No Country for Old Men

No Country for Old Men is a great route with a little bit of everything; great rock, crap rock, super fun easy pitches, scary hard pitches, secure hard pitches, and everything in between. Between dodging poison ivy in the Prisoner of Your Hairdo gully, busting some runout 5.10 climbing, and raining gravel down on my partner whilst climbing 11- terrain, this was a big day and quite an adventure.

Pitches 1, 2, 12, 13, and 14 are shared with

Atlantis

. Pitches 7 & 8 and 13 & 14 are easily linked, and are described as such.

P1: Head up easy, unprotected black rock, continuing past a pillar with flakes stacked atop it and through a bulge (5.9) above. Continue up more easy rock to a stance at a thin flake. 5.9, 55m.

P2: Climb the flake through a peg band and into a right-facing corner above. Exit the corner by following a hand and finger crack that leads to a ledge with blocks. The next pitch starts up and to your left; belay where convenient. 5.9, 50m.

P3: Climb the face and funky looking right-facing flake above the stacked blocks. There's gear to be had, but blowing these moves (10-) would land you on the ledge. Continue up slightly runout face climbing through a crux (11-) protected by two bolts. Traverse left after the second bolt into a right-facing corner which is followed to a ledge with two bolts. 5.11- R, 45m.

P4: Move left off the belay into a right-facing corner; climb this to its top and exit left. You're aiming up and right toward an open book that leads to a fixed (three nuts) belay. Follow corners to the left, be sure to sling your gear and head right when the going gets bushy; a sloping ledge allows easy passage from these corners into the open book. 5.9, 50m.

P5: Move right into a clean right-facing dihedral through a section of terrific 5.7 fingers and hands. Surmount ledges and a pillar with some tat on the way to a belay at the base of the Red Dihedral. 5.7, 55m.

P6: Head up the dihedral, passing a spot of 5.10 moving through a roof. Continue up as the crack in the corner closes and forces you into a mantle (10- R) to exit the dihedral. 5.10 R, 30m.

P7 & 8: Climb rightward off the belay to a bolt and then launch into a committing sequence to gain the crux finger crack (5.11). Follow the crack through lower-angle terrain, reaching an optional belay beneath a funky cavity. Two options for continuing: 1) Follow the topo, blasting out the cavity through a junky-looking crack (5.11)

or

2. pass the cavity on it's left over enjoyable 5.8ish flakes. Either way, continue to the top of a pillar of dark rock, and climb a peg corner to a decent ledge with a bolt. 5.11, two 30+m pitches, one 65m pitch.

P9: "A hard rain's, a-gonna fall." Climb up the slightly rotten corner off the ledge, traversing right beneath an overlap to a "crack" in a vertical pegmatite band. Move daintily up the disintegrating crack, and, before it arcs right, traverse along a down- & rightward trending ramp of solid rock to a bolt and piton belay. 5.11-, 30m.

P10: Climb carefully up and right off the belay through slightly runout moves protected by a lone bolt. Continue through easier face climbing to a decent ledge of solid rock amidst a good deal of peg. 5.10+ R, 30m.

P11: Wander up and right through the pegmatite to a clean-looking, obtuse left-facing corner, then head back up and left through dark rock to belay at a big ledge. Sling the shit out of whatever gear you manage to get on this pitch. 5.10-, 30++m.

Gain the scrubby meadow above the ledge and head right for about 50 meters to a point beneath a v-groove capped by a pink roof and a pillar far above.

P12: Back on

Atlantis

. Climb the face up to the V-groove and exit it to the left, gaining a crack that arcs up and right, passing a crux section (5.11) protected by one bolt. Climb 10ish terrain after the bolt and squirm up the left side of a pillar above to a belay seat beneath a small roof. 5.11, 40m.

P13 & 14: Pass the roof on it's left (5.10), continuing up easier cracks to a large ledge with boulders (optional belay here). Head up through a cave/roof deal (5.10-) and slots and cracks above to gain the Narrows Overlook. Two 5.10, 30+m pitches or one 65m, 5.10 pitch.

Park at The Narrows Overlook trail, and hike back toward the ranger station to descend the Prisoner of Your Hairdo Gully. Directions detailed under the description for Atlantis; this can be a tricky gully to find; we descended one early and made it to NCOM without too much hassle.

Head left down the gully, making ninja-moves over and through poison ivy to gain the base of the wall; follow this left to a little grassy area beneath a section of low-angle black rock. Look up, take in the big-ass wall above, and get moving.

A sizable rack.

Doubles from #00 Metolius through #3 Camalot will get used, triples from #0 through #2 Metolius optional. Some pitches take a ton of gear, and others take very little. Same goes for extendo-draws, we used 14. Bring nuts, as well; offsets micros mitigate some of the runout on the third pitch face climbing.