What an incredible loop! Started a bit too early because I was worried about weather around ~noon. The darkness made for a difficult start up the first steep section of thatchtop, but once it was light enough the rest of it felt way better than my first time up there! Turns out that this approach is fine when there’s no flowing water on all the slabs… Powell & McHenrys felt super flowy minus a little talus slip on flat ground that absolutely DESTROYED my left butt cheek. Immediate bruising, fun start to the day. But the climb out of the notch is pretty awesome!
After McHenrys it was all new terrain to Longs! Chief’s Head felt loooong, but not very technical & super pretty in the morning light. Pagoda was a big question mark going into the day. First ledge was smooth & gained the second, left trending ledge without issue, but couldn’t find the 5th class exit. Ended up climbing about 100ft of ~5.6 splitter hands which was SICK! Then the slog up to Longs…
I had essentially zero beta on the SW Ridge of Longs, but goddamn it’s SO GOOD! Couldn’t find a way to keep it in the 5.4 realm though. Climbed a few hundred feet of 5.4-5.6 flakes & hand cracks left of the true arete. Definitely the highlight of the day!! Such clean rock & so secure, some truly fun rock climbing. And a nice warm-up & focus-shifter before the keyhole ridge downclimb (I was anticipating it to feel cruxy). The dc ended up going super smooth & I lucked out not making any mistakes following Sky’s line!
The rest was all new terrain as well. Popped over to Storm after getting to the keyhole & continued on towards Half Mtn, which felt like an infinite journey through the talus fields. After ~30mins of downhill talus jogging I finally started up Half. It was all of a sudden SO hot, and I’d just finished the last of my water. That was kinda the plan, but a few more sips would’ve been nice. The descent from there is pretty brutal tbh. Just a lot of loose stuff & tree branches scratching you & absolutely zero signs of travel. Eventually trended left & found a nice wash/gully and boulder hopped down the last ~200ft to the trail. Quick swig at the creek crossing & a nice run back to the TH! Body & brain both felt so good all day! Minus the butt cheek. Such a good one :)
Thought: this can def go closer to / under 5.5hrs by someone imo, psyched to see people get after it🤩
Splits:
Thatchtop 1:20
Powell 1:51
McHenry's 2:11
Chiefs Head 2:57
Pagoda 3:41
Longs 4:27
Keyhole 4:58
Storm 5:10
Half 5:50
GG TH 6:25:30