The Road North (to Orgasmo Slab)

A fine route; IMO of higher quality (and far better protected !) than October Sundae. The final pitch, the "Orgasmo Slab", is one of the finest friction pitches in the Northeast. (IMO even better than the friction pitch of Sliding Board on Whitehorse.) It was led in fine style by Dustin Cormier who climbed the pitch with only the minimal natural gear. The three 3/8-inch bolts were placed by the FA party later. ( see Comment) Most of the climbing on the route is 5.3 to 5.6, well below the grade of 5.8 given to the last pitch by the Cormiers. I would never argue with a Paul Cormier grade, and hence have left the 5.8 grade in the header for the route.  In any event, all of us felt this G/PG-13 protected pitch was not technically more difficult (and way less psychologically difficult) than the run out, "5.7" P1 of October Sundae, and way easier than Paul's "5.7" "Ground Control" on Mt Willard.The climb could have been named "Three White Slabs" as it climbs over white slabs on P2, P4 and P5.P1- START on the grey slab 100 ft right of Oct. Sundae, and about 50 ft right of the more dirty start to "Ingy's". Climb the slab. (5.3-5.4) Do not stop on the tree ledge, but continue up and left-ish about 60 ft further to a dbl bolt anchor (new, 2017?) about 15-20 ft below a small overlap. 180-200ft (60m) 5.3-5.4

 P2- Up and over the small overlap (or, easier, step around to the left) then up the grey-white rock on an 11 o'clock diagonal left, keeping left of the trees on your right, for about 120 ft to a clean, white slab (#1) with a crack (good pro) on its right side. Up this slab [5.6-5.7?] (small wire nut, or tiny TCU useful for flake) and at its top step left and up the dark pegmatite rock to a dbl bolt anchor (orange cord in 2017). 200 ft (60m) 5.6-5.7

  P3- Up on a 1 o'clock diagonal right (staying below, and right of, the jutting block OH directly above the belay) to an area of low-angle orange rock.  Up this taking the path of least resistance to a bolt on a bulge. Up this 15-20 ft to a dbl bolt anchor. 200 ft 60m 5.5-5.6  The belay is about 30ft left of the prominent huge inside-corner that runs vertically up the cliff. About ½ way up this corner are 2 smaller corners; the belay is level with these. The first time I climbed this route, I broke off what I though was a great flake-handhold climbing left of the bolt at the bulge, thus initiating what was only my 5th totally unexpected fall in 50+ years of climbing, but the rock is generally solid.

 P4- Up the easy pegmatite rock directly above the belay to "white slab #2". Cross this on a left-diagonal, passing 2 bolts, to reach a stance at an overlap with a pine tree. [Optional belay here, highly recommended for those climbing on a 60m rope] Over the overlap [via the tree, easy...via rock-only, not so easy!] and continue up and left on slab (or thrash up the "forest" as per the FA) to a dbl bolt anchor. 210-215 ft (62-63m) 5.6

 P5- The "Orgasmo Slab" pitch. There it is...climb it ! 130-140 ft, 5.7-5.8, 3 bolts plus gear.   Dbl-bolt, rap ring anchor on the grey pegmatite "headwall" about 10 ft below the trees.DESCENT - 3 Options: 1) In the write-up in NEClimbs.com the FA party indicated they walked left through the trees "25 ft" (it's more like 100ft) to the top anchors of Oct. Sundae and rapped that route with double 60m ropes.  All anchors on Oct. Sundae are set for rapping, while those lower on Road North are NOT, although the top anchor and the anchor at the base of “orgasmo slab” do have rings (top) or quick links (base of "orgasmo slab"). 2) It is also possible to rap with double 60m ropes in the following: 1) Down the Orgasmo slab to its anchors (135-140 ft), 2) a long (and a bit messy) diagonal rappel to get to October Sundae's rap station (the top of Oct Sunday's 3rd rap) 3) the long Rap over the Overhang, 4) the rap to the top of Oct Sun.'s P1, 5) the rap down to the  base.3) If the anchors remain, the following utilizes newer hardware, and goes through fewer bushes. It follows the red line on the photo "Rap Lines on the Main Slab" : 1) From the top of Orgasmo slab, rap to the 2nd-last anchor on Alpine Experience  110 +/-ft (single 70m OK )2) Rap to the 3rd-last anchor of AE  110 +/-ft (single 70m OK ) 3) A diagonal rap (but still less than rapping from the anchor at the base of Orgasmo) to the October Sundae anchor at the end Oct Sundae's P4 (the anchor 25-30 ft left of Ingy's quartz dike)   110 +/-ft . (single 70m OK ) Then 3 double rope raps down Oct Sundae.  

The Start is about 100-150 ft right of where the approach trail ends at the base of October Sundae. It is right of the starting slab of "Igy's".

Low-Angle Slab Raps - While there are other ways to avoid the cluster-f--k of snarls associated with low-angle raps (most notably by stacking the ropes over the rap ropes directly above the rappeller) I usually use the following technique: Set up the rap, then about a foot below the knot joining the two ropes (or the 1/2 way mark of a single rope) take a bite (loop) of whichever is the thicker rope and tie a figure-8. Attach this to the rap anchor with a locking biner (or 2). Then climber#1 raps single strand on this rope, with the second rope attached to his/her harness. This 2nd rope is fed out by the 2nd climber as climber #1 raps (and can also, of course, be used as a belay for climber#1). When climber #1 reaches the next rap station climber #2 unclips the fig-8 and unties it; the two ropes are now "set" to rap. Somehow, one rope seems to snarl about 1/4 that of two ropes. You might want to practice this technique in a safe environment before using it on a big cliff. As always, "be safe out there" and: 1) Put your full weight on the single-strand before you unclip from the anchor, be sure everything is set correctly. 2) As always, knot the end of the rope(s) and use a back-up (with a single-strand you may want to increase the loops in your prussic knot). IMO it seems easier to tie a "stopper" knot below your rap-device with a single-strand than with double strand, if you need 2 hands to clear a snarl. 3) Using 2 locking biners with your Tube-or-ATC-type-device increases the friction on a single-rope rap.

Anchors are now dbl bolted. 70m rope very useful, especially for P4 but that pitch is easily split. Std rack, doubles (or nuts) in the mid-range, and draws for the bolts. ["Std Rack= up to #2, Gold, Camalot-sized- no need for a #3]

Over-the-shoulder length slings are very useful for this route which tends to zig-zag in its quest for the easiest line.