A New Route in the Stuart Range - The Valkyrie

"Hey Scott, do you want to just try and climb a new route?"

"Um yeah, that's fine." 

And so that's what we did.

Scott goes up into the overhanging corner on P1

As I plumbed the foggy depths of my memory for the details on the crux pitches and long traverse sections on the local classic "Acid Baby", I realized that I couldn't reliable provide much information for the route that we had planned. Rather than get off route on a climb I'd done before, I thought it made more sense to just be off-route the whole time, so I suggested to my friends Graham and Scott that we try to establish a new route on the same wall, aiming for a long corner I'd noticed several years before.

Low on P2

Finishing the long corner on p2

Face climbing atop p2

Scott lead the first 2 pitches, I took the middle block, and Graham got us to the summit, joining Acid Baby on the last pitch. Every pitch was 5.10 and the rock was generally stellar. Along with the stemming corners and splitters, the route featured a an amazing face of knobs and blobs, overhanging just a touch and with enough gear to make it exciting but not really dangerous. The climb ends atop some rampart of Enchantment Peak, but I'm not sure what the tower is called. It may be the Spinless Prow.

The sneaky traverse to begin p3

Graham makes his way up to the overhung knobs

Getting into some wild face climbing

As we made our way back down to the trailhead, I remarked to my friends how lucky I am to live somewhere that lets me climb 1000' of solid granite, onsight, no bolts, and amid truly world-class alpine scenery, yet still be easily back home for dinner with my wife in the evening.

The topout (shared w/Acid Baby)

Despite trying to find a soltsice-themed name, we settled on "The Valkyrie" in deference to the area's Norse naming convention. (Aasgard Pass, Lake Brunhilde, Dragontail, Lady Godiva)

It should be nice to have another mid-grade climb in the area, as there are very few alpine rock routes between 5.9 and 5.11+.