Lost Hole

This is a spicy backcountry adventure, with a somewhat worrisome amount of loose rock and wedged blocks. Described by Hill (1993:152-153) as a 5.7, but that rating would probably be considered a sandbag these days. We climbed it according to his pitch breakdown, but obviously some could be combined with today's longer ropes. P1, climb a right-facing dihedral to a nice ledge at 95 feet. P2, trend right under some fun overhangs. Belay on a ledge at 95 feet (sorta manky rock, though), or continue another 15 feet to a semi-hanging belay at a fixed pin. P3, start up the broad open book that leads to the left, passing by some spooky wedged blocks. Stop at the base of the prominent left-leaning crack. 45 feet. P4, the money pitch, on excellent rock. Grunt, whine, and whimper up the sandbagged OW/squeeze chimney. Belay on a good ledge at 75 feet. Hill's photo of this pitch (1993:153) does not do justice to the true nature of this crack (it's more like 8-10-12 inches?). P5, straight up blocks through a hole in the summit overhang, behind a lodged chockstone. Belay from the summit (50 feet).

This climb is on the west face of Rat's Rock. Approach as described on the main page. The objective is the prominent left-leaning crack in the middle of the clean face just below the summit overhangs. The climb starts about 15 feet to the right of a nice little bivy cave at the base, directly below a notch in the summit skyline. (The hole on the last pitch is hard to pick out from the ground). Descend by walking off, as described on the main page.

We took 1 set of nuts and 1-1/2 set of cams from tiny C3 to #4 C4, and that felt fine for most of the route. However, not expecting the OW/squeeze, I neglected to bring the biggest cams (but I'm not even sure a #6 Friend would do any good, though). Protecting the OW with tiny gear (e.g., a #3 Zero & #00 C3) in little seams wasn't particularly reassuring to avoid a FF2 onto the anchor. Some Big Bros, or a Valley Giant, would take some of the bite out of this pitch. One fixed pin on the whole route; you need gear for all belays.