The Rusty Dagger

See the topos. To really do the Black Wall directly, one climbs either

Parallel Universe

or Rusty Dagger. Wetness and blankness make

Parallel

hard to free. Plenty of nice, dry, rain-sheltered, crack on the Dagger. The line cuts through the center of the rotten, ach-forming, sector that undercuts the wall.

Some serious cleaning might create the most epic, smoker approachable, alpine trad-wall, in America. Until then read about "red crud" and other details in Andy Donson's report; American Alpine Journal, 1999, pages 240-1.

It is doubtful that anyone else will want to claim a better free ascent. Andy writes that he was past the crux, told Cameron "it's in the bag", then pulled off a block on less critical terrain, which caused him to have to aid back up to his highpoint, because he was injured from the fall.

Look for the red, left-facing, corner splitting the steepest part of the wall.

The lower part of the route is reported to go on clean gear. To be really certain about what gear to have for the 5.12 summit roof, I'd risk the short rappel/jumar in to see. There are still a couple of rusty buttonheads just below the rim. Careful!