Central Ramp

I really liked this route. It has a little lichen and loose rock but no more than most of the other alpine walls in the park. The long approach means that you have a good chance of being the only party on the mountain. (although if there is another climbing party, it will likely be on this route) The climbing is sustained in the 5.7 - 5.8 range and offers a little bit of everything... snow, stemming, laybacks, hand cracks, chimneys etc. You won't see the storms coming from the west but you'll get some terrific views of Wild Basin!

To reach the base of the route you have a few options. A) Climb the obvious snow tongue on the left. B) Climb a couple easy pitches starting just to the right of the snow. C) Climb the ramp, which approaches from the bottom right. (4th class and loose) I started down this ramp once and quickly decided that it was too nasty. It is probably better going up. My preference is the snow if it is soft enough to kick steps.

Once you're above the snow/easy pitches/ramp, an easy scramble up flower-covered grassy ledges and white rock leads to the base of the route proper. This description assumes you are using 60-meter ropes.

(1) The guidebook says to climb a 5.5 chimney on the right. I haven't climbed this pitch but it looks somewhat boring. A nice alternative is the beautiful 5.8 dihedral on the left. It has decent pro and offers some excellent stemming.

(2) From the top of the first pitch, you have a choice of following the huge right-facing dihedral up the left edge of the ramp or a left-facing dihedral/crack system that runs up the center/right side of the ramp. This is a description of the right option. Stretch the rope up to a small ledge below a 3-foot roof that runs diagonally up and to the right. 5.7

(3) Traverse up and right staying under the roof until you reach a large chimney with lots of features, including a couple choke stones. Continue up this chimney until it is possible to exit left onto a short ramp/ledge system. This is another long pitch. 5.7

(4) Climb up the left edge of the obvious cleft via laybacks, stems, and jams and continue past another choke stone to belay under a large roof. 5.8

(5) From under the roof, climb a short wall on the west side via a shallow right-facing dihedral. Then continue up another 30 feet to a nice hand crack in an open corner. From the top of the hand crack, a ramp leads up and right to the top of the route. 5.8

The descent also offers a few options. A) Descend to the south and then the southeast to gain the grassy southeast face of Alice and follow this back to east side of Alice. B) Descend to the south along the Continental Divide until you reach Boulder Grand Pass. Descend on the north side of the snow and take the pass back to the Thunder Lake trail. C) Descend to the north via Hourglass Ridge (class 3) until you reach the saddle between Alice and Chief's Head. Turn southeast and follow the obvious ridge back to the Lion Lake trail.

A typical alpine rack up to 2" will suffice. Bring more if you want to sew it up.