Zabrina

No crowds here! Luckily, the monster approach hike is made up for by a great climb. Expect a few crusty bits of rock, some lichen here and there, and little sign of previous traffic. This must be how Redgarden Wall felt back around the mid sixties. Start on the far right of the crag. The ground around here is covered in holes made by some rodents or something. Spooky, especially as it is so quiet, far from the Eldo crowds. I was half expecting a swarm of rats or marmots to suddenly emerge. The first pitch is apparent by the rusty old bolts (though these are not easy to spot) which are further right than I was expecting, in fact hard up against the gully to the right (You can avoid this slab on the right). Step backwards a ways to see the very obvious second pitch up above, a fine looking steep crack up the southwest prow. The first pitch is thin low-angle smearing. A litle scary, but if the bolts ever get replaced it will feel much safer. This slab leads to a steeper face/scoop. Zigzag up this awkwardly (Aliens in a horizontal) and up into an obvious large left-facing easy dihedral. Romp up this and stem right past a bush to the big belay ledge on the prow. Pitch two tackles the crack looming overhead. This starts out way steep straight off the big ledge ("5.9+", strenuous gear placements, and obviously a bad place to fall and twist an ankle), but soon gets easier. After a short stretch of real easy groove, the pitch starts to steepen up again and a long stretch of sustained 5.9 Eldo finessing up a cool and exposed crack/face system takes you to a welcome ledge. Belay here, and do a final short easy pitch to the summit. The descent is awkward, head down behind to a ledge system with a large tree, (this is awkward 3rd/4th class) then meander to the south down a steep gully to the base.

Crux of pitch 1 has two bolts. These are are rusty 1/4 inch relics that look like they were brought over by Columbus, in a water streaked black face. Ugh! Upper pitch requires a standard Eldo rack.