Continue-us

The route is a new pitch in the area of

Genesis

,

Exodus

, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and

Book of Numbers

area. With all of those names taken, I struggled for a related name, but nothing fit until we came up with the idea "Continue-us." Ergo, the route name that is both relevant and fits with the area, in a way.

P1. Climb the first pitch of "

Genesis

" though the roof, (10c, hands) to the step left (11a, thin) and then up the face (11a, thin) to where the angle eases off and you can go left on the diagonal bolt line of "

Exodus

" (11b, tricky and thin), which is followed to the belay bolts at the base of the dihedral of the top pitch of "

Book of Numbers

." Belay there.

P2. Climb up a few meters into the "

Book of Numbers

" corner, and clip an old manky KB with a long sling, then break left around the corner (5.10, S-) as for the 3rd pitch of "

Exodus

." This is on OK rock, and the holds around the corner are there but not obvious at first. It requires some commitment on dubious gear. From there,

Exodus

goes up and right to the 3rd belay of "

Book of Numbers

," but the target has changed. Looking up and slightly left you will see a huge slot above a long, low-angle, right-leaning dihedral, which is the top pitch of the route "Sidetrack." Aim upward and only slightly left on mostly moderate terrain with a few 5.8' moves thrown in for good measure. This is on buckets, but it has very little gear. You will come to a finger crack maybe 10 meters down and just right of the right hand edge of the bottom of the slot. Protect this! The finger crack splits into a "V"-shaped crack, with both sides being like an undercling flake and with excellent jams. Protect this with 1" (+/-) cams and do the crux of this pitch (5.10) to move up and left and onto the belay in the huge slot (good natural pro) or finish by climbing up the slot as for Sidetrack and finish on the Juniper Ledge.

This route is a new pitch added onto an already classic pitch-and-a-half. The climbing is 3s when you add it all up, but this pitch is only a 2 pitch.

I looked for any line that might be historically similar and failed to find it. As well, larger holds on this route were not showing signs of passage as I crushed and brushed deep tufts of lichen from them, and crux pro required some crack-cleaning (removing pebbles and chips) to put in gear that one would certainly want. These factors and the complete absence of any sign of nailing in an area otherwise filled with tons of fixed pins and scars indicated to me the probability of a first ascent.

Rack as for P1 of Genesis/Exodus, and then a standard light rack for P2 with gear to 3". The crux is the crux of Exodus, which is bolted, but there are additional key pieces of gear at the 1" range that will protect 5.10 moves after considerable runouts.