This was the second route completed on the Monolith, after the formation's first ascent via the obvious north face chimney. As Fred writes in his otherwise vague AAJ description, "I have never seen better rock, anywhere." I'm fairly sure that I have, but it certainly does rank among the most crucial stone in the range, and in my humble opinion is every bit as good (if not better) and more adventurous than the nearby northeast buttress of Pingora. If the Cirque of the Towers is mobbed, I would absolutely recommend either moving camp or daytripping down a few miles to climb this route.

Since Beckey left no real details about where the climbing went, we began at the base of the northwest prow, and followed our nose generally up and a bit left. We then headed back right a bit to the upper prow where Beckey mentions two chickenhead pitches, though I think we may have followed a slightly different line.

Fred mentioned dubious protection, but we found that modern gear was more than adequate and made this a safe and well-protected outing. Cracks, features, and high-grade stone abound.

The route tops out on the football-field-flat summit of the Monolith. The easiest descent is to head right past the summit of Dog Tooth Peak and descend Lizard Head Meadows, looping back on a game trail (or all the way to the North Fork Trail) and into the cirque proper. We descended the steep, obvious couloir to looker's left of the Monolith, the snow was rock hard, the rock was insanely chossy and the whole experience was utterly terrifying with no crampons or tool—not recommended.

We encountered a bit or two of tat, but we found none of Beckey's pins or the bolt that he mentions placing.

Northwest Face/Beckey Route

This is an excellent climb that is very secluded and cannot be seen from the North Fork Trail. Fun climbing, very steep for a mountain route, and with incredible views. It's only flaw is some rotten granite on one side of the wide chimney on pitch 5. The route could be climbed in a big day from Lonesome Lake, but you would have to start before first light with the hike. Though it is only six pitches, all the pitches are long and eat up time so it climbs like a much bigger route.

Find the start at the center of the wall about 45 feet below the obvious chimney in the upper wall. There are a couple of large white blocks forming dihedrals about 50 feet off the ground.

P1. Climb the slab and trend right to the corner then back out left to the end of a ramp and a comfortable stance below the bulge above. 5.5, 40 meters

P2. Up slightly left in a fading crack then a hard right on a face move to a crack directly above the belay. Follow this crack to a ledge with a large flake on it's left below three possible seams. 5.10a, 30 meters

P3. Take the middle seem above the belay for about 45 ft. then move right passing a bolt that protects the transition from one crack to another. Climb the bombay-chimney/dihedral (crux) on overhanging ground. The crack eases and trends slightly right to an alcove belay. 5.11-, 50 meters

P4. The money pitch... alpine face climbing with various pieces of gear for protection. Climb flakes and knobs and cracks trending up and right towards the base of the chimney and a large square flake. Belay over the first bilge in the chimney on a comfortable and exposed ledge. 5.10a, 50 meters

P5. Ascend the chimney beginning with a widecrack/undercling then a wide chimney of good rock on the left and deteriorating rock on the right. This pitch is quite serious as there are some bigger runouts up high between trustable placements. Belay on a ledge on the left using a seam for gear. A tiny micro cam, and small nut, and a 2 inch piece plus a .75 inch piece make for a solid belay. Save those pieces. 5.10c, 50 meters

P6. Climb to the roof then out left on face holds and then  under the large chockstone higher (5.10b at roof) Continue on with mostly easy ground to the ridge. 5.10b, 58 meters

Continue up the ridge for  a quartermile or so on 3rd class terrain and then do an easy but exposed 5th class move just below the summit. Descend vie the steep terrain to the north to Lizard Head Meadows.

Lady and the Tramps

A 14 pitch route with two major variations to start, two finishes and it’s waiting for an all free assent.

The route has two separate and distinct starts that meet at approximately 350’. This climb overlaps what’s left of the central part of a climb previously named “Wisdom Tooth” climbed by Ken Nichols and Al Rubin. (reported in AAJ 1981) and listed in Joe Kelsey’s Climbing Guide to the Winds. The bottom 250’ of the original climb exfoliated according to J. Kelsey sometime between 1983 and 1992.

The left start, Pitch 1 (5.10) begins in the second finger crack up the gully to the left of the obvious dihedral. A difficult but short crux (5.10) is followed by easier climbing around some loose blocks on ledges to a belay at the base of an obvious clean crack. Pitch 2 (5.10) follows the crack, fingers to fists and belays on a ledge with a bolted anchor. Pitch 3 (5.10+ A0) continues up the wide crack until you are level with a bolt on the right hand face. Make a couple of A0 moves to establish yourself on good face holds and then follow the wandering bolted face for a long and adventurous pitch that is mostly bolted. You will only need gear for the first part of this pitch and one cam (~3/4”) between the last bolt and anchor. A short Pitch 4 (5.8) will bring you to the main crack system on the wall.

The right start climbs the striking dihedral and roof. Pitch 1 (5.8) follows a leftward trending flake to a good belay stance in the dihedral. Pitch 2 (5.11) climbs the perfect dihedral to belay below a flake that creates a double dihedral. Five-star endurance pitch, mostly fingers with a couple of good stemming rests to a hanging belay. Pitch 3 (5.11) is a short pitch that starts by ascending the right dihedral and then steps left onto the small slab/face in the left dihedral and ends at a good belay stance. (It may be possible to connect these two pitches but we had a massive loose flake to clean and did not have the gear or fitness to combine them.) Pitch 4 (5.10 A2) continue to the base of the roof, move left, out the roof and belay at the lip. Many small cams needed, be kind to your second! (I believe this pitch will go free at 11+/12-) Pitches 5-6 (5.10) have great climbing in solid finger cracks to the base of an overhanging dihedral.  Pitch 7 (A2 5.9?) Aid up the overhanging dihedral, continue free climbing until you reach a decent belay at the base of the stacked blocks pitch or belay immediately above the roof if you’re worried about rope drag and add a pitch. Pitch 8 (5.9r?) If you’re second, this pitch will be really fun. If you’re on lead it will have your full attention. A steep pitch of stacked blocks that you can see through to the other side. Belay on a large sloping ledge below a huge roof. Pitch 9 (5.9?) Climb a short, steep wall on the right side of the ledge, then traverse right (poorly protected, but easier climbing) into a large chimney. Pitch 10 (5. Easy) move belay up the chimney. Pitches 11 &12 (5.9) follow two pitches of discontinuous cracks and face climbing to the base of some stepped roofs. Pitch 13 (5.10) follows the line of least resistance through the roof, a wide crack on the right side with good stemming. One or two more pitches should find you at the top of the main wall or at least finished with the fifth class terrain. Third class scrambling will lead west along a ridge to the grassy slope that is the North side of Dogtooth Mountain.

There are two reasonable descent options. The first is to head down slope until you reach the north fork trail in Lizard Head Meadows. The second option is more complicated but returns you closer to the base of the climb. For this, descend to the north until you reach the “tree line” and then traverse around ramps to the right (East) and follow grassy ramps to the base of “A frame” buttress.

Note: In this description, Infinite Jest overlaps the original “Wisdom Tooth” route from approximately pitches 5-9. The original “Wisdom Tooth” route below the first roof fell to the ground. From the end of pitch 9 the “Wisdom Tooth” route exits to the right, as reported by K. Nichols in AAJ 1981 “The last six leads were easy and followed a series of ledges, ramps and low-angle cracks which trended up and around the spire to the right.”

Infinite Jest

In the Monolith Cirque east of the Cirque of the Towers, several obvious buttresses spill from the true summit of Dog Tooth Peak (12,488')—Once Bitten takes an enjoyable and relatively moderate path up the Dogtooth Pinnacle, which is the prominent tooth-shaped tower on the left side of the massif. We could find no previous history of climbing on this formation—we encountered no fixed gear and left the route in the same condition. A few of the upper pitches were quite long and could easily be broken up if you had a shorter rope.

Pitch 1 (5.10, 35m): start up the prominent chimney system, but break left after 20ft to the obvious flake. Bust a move into the flake and climb OW to the top of it. Take the right-trending flake back into the chimney and belay.

Pitch 2 (5.10, 35m): Take the right-most crack above the chimney. Hand jams in the corner lead to a bulge where the crack widens. Step left or continue straight up via OW moves. Jamming and stemming leads to a belay below a massive flake wedged in the chimney.

Pitch 3 (5.10, 50m): Bridge across the chimneyuntil you can step onto the giant flake. Once established on top of it, take your helmet off, go right side in, and engage the bombay slot. Exit the slot and trend up and right, belaying on a comfortable ledge around the corner.

Pitch 4 (5.10, 60m): From the belay, face climb up and left via cracks, toward the arete, to the left side of the hourglass-shaped pillar. Tackle the corner on the left side of the pillar, stemming between face holds and carefully dancing left around a precariously wedged block. Climb cracks and face up and right to a right-angling ledge system. Bust a lieback move with thin gear and belay somewhere in the rampy corner.

Pitch 5 (5.10, 70m): Continue up and right through vegetated lieback cracks. Instead of heading right to seemingly easier terrain, head up and left on a flake system that pinches down to fingers and requires some creative stemming. Lieback around the bulge above and follow the right-trending ramp to a short section of vertical flakes.

Pitch 6 (5.9, 70m): Follow the obvious path of least resistance up toward the right side of the roof, which becomes a low-angle, right-facing corner. Continue up and left on easy low-angle terrain to a spacious ledge below a giant V-shaped gully.

Confident parties should feel comfortable unroping here—it's about 200-250m of easy 5th-class terrain to the ridge. From the ridge scramble easy ground to the summit.

To descend, continue along the sidewalk-like ridgeline to a broad plateau below the true summit of Dog Tooth Peak. Purists can take it to the chains from here with some causal hiking. Descend north down the idyllic Lizard Head Meadows to an obvious game trail that circles back into the cirque proper.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Monolith Cirque