Woodnote Arete

2 stars as a TR set up (belaying from above at the tree ledge, or with some creative extensions of the anchor with a 70m rope from below )  from the tree ledge at the end-of-P1 of Hugo's Horror. (You have to climb Hugos: about 5.7 past the bolts, or 5.4 staying in the gully and then breaking out right.  Leading Woodnote there is only the protection afforded by an oak tree branch about 25 ft up, hence the "X".

It is also unclear whether this climb and Todd Swain's "Sputnik" are exactly the same route. Webster listed only Woodnote in the 1986 (2nd ed.) White Mtn Guide (but did list many of Todd Swain's other routes both on Willard and throughout the White Mtns).

From the very toe of the slab at the base of Cinema Gully/Hugo's Horror, hike up the steep, gravelly "path" to the right.  START about 50 ft up, at the big oak tree at the very highest point on the path, before the path drops down to the bases of "Time-Space" and "Across the Universe".

Step down and left a bit, then climb up a right-ish leaning "dike-gully" 15-20 ft and then move right onto the "crest" of the rounded arete. If leading, sling the tree branch (your ONLY protection) and then continue near the crest of the arete.  About 50-60 ft up you pass just to the left of a rotten (no pro here!) flake that juts downward.  Continue, finishing on the left at the tree island of "Hugo's Revisited."

The climb was surprisingly clean and needed only an occasional bit of brushing.

The tree branch