Atlantis

Atlantis seems to be the talk of the town in the Black these days, for good reasons: moderate grade, with well-protected cruxes, great belay ledges, long route, not too much scary, loose and runout climbing. That being said, it is The Black, game on, be prepared for some loose, scary, and run out climbing, just not at the hardest grades on the route. Also be prepared for a long day with lots of pitches. The topo is plenty adequate, but I will provide some descriptions-pitch lengths are on the topo. My partner and I did a lot of 'sub par' alpine style belays-one or two pieces, belaying off your harness - you are not always building a huge anchor and belaying off of it.

P1. 5.9. Climb an easy crack up the right side of a pillar in a right-facing corner to its top. Look for the shitty, fixed, baby angle (loose) which is more a trail marker. Good gear near by, and face climb (a little run) up and right over the bulge to a good belay ledge

P2. 5.9. Climb the beautiful flake up to a right-facing corner, to a massive ledge-belay on the top left side of the corner for a better start to the next pitch.

P3. 5.11. Follow the topo. It is a fun pitch, the crux is at the bolt. There is a one bolt belay.

P4. 5.10+. Go up a right-facing feature right off the belay to under a roof, belay at right edge of the roof.

P5. 5.10-. This is a fun pitch with an annoying belay in the chimney with some flaky rock.

P6. 5.7. This would be the easiest pitch to get lost on, I did. Continue up the chimney and ramp til its end. Traverse right, then go up a right-facing feature for about 5 meters. At this point, you are probably 25-30m out from the belay. You will look up to some broken features in the 'black grotto' and even some fixed tat hanging off the roof-this is NOT the way. Look right and down and you will see a massive, hanging, left-facing corner and roof - step over the corner to get on the ramp that would be the top of this feature. Belay at the right side of this ramp.

P7. 5.10. This is a great pitch, good rock. There is lots of up and downclimbing on the start on good face holds. A fixed pin you climb up to will blaze the way a little bit as you work your way to some right-facing features. Keep climbing out of sight of your belayer till you get to a good ledge belay with 2 fixed pins.

P8. 5.11-. The crux is off the belay protected by a bolt. Pull through some steep overlaps, and then climb easily to another massive ledge.

P9. 5.9. Follow topo, belay on block-tight little belay for 2 people-finger-size pieces and nuts for belay.

P10. 5.11-. This is another fun pitch off by yourself as you can't see your belayer. Belay on a small ledge at the top of the groove-corner feature. I think there was a fixed pin.

P11. 5.8 (R?). The pitches get short for a bit here. This is a peg pitch with a bolt - wow that's nice. It is easy climbing on good rock, I don't know if it's really R, but don't fall. Get on to another massive ramp and go up and left on 4th class til you see the next pitch with its bolt.

P12. 5.10. This is a short crux protected by the bolt, don't blow it after that. There is another small ledge belay.

P13. 5.10. It has a short crux after some peg wandering - it's a little loose in the peg, but the hard climbing is on good rock, with a fixed pin-follow the topo. Go up off the belay, then do a straight left traverse into the spot marked 'awkward'.

The belay is on the huge ledge feature with a tower-you could theoretically unrope here and bushwhack off the route, as per the Lost City escape, but its easier to climb to the top. Either way, take the rope off walk up to the prow of the headwall about 200' away.

P14. 5.11. Climb some groove and face features unprotected and easy for the first 20' to the obvious, right-facing corner til you get to the bolt. Clip it, climb the crux, and use face holds to climb the sides of the OW, because who wants to climb an OW anyway? Belay on the pedestal.

P15. 5.10. There is a short crux off the belay to easy crack climbing to large, broken ledge with boulders.

P16. 5.10. Climb through a few awkward roofs until you get to the narrows overlook. Crack a beer open, and belay your partner up.

Prisoner of your Hairdo Gully as for

Lost Cities

. Park at the narrows overlook, walk back down the road toward the ranger station about 5-10 minutes, until you see a small rock stood up like a tombstone on the side of the road. Bushwhack perpendicular off the road until you get to the gully edge and scramble down the first gully you encounter. This gully flash flooded probably last fall, and has lots of fresh debris and broken trees in it. We did one short rap off a chock stone-you could down climb around it. Go all the way to the river passing the start of

Lost Cities

, and then trek up river for just a few minutes until you see the starting pitch-there is a cairn under the grass where the root starts. Solo up the easy, fifth class to the base of the route.

Double set to #3 Camalot, one new #4 Camalot. Lots of long runners. We brought 10 runner, 2 draws, one 3 and one 4. Lots of belays use hand-size pieces, as per topo.