pitch 1 (10a). The start was a little wet but the rest was dry. And fun! 5. Looking up the steep juggy 10a climbing at the start of Pitch 1. 6. Pitch 2 (5.9) continues up the featured rock on the crest. 7. Sam staring up Pitch 3 (5.9). 8. Pitch 4 (10a). 9. The 5.10a dihedral of Pitch 5. 10. Looking down while leading the airy arete of Pitch 6 (10a). Fantastic exposure on this pitch. 11. Sam starting up Pitch 7 (5.8), which takes you to the top. 12. A bolt on the route. The route is fully bolted, so you can leave the cams at home. A long fall on this kind of ledgy terrain would not be pleasant, so we appreciated the nice density of bolts on the route. The bolts were comfortably spaced and nowhere felt dangerously runnout. As the photo shows, the metamrphosed sandstone rock on the route is grippy. 13. Sam on the mile-high summit of the pinnacle. The true summit of Morning Star Peak behind. 14. We were the first party of the season and the 15th party ever to join the ranks of the Mile High Club. 15. Del Campo to the southeast. 16. Vesper to the west. There are some descent tracks coming down from the summit. We climbed Vesper's north side the next day and descended the east side seen in this photo. 17. Some rock to the east. Wonder if anyone has checked it out for route potential.... 18. The rap station on the summit. To descend, we rappelled the route with 8 single-rope (with a 70m rope) rappels. All the rappels used the bolted anchors at the end of each pitch, along with an intermediate rappel midway up Pitch 3. 19. Sam rappelling. 20. Another view of the buttress, taken from the trail on the hike out. 21. A view into Headlee Basin from the Sunrise Mine Road. Mile High Club ascends the buttress in profile on the left. |