Chasm View Wall

Other routes I've climbed on Chasm View Wall: 
Babies R Us (5.12a, 5p, toprope)    •     Directissima (5.10b, 4p)     •    Indirectissima (5.9, 4-6p)     •    Red Wall (5.10b, 6p)      •    Royal Flush (5.11c, 10p)     •    Sharp on Both Ends (5.11d, 6p)    
Category: Colorado (RMNP)Top-out Elev: ~13,500 ftRock Type: Granite
Date: September 1, 2022 (Thu)Trip Report #: 576Partner: Carolyn Pino

Route: Sharp on Both Ends (5.11d, 6p)  

One of the best routes on Chasm View Wall, featuring a stellar right-facing dihedral pitch.

Intro

Sharp on Both Ends follows an obvious right-facing dihedral on Chasm View Wall (a wall of sunny granite just right of the Diamond in Chasm Lake Cirque). This dihedral forms the sustained and strenuous crux pitch. I had gazed longingly at this dihedral pitch when I passed by on a climb Indirectissima (5.9, 4-6p) earlier in the summer, and vowed someday to climb it.

That someday came later that summer. September had arrived, and I was hoping to eek out a couple of more alpine climbs before the summer drew to a close. Especially since weather had finally (after quite a wet summer) stabilized. The sunny Chasm View Wall sounded like a good place to head. I had been in touch with a new climbing partner Carolyn, who knew my sister Jenny. Carolyn was psyched to climb Sharp on Both Ends. Like me, she relishes the opportunity to be up in the Chasm Lake Cirque area. 

The route has six pitches of good to great climbing, but the meat of the route are the back-to-back 11d pitches (Pitches 4 and 5). Pitch 4 features a steep and sustained fingers dihedral while Pitch 5 features a bouldery problem at a bolt and a wild hand traverse across the steep face. Pitch 4 was awesome: Carolyn on-sighted this strenuous lead in style, while I followed (also with no falls or hangs) with a grin plastered on my face. Pitch 5 was awesome as well, but proved to be a bit more of a challenge for us: I started off the lead, but couldn't bring myself to fully commit to the bouldery 5.11d crux at the bolt, falling a few times before backing off; Carolyn took the sharp end, and figured the tricky boulder problem out (again on-sight) and then launched into the wild journey across the steep face; I followed with the pack, finally out the boulder problem on toprope, and then also enjoying the wild journey across the steep face. The finish via the crux final pitch of Directissima was a blast as always. 


Carolyn and I had a great day. The following page provides a trip report for our climb of Sharp on Both Ends. Enjoy!

Time Stats

Pitch-by-Pitch Photos

Approach

2nd-3rd

Starting from Longs Peak Trailhead, hike to the base of Chasm View Wall.

A glorious sunrise.
Morning alpenglow.
Nearing Chasm Lake Cirque.
Diamond gleaming above Chasm Lake.
Approach shadows.

Pitch 1

5.10a, 200' or 5.9, 200' or 4th

There are a few options for this pitch. Rossiter describes climbing a 5.10a left-leaning crack system to the ramp system below Pitch 2. It is also possible to climbs 5.9 cracks just right of a big corner and left of Rossiter's Pitch 1. In either case, dance a bit carefully around a couple of bigger blocks.

Pitch 1 is unremarkable compared to the other pitches on the route, and can be easily bypassed by scrambling (4th) past the base of Directissima to the base of Pitch 2 of Sharp on Both Ends. Not wanting to start the day off navigating an ambiguous start with mediocre climbing, Carolyn and I opted to scramble to the base of Pitch 2 of Sharp on Both Ends.

I had actually climbed Pitch 1 (via the cracks just right of the big corner) when I climbed Indirectissma. On this day, we had also scoped out the Rossiter start to the route. Below are photos of the Pitch 1 options.

Pitch 1 climbs up this cliff to the ledge below the left-facing corner just above and right of the middle of the photo.
This is where Rossiter's Pitch 1 starts. The route looks a bit ambiguous. I have not climbed this pitch, but I believe this is the correct start.
When climbing Indrectissima earlier in the summer, we climbed cracks just right of the corner for Pitch 1. This is a nice alternative to Rossiter's Pitch 1, which can be a bit difficult to locate. There are a couple of bigger blocks to just be careful around.
Scrambling up the 4th class to the base of Pitch 2 (we bypassed Pitch 1, which is an unremarkable pitch of climbing—I had climbed it before when I climbed Indirectissima).

Pitch 2

5.9

Follow a left-facing corner and belay at a grassy ledge in a scoop, as at the top of the first pitch of Indirectissima.

Pitch 2. This is a fun pitch and nice warm-up for the harder climbing above.

Pitch 3

5.7 R

Start up Indirectissima (up a left-facing flake system), then move up left to a ledge at the base of a long right-facing corner.

Looking up Pitch 3.
The ramp at the end of Pitch 3. I took this photo from the belay at the base of the corner of Pitch 4.

Pitch 4

5.11d

Climb the spectacular dihedral. End at a good ledge. 

Looking up the beautiful sweeping Pitch 4 corner.
Carolyn cruising the corner. Nice lead Carolyn! Onsight!
We hauled the pack for this pitch. This made the climbing much more fun.
Looking up the corner as I launched into following it. 
Looking down while following. 

Pitch 5

5.11d

Angle up and left along a flake system for 80 feet. Where the wall becomes blank, clip a bolt and climb a crux (11d) boulder problem to a horizontal crack. Traverse 60 feet left along the crack (about 5.10) to a belay at the base of the last pitch of Directissima. The horizontal nature of this pitch makes it a big game on for both leader and follower (hence the name of the route, perhaps?).

The first half of Pitch 5.
The second half of Pitch 5.
Notice the bolt. We felt the bouldery move above the bolt was the crux of the pitch.
The horizontal hand traverse along a crack.  Really cool climbing. This part seems no harder than 5.10. It protects well enough that neither leader nor follower would take a huge swing if one were to fall, but still this pitch feels a bit like you are on the sharp end, either leading or following.....

Pitch 6

5.10a

Climb the last pitch of Directissima. This pitch climbs a dihedral to a roof and makes a committing move to a good jam, and then follows a wide crack to the top of the wall. A fun pitch.

Looking up the last pitch.
Fun crack climbing on this pitch.
An old bolt next to a wide section. Sometimes I wonder if I should clip these old bolts, as I don't really trust them to hold a fall, and if I did fall I would hate to be the one to pull this piece of history out of the wall. You can protect this section with a #4. But the climbing is relatively easy here so you can neglect bringing a #4 for this pitch if you are comfortable with it. You do not need a #4 for anything else on Sharp on Both Ends.

Top!

The route tops out on ridge just below Chasm View.

A view over at the Diamond from the top of Sharp on Both Ends. My friend Lynn and her friend Katie are climbing Honeymoon is Over (5.13c, 9p). Lynn had sent the route the previous day (nice work!) and was belay support for Katie's send on this day. Gotta nab the late summer weather window!

Descent

There are a few options. You can descend easily to the Boulderfield and gain the trail to Longs Peak Trailhead. Alternatively, you can return to Chasm Lake via the Camel Gully or Fifth Avenue. We had not left anything at the base of the route so we hiked out via the Boulderfield.

Fall colors.

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