Just Missed the Cleavage

Most pitches are 5.7-5.8. There are only a couple 5.9 places during the climb.

This route follows the general line of DeAngelo/ Duncan Route (aka Double D) but has significant amounts of different terrain; hence I decided to add it as a new route. In general, wherever possible, stay in the chimney/wide crack. There was only 2 true face climbing pitches on this climb for us.

From the V formed in the middle of Mt. Wilson, go up beautiful wide cracks for three pitches till reaching a ledge on the right side of the crack. [The start of pitch 1 is the same as DeAngelo Duncan but that diverges to the left]

Top out on a pillar via face climbing right of the ledge, navigate back and left on the pillar to a wide chimney. (3 pitches)

Climb the chimney (runout) to a 3rd/4th class brushy ledge. (1 pitch) [The top of this pitch is Pitch 9 on DeAngelo Duncan as far as I can tell]

Follow the ledge back to the base of the continuation of the chimney. (1 pitch)

Climb the chimney to a ledge, continue up the chimney to another ledge, then follow the narrowing squeeze chimney to a ledge. (3 pitches) [This exits from DeAngelo Duncan part way through pitch 11]

When the chimney looks intimidatingly hard due to becoming a water groove, exit right to easier terrain. Follow ledgy 5.8 crack and face climbing up with belays at trees. (2 pitches)

From the last tree belay, follow the natural funnel out right on 3rd class terrain for 2 pitches.

Climb a chimney in the back of a gully for a pitch to the top of Mt. Wilson. There is a prominent tree in the front of the gully.

This is adventure climbing at its best! It presents a long fairly moderate route to the top of Mt. Wilson. When in doubt, follow the line of least resistance towards the top, route finding skills will be needed. The bottom three pitches are really fun wide cracks/squeezes that don't require true offwidthing.

See the prominent V notch in the center of Wilson. That wide crack visible from afar is a brushy entrance covered cave at ground level. There is a splitter wide crack to the right of the cave, then another ~20 feet right is another crack starting by a boulder. Start in this crack. The start is just before you encounter a lot of brush when moving towards the cave.

Descend to climber's left to First Creek.

Approach: 2.5 hours Descent: 3 hours

Single rack in small sizes, doubles #2 through #6 c4.