The Veil is a castle-shaped rock with a center wall and a turret-like buttress on either side. Wanderlust climbs into and through the crack and corner system between the main wall and the left-hand buttress.

Hike up to the Veil as described and get to the center of the main buttress. The bottom left side is very low angle and has a few left-angling cracks that lead up into a crack and corner system short slot that are steeper; this is the start of the route Wanderlust.

Pitch 1: Pick the most obvious left-leaning crack and move up and left in it into a slot/wide stem with two good cracks. This is the Pitch 1 crux, and it protects with great stoppers (5.6). This is just to the left of a dead tree, perhaps 60' off of the ground. You can climb down and behind the trunk then pull the rope up between the tree and the wall to avoid drag. Move up and left through a series of cracks and dihedrals into a hugh left-facing corner. Belay on gear in this corner, or continue, 130'.

Pitch 2: Climb the easy, left-facing corner (5.4) for 60' up to an overhang and then up and right through the crux overhang, (5.7) for 30' on chock-stones and jams to the summit. This crux protects well with cams or a spectra-sling around a pinch-off at the top of the crack.

Pitch 2 variation (AKA: Wunder-Lost): For more difficulty, take a few large cams to protect a final variant on the crux pitch. When you reach the final overhang, go up a few moves and then cut left on an overhanging, slanting offwidth, 5.9.

Arrange an awkward summit belay. After summiting, step up and left to look down the fabulous Veil Slab, or up and right to chack out the beautiful yellow headwall of Diamond Head (spectacular at sunset).

Walk off to the West (left) from the summit though a fern-gully to a notch at the edge of the wall down a gully and back to your gear. The walk off is a bit jumbled, but is among the easiest and fastest in Eldo, unless it has been snowing. No raps are needed.

Wanderlust

Left Turret

Silver Threads

Zabrina

This is a good "adventure" route in a secluded setting. The route was generally a shave runout, but only slightly runout at crux moves. Available protection was mostly good and the rock was mostly solid and clean. We both enjoyed the pitch, but found it slightly spicy.

Approach the Veil with an eye on the tower on its left side. Rack up at the bottom West Face of the north (left-most) climb. This route climbs the right side of the arete that goes up ~200+ feet from the ground to the top in a single pitch.

Climb: There is a small bulge just off the ground with a huge stone under it to stand up onto, establishing yourself into a short and shallow hand crack on the right. (Good pro 2-3") Make some moves up this (5.9?) to reach a stance, at the top of the crack and then place a 1" TCU (or 2 of them, for sanity's sake) in a short section of fingercrack just above this, and 7 meters off of the ground. Do the crux moves climbing the face and arete to go up to a small tree, perhaps 15 meters up, passing this and continuing just right of the arete. The crux 5.10 moves will be above the 1" pro a distance, but it should prevent a ground fall. The climbing difficulty will ease back to 5.9 then 5.8 at about the time a groundfall would seem possible. This will require focus. Continue up the right side of the arete on moderate (5.8) and moderately runout climbing, switching to the left just below a large ledge (5.9), to make a beeline for the second half of the arete which is set back from the edge (5.8). Although this sounds like an indirect line, you are actually heading directly towards the next bit of climbing on the right side of part II. Surmount this ledge and continue directly up, again on the right side of the main arete's second half, which is mostly easier (5.easy to 5.8) and pretty well protected for the crafty leader.

This route is most easily located by first finding bolts on the route Zambria.  The guidebooks do not reveal the position nor describe the route very accurately.

Go to the right hand side of the center wall, just left of the left-side "Turret" buttress of the Veil.  Find the crux bolt of Zambria, about 15' off of the ground.  It is in the shade and rusted and will not be immediately apparent. From the bolt, look some distance left (~25') to see a right-facing, hanging flake about 6' tall and 30' overhead.

Pitch 1, Option A: From down and left of that flake, climb up to a horizontal incut crack and place a few good cams or tricams and then climb up and right on chunky but solid holds to a stretch to a good bucket before reaching up and left to the hanging flake.  This is 5.9 at my height, and is a distance above the good gear that will make a ledge-fall possible.  If you are tall this might be as easy as 5.7.  Being short would make leading this exceptionally insecure.  From the flake climb up the slab (runout) to a ledge, and then right on the ledge to jugs and then up the face and back left to a belay tree.  There is no 'small, right facing dihedral with a small tree' as drawn/described in the book.  There is a flake with no tree, although this is where it is described in Rositer's topo.

Pitch 1, Option B: From the previously mentioned horizontal, step left (5.7 move) to a crack system at the corner with a few trees.  Climb up this on good holds with a few pieces of pro to get to the first ledge as previously mentioned in Option 4a.  Place a few good nuts overhead in the finger crack/seam at the left side of the ledge and then walk to the right on the ledge to gain jugs, which are climbed up and left to a belay tree.

Pitch 2:  From the belay tree, step up a few moves in the shallow left-facing corner behind the tree, which fades to nothing.  Step left, climbing on and protecting with cams in a series of large, solid pockets.  Step onto the slab above and go up the slab or dirty crack to another large belay tree.  At the top, the slab is pretty lichenous

From the belay tree climb/scramble left (West) to the notch of the wall at where you can get to the cliff's backside.  From there, walk off on the backside and back to your packs as described for Wanderlust.

No crowds here! Luckily, the monster approach hike is made up for by a great climb. Expect a few crusty bits of rock, some lichen here and there, and little sign of previous traffic. This must be how Redgarden Wall felt back around the mid sixties.  Start on the far right of the crag. The ground around here is covered in holes made by some rodents or something. Spooky, especially as it is so quiet, far from the Eldo crowds. I was half expecting a swarm of rats or  marmots to suddenly emerge.  The first pitch is apparent by the rusty old bolts (though these are not easy to spot) which are further right than I was expecting, in fact hard up against the gully to the right (You can avoid this slab on the right). Step backwards a ways to see the very obvious second pitch up above, a fine looking steep crack up the southwest prow. The first pitch is thin low-angle smearing. A litle scary, but if the bolts ever get replaced it will feel much safer.  This slab leads to a steeper face/scoop. Zigzag up this  awkwardly (Aliens in a horizontal) and up into an  obvious large left-facing easy dihedral. Romp up this and stem right past a bush to the big belay ledge on the  prow.  Pitch two tackles the crack looming overhead. This starts out way steep straight off the big ledge ("5.9+", strenuous gear placements, and obviously a bad place  to fall and twist an ankle), but soon gets easier. After a short stretch of real easy groove, the pitch starts to steepen up again and a long stretch of sustained 5.9 Eldo finessing up a cool and exposed crack/face system takes you to a welcome ledge. Belay here, and do a final short easy pitch to the summit. The descent is awkward, head down behind to a ledge system with a large tree, (this is awkward 3rd/4th class) then meander to the south down a steep gully to the base.

Description

Protection

Routes in The Veil