Hallett Peak

The descent described above is the upper descent. An alternative descent is as follows:

Once on the summit ridge, head east down the ridge for a couple hundred feet. Stay close to the crest, and near the east side of the First Buttress you will come to a bolted rappel (could use a modern bolt). One rope will get you to a second short rappel, or a 60M rope will get you to easy scrambling terrain. Scramble down the gully for a few hundred feet (heading NE). Then, head left over a rise (NNW, cairns), and aim for a scree gully. Follow this to the base of the Hallet Chimney (between 1st and 2nd Buttresses.) If you racked up here in the morning (near the mossy area) you won't need to walk the couple minutes back up to the base of the routes. You can scope out the lower half of this descent before your climb.

I've done both descents, and the descent I just described (from Gillett's new guidebook to the High Peaks) is vastly superior.

The thing I love most about [Hallett] is the short 2 mile approach. With no need for an alpine start, you can drink more beers the night before, sleep late, and still get back to the parking lot in time for a late breakfast.

The Norcutt-Carter route is about 10c now. However, the biggest difficulty comes in route finding. The climb was indescript at best before the rockfall, now it's even more fun. A great place to find booty! Whichever of the two descents described you take, make sure you follow the ridgeline, DO NOT head away from the cliff or you will be promptly cliffed/lost.

There are new bolts & a chain for the rap off the east end of the first buttress. The chain is set too far back from the lip & is likely to make pulling your rope impossible from below. On 6/29/02 I found a party stranded at the bottom of the rappel unable to pull their ropes. They were lucky I showed up or they would have had to climb back up to the rap anchors. I left a sling & biner in order to correct the situation but it would be nice if the rap station was equiped with chains that went over the lip in order to keep ropes from getting stuck. Jim Berg

Interesting rec.climbing post on someone hand-drilling on [Hallett]...

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&>>>>>

The sling and 'biner referred to by Jim Berg [were] gone by Aug 10th. I added a doubled 1" tape sling and two rap rings. I hope these last longer than Jim's sling! What the hell are people thinking, stealingfixed gear from a rap anchor? Kudos to the ASCA for placing the bolts, even if they are a little far back.

We had no problems pulling the first rap, I don't think there is any problem with the chain length. However, rap with only one rope, it may be that doing the 2 rope rap makes pulling much harder. The second rap anchor is a solid horn, but rodents have been chewing through the slings, check them carefully! It would be great to put a cable or something more permanent here.

[Hallett] is made of some of the coolest rock I've ever seen. It is generally quite solid and has lots of face holds. Does anybody know the geological name for this rock?

Every time I do another route on it, I'm amazed by all the face holds. It is a lot of fun until you realize that cracks are not that common and you just ran it out 20' to what you thought was going to be a placement. Great climbing, but it tends to be a bit runout in spots.

I agree George, this is very gneiss rock!

The rap chains on [Hallett] seem fine. We did a two rope rap that worked great. I suggest moving the knot well over the edge as the ledge and the face of the wall are full of features that may catch the knot.

[Hallett] has gneiss rock, but don't take it for granite!!

If anyone is planning to climb here mid-week, the trail from Dream Lake to Emerald Lake is CLOSED for reconstruction (as of July 2004) on Tues, Wed, Thurs and Fri from 8am to 4:30pm. Scheduled completion is September 2004. The trail is open before 8am and if you want to come back down before 4:30am you'll be allowed through.

Based on our experience on the [Northcutt-Carter] the other day, the route goes at 5.8 these days. Start right of the white scar, ie right of the point where the first 2 pitches fell off the cliff some time ago. Climb up and right for about 40 meters and belay. (I may have forgotten an intermediate pitch here). Then climb up and left around a short, steep, somewhat loose arete, and join the original route at the bottom of the 5.8 crack (variation) on the 3rd pitch, at a now-hanging belay. Beware - it's not clear why the flake, around which this belay's fixed slings are draped, did not fall off with the rest of the first 2 pitches. The 5.6 climbing to the left of the 5.8 variation fell off with the first 2 pitches, and the 5.8 variation is now mandatory, resulting in an upgrade of the route from 5.7 to 5.8. There is another belay stance, with room for 2 climbers, above the steep section that lies at the top of 5.8 crack. From that stance, traverse up and right, fighting your way past 2 small shrubs, and climb up and left at a small arete, then back left to a comfortable belay when the angle subsides. There is a direct line between the stance above the 5.8 variation and this comfortable belay, but there is little protection, apart from a fixed wire, and this line seems to be about 5.9. The balance of the route follows the original line. I use the term "line" loosely. There are several really long runouts while slab climbing on steep ground in the middle of this route, and the line wanders quite a lot. Keep an eye out for widely spaced old fixed pins, which show the way. This route is not a reasonable objective for the average 5.8 climber. I recall that there are fixed stances, consisting of slings around flakes, at many of the belays.

Found an old white Petzl Ecrin helmet today in Emerald Lake near the climbers trail to Hallet Peak! Contact me through my account here for its return.