Drop The Mic

First things first, this thing needs to see some traffic. It’s mega!

Four years ago after bailing on

Desperado

due to warm temperatures and our friend Dave nearly dying from rockfall, we hiked further right to a big cave. Phil and I had spotted ice in this big cave on the occasional fat year. Upon getting to the base, I was blown away at what this route would turn into.

After Phil and I completed

Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It

years ago, I vowed to never come back. I felt like I couldn't push harder into M8 X boltless terrain. Drop The Mic was a vision that took many years: bolting all pitches ground up on lead, pushing as far as we could between bolts and gear, encountering the death sweats at many points while putting the pitches up.

The first two pitches are some of the finest pitches in the alpine, going out an improbable roof - never dangerous but nonetheless scary. Pitch 7 might be the actual crux of the route - dramatic, scary, slightly overhanging, and hard. Finally, in December of 2021, we completed the first ascent, all pitches free in a day. Where else can you find a ten pitch M8 route in the lower 48?

Our hope was to add the least amount of bolts as possible. Bolts are where you need them, not where you want them. Expect some R/X climbing in the M4 and below range with some occasional M5/6 R. Expect a pretty big day. For the first free ascent, we climbed the first three pitches in the dark, which was riveting.

As far as finding the best conditions, cold weather is great for the moss sticks but hard for the bare handed climbing you have on the route. Warmer weather in the 30s is great for the barehanded climbing but not great for the moss. We free climbed P7 in "warmer" weather, and this pitch felt solid for the grade.

Spot the biggest cave on the dark side. To the right of

BBB

and

Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It

but before you get to

Dirty Minds

, there is a PBR at the base to mark the start.

P1 (M8 20m). Spot the first two bolts high on the left side of the cave. Climb some shitty rock to where you can place two cams. Commit to the hanging dihedral. This is a little scary with the ledge below, but the hooks are good. Clip two bolts, place some gear, and traverse right to the crux. Clip two more bolts, and mantel into the cave. Run it out to the bolted anchor. This pitch is classy and steep. The belay sort of sucks, but with rope drag and all, it's recommended not to link into the next pitch. Protect with a single rack up from 0.3 to 0.75. On a phat year, a dagger hangs off the lip. We never caught it in this condition!

P2 (5.11- 30m). Put away your tools. This is an amazing rock pitch - totally cool and wild! - like climbing at Shelf with all the cool pockets. Start your journey up through 7 spaced bolts. Sometimes this pitch felt like 5.11, and other times it felt like 5.10, so we settled on 5.11-. End at a double bolt anchor. This is the last bad belay stance. Just draws are needed for this pitch.

P3 (M4 40m). Climb up the dirty mossy groove for about 50 feet placing wide gear. Then arrive at a bolt on your right. Extend it, and traverse right onto the slab. Climb up, clip another bolt on the slab, and mantel onto the ledge. Slog up, and climb up another groove on the right off the ledge for about 20 feet to another ledge and a bolted anchor. The second bolt on this pitch was added later. I had a riveting time on the FA running it out without it. Bring the big gear.

P4 (M4 35m). Climb the obvious chimney on the left to another ledge, and find some tat on a tree at a ledge. Big gear is useful.

P5 (M3 slog, 50m). Traverse easy snow straight left to a snowy, slab gully. Take this up to a short crack and another tree anchor on the left below the imposing headwall above.

P6 - (M6 R 35m). Climb the "Mitten" crack above. There are two obvious cracks. Take the right one. Clip a bolt at the start, and start running it out to some creative gear. Pull the crux off of this, and run it out to a ledge (M6 R). This part is pretty scary, but it's all there. Continue up the crack that leads to a tree belay on a ledge. Bring the whole rack above 0.3.

P7 (M8 30m) .The "F**k Average" pitch. This pitch was sort of a horror show to bolt. I placed the first 3 or 4 bolts. After getting pretty worked mentally, Phil took over. He ran it out above the bolt I placed. He tried to place another one, but the drill ran out of battery. He was then forced to place some not great gear and do an X rated runout to the top on pretty hard terrain. Two bolts were added after this, so no one would have to risk their life again, but still, the pitch is pretty full on. Start with a committing M7/8? traverse left over the void. The difficulty is dependent on if your tools hold on the small slopers. Then journey up the well spaced bolts and gear. A #6 is nice to have for the top. This is sustained! There is a bolted anchor on the left at the ledge.

P8 (5.11- M6 40m). Scott put this pitch up over three hours and cleaned an extreme amount of choss off the pitch. Climb up the chimney to some bolts on the left face. Traverse left into the corner at a bolt, about M6. Climb the 5.11- slightly overhung OW corner to a bolted belay on a ledge while clipping the occasional bolt and placing gear. This is a really cool pitch. Bring the whole rack above 0.3.

P9 (M5 PG-13/R 40m). Clip the high bolt, and traverse straight left into a right-facing dihedral. Climb for a bit to a bolt. Place some gear higher up, and cut left straight up to a tree (not right into the corner). Follow three bolts that lead up and right across the slab to a bolted anchor on a ledge. This pitch has a cool position. Our original vision was to take the line straight out of the prow roof above, but very very muddy rock deterred Phil on an attempt.

P10 (5.9 M4 R/X 55m). Climb the chimney on the right for 55m. At first, it has good gear, then there is some mandatory M4 R/X runouts, but the climbing is secure. At the top, climb into the left groove not the right. Some well-protected, steep 5.9 leads you to the top with a good tree anchor. Bring your small gear for the top of this pitch.

Rappel back down. Enjoy not sketchy anchors for a change on the Dark Side. Watch the knots over the lip. Two 60m ropes are needed. Start the first rap off the tree further on the ledge climber's right of the big prow. This drops you directly down at the top of P9.

Cross the river, and climb the gully right below the cave to the start.

Doubles from #0.1 to #4 and a single #5 and #6. Big gear is very useful on many of the pitches. Draws. No pins are needed now. Although carrying a Specter and Pecker is never a bad thing on this side.