"Opener, Can, Hand, Folding, Type I" is how the military describes what is often called, "the best Army invention ever."

Indeed, the line was named after the can opener, but was, in fact, inspired by the passing of a climbing mentor, partner, and my close friend, Michael Brown.  Like the can opener, Mike embodied many of its best traits--the P-38 is light, fast, compact and, perhaps, most importantly, cheap and reliable--all characteristics which serve to describe the alpinist he once was, and the philosophy he lived by.

The P-38 climbs the obvious, right-facing corner system at the far right margin of the recessed Gold Wall, just left of the prominent chimney that separates it from the South Summit Wall.

Climb the corner through a small roof, then belay at a stance (.10-).  Pull the bulge above the belay, then follow a blocky "staircase" up and left past a pin and two bolts and into the dihedral above to a belay on a small ledge (.9+).  Above the ledge, delicately change corners onto the face, into another right facing corner.  Pull the bulge to a ledge, then climb the white slab above past a bolt then lieback a splitter corner to a stem box, then a belay (.10+).

P-38

Left Thumb

Free Mexican Air Force

Inner Vision

Be Here Now

Heart of Gold

Da Black and Gold

Right Thumb

The Great Escape

Taivallista

Gold Wall

The Gardner's Delight

Center Thumb

Expanding Man

This route begins on the brown patina face just downhill from the Gold Wall gully.  Originally established in two shorter pitches, the lower half of the route features stellar, 5.9 face and crack climbing and can be toproped from an intermediate stance with a bolt--the bolt can be backed up using finger to hand-sized gear...

The upper half, however, is the business:  if climbing the line as a long, single pitch, continue past the bolt where you'll encounter tenuous stemming above tricky, thin gear.  Routefind your way to an alcove beneath a small roof.  Pull the roof to gain the exposed, parallel cracks above, then finish on patina holds, ala the City of Rocks, to a comfortable ledge along the ridge.  Belay takes 1" to 2.5".  A large, slung block--to the climber's right--provides an escape; a double-rope rappel reaches the base.

This route follows the left side of the rectangular formation extending out from the south summit wall.  Ascend the dihedral, using a combination of crack, layback, and face climbing to reach the top of the formation, then follow the face east of the formation to the summit.  The first pitch is quite short, and you can actually combine the first two pitches using a 60m rope.  If you opt for this, when you come to the selection of slings, etc., that indicate the first belay on a small ledge, continue on until you reach the large sandy ledge.  Set up a trad belay here (be sure to use a cordalette!) with some dispersed protection in the small seams and cracks.  The second pitch is quite fun, and has some runout face climbing near the top.  As you reach the top of the "thumb" formation, climb out onto the top of the actual formation to reach a two-bolt belay.  From this belay, traverse across a good ledge (poor pro) to the flake system north of the "thumb" formation.  Place your pro and then start ascending these flakes and cracks to the top of the south summit.  This is a LONG pitch, and I almost ran out of rope with my 60m rope.  This pitch is also predominantly large pro.  From the top, head south down the slope towards the ramp that leads to Question Mark Wall for the descent.  Rap from the obvious rap station at the pine trees.  Overall, this route is worth doing if you're in the Cirque, and have already done the other classics, or if you want a good route on the "thumb" with a more moderate rating.  Don't come all the way up here just for this route though.  The best "Thumb" route is Center Thumb (albeit far more exposed, and a bit more difficult), and there are a number of far better climbs on the North Summit and Question Mark Wall.

Another great route that could use some traffic.  It's bit heady due to the machine bolts protecting the crux first pitch.  I have no idea how bomber they are.  We traversed right to start the second pitch to gain a crack system.  I think the original route may have stayed on the arete for this pitch, but it looks like the dirtier and more difficult option.  Just another excuse to do it again, I guess.  The first pitch is pretty clean as are the second and third with the exception of some veg in the cracks.  Typically, the top of last pitch is a little rotten, but not very scary.

A varied and fun route that climbs a bit differently than other LPC routes.  I thought it climbed like a 5.10 version of Taivallista.

Named after the stolen spaceship in Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Heart of Gold shares the first 20 feet of the Gold Wall (L. Ellison, C. Noble, 1980), then ascends an obvious, thin finger crack--avoiding the tiered, leftward traverse of the original route.  The finger crack begins just below an overlap and continues straight up the wall to reach a single bolt belay above a small stance.  From the stance, follow the widening crack until it is possible to traverse left to a ledge below the start of the roofs on the Gold Wall.

The route begins in a shallow, left-facing corner, midway up the ramp that leads to the base of the Gold Wall (L.Ellison, C.Noble, 1980).  Climb the corner to a small ledge, step left into a finger crack to a small roof.  The original line traversed right on small face holds--avoiding the layback--to gain a finger crack that leads to a ledge.  The roof/right facing corner can also be dealt with directly; committing layaway moves gain a flaring crack that eventually leads to the same ledge and to an optional belay beneath a small roof, the belay takes 1" to 2.5".

From the stance beneath the small roof, trend leftward, climbing thin edges to an overlap.  Undercling the overlap to gain a thin stem box below a large, rectangular keyed-in flake.  After surmounting the flake, climb the clean face above; continue up the face along twin parallel seams to a thin gear crux just below a belay stance with a bolt.  The bolt can be backed up using a small cam or wire.  A short, leftward traverse (maybe 5.8) joins the Gold Wall just below the roof.

Start in the second dihedrial right on the Center Thumb. Follow off-widths/chimneys to the top of the Thumb. The pitches stay consistant most of the way through the climb, with plenty of ledges along the way to belay at. To me it felt way harder than 5.7. When I think of 5.7 chimney I think of Cresent Crack or Ellesworth/McQuarrie, this climb felt more like four pitches of the Lowe Blow on the Egg. On every pitch I placed a 3, 4, 4.5, and 5 camalot and I wish I had more. Occasonially I found some smaller gear, but most of the small placements weren't that good because of loose flakes or poor rock. Leave anything smaller than .5 at home and go heavey on the big stuff.

Be very carefull of loose rock, because there is a ton of it. We sent down plenty of rocks big enough to take you out, and pulling onto ledges was very scary because of all the loose stuff. I wouldn't recommend this route, there are far better routes up there. Don't be fooled by the 5.7 rating this is a serious route due to no fixed gear (except for an old soft iron ring that was about to fall out) long physical off-width sections and huge amounts of loose rocks.

There is a great drawn topo in the Ruckmans 96' guide on pg.439.

P1. Start in a left-facing thin corner moving over vegetation and passing a pine tree ( I dare you not to use the limbs for feet), gain a beautiful 3" splitter that ends on a nice ledge/belay. 5.9+

(in the guide there says there is a 5.9+mantle on grass, maybe I am reading the guide wrong, but we didn't find any grass mantle on the pitch.)

P2. Climb up left facing corner up to steep shallow cracks/grooves, these bring you up to the arete and to a 3" crack. Belay on the point/stance at the big horn. 5.8 PG-13

( The guide says it's a R pitch but the leader found numerous cam placements, these were of course shallow, but there were quite a few. They probably didn't have sweet 3-cam units in 83'.)

P3. From the point/belay make a long stem (very cool) to gain a sweet finger splitter, follow the finger splitter up over a small roof until the pitch turns into double hands ( even cooler!). Belay in the gullley 5.7

P4. Ramble up non-descript gulley to the top of the buttress and great views. 5.4

We combined the last 2 pitches with a 70M rope.

This is an excellent route that will be a classic once it cleans up a bit.  It works fairly well to climb it in 3 pitches.  The first pitch is probably easy 5.10.  The roof on the second pitch is the crux while the upper roof on pitch three has been climbed by two variations, both around mid 5.10.

Great route on excellent rock. Exciting traversing and route finding.

P 1 -  Ascend a stepped right facing corner and finger crack for 140' to a belay.(5.9)

P 2 - Climb a beautiful hand crack. Traverse right under the first roof. Move up to the second roof and continue right around it to a hanging belay or continue higher to a narrow ledge. Great, improbable pitch. (5.9) Les at his best!

P3 - Follow ramps and corners leftward to a belay near the top. (5.7)

P4 - Scramble to the top. (5.5)

Do you enjoy gardening with your nut key? Well then this is the route for you.

P1: Follow cracks in a corner and belay at a nice ledge with a dead tree, or make a hanging belay below a little roof (this is what we did but the ledge looks much nicer)

P2: Climb off the ledge and up a finger crack through a roof. Follow seams which open for gear till its possible to traverse up and right into the 5.6 finger on the great escape. Belay on a ledge.

P3: Climb up double hand cracks then scramble to the summit.

This route ascends the crack system that travels roughly right up the middle of the rectangular formation that extends out from the south summit. This "thumb" formation was first ascended in 1959, via both sides of the formation. It wasn't until the Lowes showed up in 1970 that someone took a crack at the middle.

Begin on the left side of a large blocky formation at the base of the "thumb" and ascend via a series of cracks to a belay at a piton (use small cams to back up the belay). Optionally, you can combine pitch 1 and 2 with a 60m rope.

Continue up via this crack series to a shelf that extends nearly all the way across the formation and set up a trad belay (use your cordelette!).

From this shelf, work up the cracks to the obvious middle crack, and belay at the next obvious shelf.

From here, follow the cracks to where they exit to the left of the face.  Now, suck it up and face the exposure!  This is an awesome, exposed crack that moves up the overhanging left face of the formation to the top.  Move fast, and use some runners on your pro to avoid drag if you climbed the right crack on the previous face.  Belay at the two-bolt belay at the top of the formation.

From here, descend down to the ledge that connects north to the flake system, and climb the long pitch up these flakes and cracks to the summit.

This is definitely the best route on the "thumb" formation, but the fourth pitch (third if you combine 1 and 2) demands a lot of the leader, so be ready to commit to it.

This was the first route done up the main west side of Lone Peak.

-P1 Climb blocky steps for 150' to a  to a belay below a steep section of the corner.

-P2 A clean hidden hand crack on the steep right wall provides passage here (5.9-).

-P3 & 4 Climb the corner using lots of stemming moves. We encountered some old pins here on our ascent(1983). The last pitch joins The Great Escape.

If you compare

all

of the routes south of south of Tom's Thumb this climb is one of better lines to do...fun climbing.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in South Summit Wall