Italian Arete

This is one of the top 5.9 Eldo pitches for anyone comfortable on Eldo 5.10. Perhaps not recommended for the aspiring and nervous leader cutting their teeth on 5.9!

The pitch has everything, thin face about 40 feet up, with sparse gear, wild laybacking over the halfway roof, a sqeeze chimney (yes!) and finally steep handjamming right at the top, where the 150 foot of exposure over the Upper Ramp feels more like several hundred feet of air over South Boulder Creek. Add to this a few pigeons, some suspect holds here and there, very few chalkmarks, and definitely no crowds. All in all, this pitch has atmosphere out of all proportion to its rating, hence the name, which I'm sure comes from the similarity to the steep juggy climbing on slightly dubious rock found in the Dolomites.

On a practical note, (ho-hum) this route is located atop the Upper Ramp, left of Upper Ruper and the huge shallow cave, and ascends a proud arete. Start to the left, run it out up an easy face, then move right to the main face. Up thin face here, then join the obvious crack. Stop when the rock doesn't go up anymore. Rap Chockstone Chimney back the base. If you'd rather not use long slings on everything, you can belay just below the halfway roof, but I find it hard to stop....

Bring a regular selection of Eldo gear. No RPs needed, and make sure you have a couple 2.5 or 3" cams.