This route is essentially a significant variation to the Arsenault-Bouchard route, "Hole in the Wall". It shares the same start (a weakness in the lower slabs), but traverses a long 3rd class ledge system around to the right onto the north face. From there, it climbs 4 pitches of quality right-facing dihedrals to the base of a splitter crack. Our intention was to link this crack into  another right-facing corner above, but when the crack turned into a slab, we cut back left on a ledge to climb the final pitch of the Arsenault-Bouchard to the summit.

We spotted this corner system from Gash Peak, after climbing Golden Dihedrals. We could not believe that it climbed as good as it did. Also, there is a ton of potential for new variations on the North Face of Ambush off of this large grassy ledge system. If you don't mind some grassy scrambling halfway through your day, then this climb is totally worth checking out. Each pitch has the potential to be classic and its slightly more sustained than the pitches it skips on the Arsenault-Bouchard. Go do it!

North Face of Ambush Peak

No Picnic for Old Men

Son Of Raid

East Chimney/South Face

Ambush Plaisir

M Buttress

I Think Therefore I Ambush

Gash Peak - Golden Dihedral

Great Grey Book

Arsenault-Bouchard

Runnel Out

Raid Peak-South Buttress,East Face

Originally, we were intending to free the earlier route,(Arsenault-Young)done in the early 70's. We thought this line looked better, which paralled the older line, going all free. The route followed up and right, below an arching flake system for two pitches to a large ledge. Continue up and right,(5.9 face), to ledges. Up for 3-4 pitches to huge, protected ledge, behind flakes, (cairn). Up face,(5.9or10), heading for a 200 foot long dihedral which can be seen from ground. At top, trend right onto North Face and follow face and cracks for another 5-6 pitches to top. See photo.

I wanted to add this existing route, put in back in 1972, since there may be some confusion. In the 1994, Kelsey guidebook, it was called "North Buttress Left". In the new guidebook, (2013), it is re-named "No Picnic for Old Men".

In 2011, I repeated the route with Jim Donini, and Joe Kelsey was camping with us. He suggested I re-name the route, which seemed appropriate, at the time; hence the new name.

I might add that Joe Kelsey named it as a "classic" route, for it's grade, in both guidebooks. It could use some cleaning on the 1st few pitches, due to grass growing out of the cracks. The crux pitch and above is clean of vegetation.

The north-south "ridgeline" between Ambush and Raid contains a lot of rock which is often overlooked in lieu of the impressive nearby Raid and Ambush. As Arsenault recently commented,"We used to think, 'Why bother with all that little stuff in between when you have such impressive long routes at both ends'."

A long attractive slab route line with interesting features two buttresses to the north of M Buttress and two buttresses to the south of Raid lured us to check out and find a technically challenging clean line with low commitment.

At the lowest toe of the slab, we traversed under an overhang on snow to an area on the gray granite where two vertical dark brown colored "dots" mark the start. We 4th classed up and right to a ledge where you will find two bolts. All bolted belays were established while rapping the route, which is straight down the face. Gear belays were used during the ascent.

Pitch #1: Climb straight up from the ledge to the right of the "brown dots" and to the left of a pair of prominent water streaks. 5.5, 60m.

Pitch #2: Make your way to a left leaning steep seam/slab to find a bolt and continue up and slightly left past 6 more bolts to a right facing dihedral and ledge with a two bolt belay. 5.10a, 70m.

Pitch #3: ("The Pantry Raid Pitch") Move up initially left, then trend right passing two bolts protecting very tricky moves and reach a thin left facing corner. Pass another bolt way up there and layback right out a tips roof eventually reaching a right facing corner small hands crack and belay. 5.10c/d, 60m.

Pitch #4: Climb up and right of a suspicious flake under a roof into a hand crack. In darker rock now follow slab until faced with a steep, technical, and improbable left traverse. Pass a bolt and a fixed nut to a great ledge and two-bolt belay. 5.10a/b, 60m.

Pitch #5: Pass three bolts (5.9) to a left sloping ramp/ledge. Follow the ledge to the left (5.5) until a belay in an alcove near a spike of rock is possible. 5.9, 45m.

Pitch #6: Climb up a nice ramp/crack right facing dihedral system past the spike to a pin/bolt belay ledge. 5.7, 55m.

Pitch #7: Climb straight up to the top of the climb and scramble out right up a gully (3rd class) to the top of the formation. 5.6, 70m

Rappel the route.

This route climbs the impressive 150' south chimney on the east face of Ambush. This is a fun route that climbs a super fun classic chimney and climbs a big peak at a moderate grade and rating.  As seen in the beta photo, start at the base of a gully that climbs up the center of the east face.

Scramble up the gully to the base of the chimney.  This could involve some fifth class systems depending on your comfort level or if you wanted to climb harder fifth class rock to the left of the gully.

Belay close to the base of the chimney and worm up some mossy rock, past a chockstone (crux) with somewhat unprotected moves.  Establish yourself inside the chimney and climb this classic chimney and exit on climber's right  (pro will go into a thin crack on climber's left, then stem to climber's right) and belay atop the chimney from a slung chockstone and #3 camalot at a good ledge.

Next either choose the path of least resistance, aiming up and left to the notch, or conversely, choose the path of most resistance, aiming up and more right toward the summit.

I went up and slightly left for 196' on cracks and ramps at 5.5

Then I went up 190' through an open book dihedral  and belayed in a big protected corner (5.6).

From there I climbed up and left 150' to a wide terrace, passing a 5.8 friction move on an overlap in black rock and more good friction moves up a slabby crack and face.

I scrambled up, then due left to above a notch.  From there I scrambled 3rd class terrain to the summit.

This casual route is classic Wind River Slab climbing. It is something new in the sense that it does not reach the summit of the South summit of Ambush, yet it starts at the lowest part of the East Face and climbs directly to the Huge Roof where difficulties would drastically change the nature of the route. Plaisir is a Swiss word for FUN and likewise casual (stress free) at the same time. This is a great route when weather may be a threat.

Pitch #1-#2: Start up the lowest toe of rock climbing easy slab toward a right facing crack system to a pin/bolt belay. May be combined as one long rope stretcher or simulclimbed. 5.3, 70+m.

Pitch #3: Climb higher into the right facing corner to a two-bolt belay. 5.5, 30m.

Pitch #4: Continue up the slabby crack system to another two-bolt belay ledge. 5.6, 35m.

Pitch #5: Super fun! A small roof followed by a dike out right passing two bolts leads to another broad roof series of overlaps and then back left in alignment with the lower pitches to a two-bolt belay ledge. 5.9, 50m.

Pitch #6: Continue up initially into a right facing corner then into a left facing corner system up really fun rock to a two-bolt belay ledge. 5.8, 50m.

Pitch #7: Continue up broken corners and fun slab to a two bolt belay ledge. 5.7, 50m.

Pitch #8:  A finger crack goes up and left to the "grass humps" pitch, probably the only "dirty" pitch that can be said to exist on the route. Belay at a two-bolt belay. 5.7, 50m.

Pitch #9: Some casual climbing leads to a finger crack intersecting a band of black colored granite to a small ledge and two-bolt belay. 5.9, 45m.

Pitch #10: From the small ledge, pass a steep step past a bolt, and trend right to beautiful finger crack in more black colored rock to a two-bolt belay immediately beneath the right side of the huge central roof on the East Face. 5.9, 60m

Ambush is huge and vast. The route we called Triple Shot as we passed three distinct "summits"...one of which we needed to rappel down to continue. The M Buttress is its own mountain, really. Basically, this is just to the north of the the North Summit of Ambush. A huge dike forms the letter M at the lower part of the wall/arete. The route starts at the far left lower side of the letter M and follows the beautiful left facing dihedral and then on to the arete to the top of the first tower. It forms a huge ridge with the passing of three gendarmes to the top of the mountain. I believe we reached a summit higher than the north and south summits of Ambush. We were looking down to them?! Some really classic and excellent moderate pitches await the adventure climber on this one!

Ambush Peak's eastern aspects have long been shrouded in obscurity with numerous parties quietly climbing bold lines up the steep East and Northeast faces and rarely reporting their climbs with much detail. The East Face proper is particularly challenging as an alpine objective due to a series of large roofs and discontinuous crack systems on the upper portion of the wall. Most of the lines of the wall are barely there: inobvious, indirect, and often dangerous. I Think There I Ambush will hopefully break this trend.

While still not being an obvious line, ITTIA is a generally clean, mostly well protected, and difficult free line up Ambush's East Face. It features much technical face climbing linking minor crack features. The most difficult sections are very well protected (often by bolts), but expect some fairly serious 5.9 climbing. While it is easy to fall into the trap of idealizing one's own first ascents, I think this route is pretty darn good. It offers an excellent challenge for those wanting a remote, big, and relatively difficult free climb in the Winds.

One has two options to begin. Option 1 (the one we used on the FA): Scramble up the grassy gully that begins the East Chimney/South Face route. At the largest open grassy patch (~300 feet up), cut right up a 4th class ramp to the large ledge system about 1/3 up the East Face. Option 2 (the more "core" option): Climb the first several pitches of Ambush Plaisir.

Assuming one has done Option 1, tie in on the highest grassy ledge that is about the width of a sidewalk. Begin climbing as far right as one can walk (if you have to scramble over exposed blocks, you've gone too far). Climb easy ground trending right from one short crack system to another, aiming for the bolt on pitch 7 of Ambush Plaisir. At this point, you climb that route for 2-3 pitches (depending on how you break them up) to the double-bolt belay below the last pitch. You'll know you're there if you see a single bolt in a slab about 12 feet above.

Begin the last pitch of Ambush Plaisir by surmounting the pillar and clipping the bolt. From here, ITTIA continues right along the major flake system with some spicy 5.8 on hollow flakes to a double-bolt belay near a large left-facing corner. For organization, I'll call this pitch 1 of ITTIA (even though you've already done 2-3 pitches of climbing on Ambush Plaisir).

P2 (5.11-, 20m): Climb directly right over hollow flakes, crossing the main left facing corner to the base of a shallow left facing corner with a finger crack. Climb up this corner ~20 feet, then climb right around a conspicuous dark block, passing 2 bolts on the slab, to a natural belay at the first stance below a flake.

P3 (5.12-, 35m): Layback up to and around some large detached blocks (be careful!). Climb through the double roofs and face above, clipping 3 bolts. Above the 3rd bolt, undercling right to a double, thin right-facing corner. Ascend this to a roof, which you undercling right. Belay at a semi-hanging stance just above and right of the roof.

P4 (5.11-, 35m): Climb up a shallow left-facing corner with a large plate. Climb right around a rounded arete to a thin crack/flake arching right. The first 30 feet of this pitch are runout 5.9. Climb the arching crack with cryptic moves and solid but challenging to place gear. Layback around a small loose flake and belay at a semi-hanging stance at a flake. There is a large, right leaning corner/roof feature up to your right at this belay.

P5 (5.10+, 55m): From the belay, reach long to the left to a crack. Ascend the crack to where it ends (~10 feet). Do a committing face sequence left to a crack through the roof. Continue up the right facing corner. Where the corner splits, move left to a frustrating and insecure flare. Some 5.8/9 R lurks here as well. Follow the flare to an easy layback on a flake and a hero jug traverse left to belay in a comfortable nook between a large chockstone and a small roof.

P6 (5.9, 55m): Climb right around the roof and move right along the obvious right leaning crack/ramp past a bolt to a stance. Do a short pull onto the second part of the ramp. Climb this to its end, and ascend a flake straight up then left to a right-facing corner. Climb this corner as it thins, then step left to belay in a sloping alcove.

P7 (5.9, 60m): Climb out the alcove (around a large chockstone). After 40 feet, traverse right on 4th class ledges then up easy but loose and dirty rock. Belay where you can.

P8 (5.9, 60m): In reality, there are lots of options for this part of the climb. Several excellent-looking cracks climb to the summit ridge. We climbed more easy, loose, dirty ground around right to a right-facing corner with twin cracks. While probably the easiest of the options, it will probably be wet in spots and a bit lichen-covered. Climb as far as you can and belay where the wall turns into large blocks over which you can easily scramble.

P9-10 (4th to low 5th class): Scramble up and right along the summit ridge, crossing the top of a large gully splitting the East and Northeast faces, to the summit.

Descent: Scramble down the west face then traverse south to the couloir between Ambush and Mt. Geike. Descend this (steep snow or talus) back to the base of the East Face. This gully is truly heinous. If it has snow in it, you'll be front pointing; if it's dry, you'll be scraping down tons of loose rock.

Logistics:

There are some excellent slick rock campsites just south of Midsummer Dome that are a moderate 45-min. walk to the base of Ambush. There is also a very nice bivy cave at the base of Ambush.

The wall is in the sun until early afternoon. The first half the wall is slabby and can get quite warm in the morning. The upper half, which is very steep, gets shade earlier. The wind can also be a factor - even calm weather at the base can blast you off your balance higher on the wall. The other issue with the wall is that the weather generally comes in from the west, which is entirely invisible while climbing.

The route itself is big. For our final push (after a fews days of establishing the pitches through the roofs), we took 22 hours camp-to-camp. Obviously, future ascents will require far less time, but plan on a very long day, even from a camp close to the base. The descent is not obvious; scout it first or don't attempt it in the dark.

Finding this route is not a problem for the Winds due to its distinctive appearance, but route finding up high on the route may be somewhat tricky as essentially one encounters no fixed gear up this long line. We did the route in 9 long (every pitch >50m) pitches. Very sustained and complicated by lots of grass hummock filled hand cracks leaves one to ponder how rarely this classic for the area gets ascended.

The last strenuous pitch is a pump! It is testament to the Arsenault Fowler team strength that rated it a mere 5.9!!

After multiple forays up this formation looking for a free route (not willing to drill or hammer the quite difficult upper portion of the wall) we finally found a complete route on this wall. The route is very fun - not too hard, not too long, super easy to descend with consistently good climbing and little loose rock (for the mountains). Our second favorite route we ever put up in the Winds over the last 15 years.

Approach: Walk to the base of the "Apostle" and ascend the right leaning descent gully about 150 feet until just below a large roof with the obvious grey rock to its left. Below this is a chimney that marks the first pitch.

Pitch 1: 5.7 or 5.8 Climb flakes up to the chimney and then climb the chimney (it is much easier to lie-back this chimney). At the top of the chimney carefully climb up and right into the grey corner. 40 m

Pitch 2: 5.8 Climb the grey dihedral as far as you can. A spectacular pitch. 70 m

Pitch 3: 5.8/4th: Climb the rest of the grey dihedral, then fourth class it up and right to the far side of a grassy ledge below many discontinuous flakes. 40 m

Pitch 4: 5.9 Climb the flakes and discontinuous cracks searching for the least difficult way through the several roofs above. Stretch the rope all the way to some small ledges. A spectacular pitch of finger cracks, lie-backs and small roofs. 70 m

Pitch 5: 5.7 Connect flakes, cracks and small roofs directly above to the summit. Multiple possibilities exist. 70 m

If using a 60 m rope or not interested in pushing the full extent of the rope - there are plenty of options for other belays to make this a 6 or 7 pitch route.

This route required significant skill with gear placement due to the fact that most of the cracks are actually water runnels that bottom out (hence the route name). Despite its short length it seemed very committing. There are one or two moves on pitch 5 that we pulled on gear - dirty steep crack - probably 5.10 if cleaned out. This route is either 1 or 2 stars - depends on how much you like to be scared.

Approach: Follow the East Chimney route about 1000 feet through the 3rd and 4th class sections to the crux steep chimney (or the steep face immediately to the chimneys right). Climb this East Chimney crux to the section that flattens out and begins to traverse to the left. At the top of this steep section there is a roof directly above with a double crack that splits the left end of it. This is the first pitch of the South East Buttress "Runnel Out" Route.

Pitch 1: 5.9 Climb right to a flake and up to the left side of the roof Climb up the double cracks (increasingly difficult) until they end, then face climb a short distance up and slightly left to a small ledge to belay.

Pitch 2: 5.10a R Link disconnected water runnels and face sections to an open book that ends at a small roof and a white dike. This is a scary lead.

Pitch 3: 5.8 Traverse left on the white dike past a small left facing corner to a right facing corner topped with a small roof. Climb up this, through the roof and up the crack until it widens.

Pitch 4: 5.9+ Climb the widening crack/chimney until it eases up, then up to an overhang with a small stance.

Pitch 5: 5.9 Al Climb left from the stance to a flake, pull up the flake and left into a thin crack through a small bulge. This bulge was choked with grass and dirt, which required several Al moves but will probably go free at 5.10 now that it is cleaned out. Belay in the large red corner above (probably can connect pitches 5 and 6).

Pitch 6: 5.9+ Climb the large red dihedral to the roof that caps it. Climb out the left leaning crack through the roof and belay in an alcove.

Pitch 7: 5.7 Climb out the left leaning crack and broken face for about 120 feet to a sloping ledge. At this point the first ascent team rappelled down to an obvious escape ledge near the top of the east chimney route and climbed out the gully due to the lateness of the day. Many nice looking corners and cracks exist directly above this sloping ledge.

This is an old route, but I wanted to include it here, since it is one of the longest free climbs in the range.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Ambush Peak