Quick Stats: 2.1 Miles & 1,591′ gain via NE aspect from Indian Wells Road. HPS #61
Second stop on my way out to Mammoth for my AIARE Level 1 Course; I’ve been wanting to climb Five Fingers for a while but have been intimidated by Indian Wells Canyon and different reports about the road conditions. This proved to be my first opportunity to actually go four-wheeling in Alyx, and the road was almost enjoyable. (Four-wheeling isn’t my thing)
Pulled off in a little parking area and started sprinting (read: slogging) up the South Slope that is a mix of scree, loose boulders, and less than loose boulders. After a long while, I finally gained the notch between the recognized summit, and the other fingers. I intentionally had no beta on this route as I wanted to challenge myself to some route finding (I had read it’s airy 3rd class), so I put on my helmet at the notch and first attempted directly from the S / SE aspect of the summit block.
From below, it looks like there are some good chutes and ledges, but about half way up I got to a place where I thought about one of my important rules: “I won’t climb something I wouldn’t feel comfortable downclimbing.” So I went back down to the notch and decided to keep going around to the north to see what those conditions looked like. I tried a line from the E / NE, that also didn’t feel too good, so I got back down to reexamine. 0/2 now, and I had just fallen on my bum on a granite slab and caught myself, cutting open my hand.
I then tried the Eastern aspect of a ridge to the North, and while it was doable, it was a little more exposed than I felt like tackling that day. (I still have a little PTSD from my tumble on Matterhorn Peak; while I’m still okay with some exposure, if it looks sustained I’m still in a place where I’ll try and find a different line.)
0/3 on attempted routes, and at this point decided that I would try one last attempt at finding a good line before turning around. While on that ridge, I decided to scramble around to the West side, and then found a good line up that also had some stupid steps chiseled into the rock. Once I got up to what seemed like the summit (It definitely feels like the high point), I looked at the map and noticed that the summit is actually marked a little SE from that point. You could find some really simple Class 2-ish way to get to the summit marker, or you could stay directly on top of this ridge and make your way there for some airy class 3 scrambling.
At the summit I cleaned up and bandaged my hand (1 butterfly, 1 bandage, and a little tape), and then I retraced my steps back down and around to the notch, finally scree skiing all the way back to Alyx.
