30+ years after doing the first ascent of the East Face of Cloud Peak with Steve Petro, Arno Ilgner came back to put up another line.  This gorgeous climb starts on a long, diagonal black dike which consists mostly of 4th class climbing.  The FA party chose to rap in from the top directly to the start of the fifth class climbing and skip the scramble, which we recommend for those who choose to camp on top of the route.

The climb is ~1200 feet on mostly solid stone.  The FA party did the climbing off the diagonal dike in 6 very long pitches, but it could easily be done in 8.  All the belay anchors are bolted (just bolts, no rings except for one) - there are 8 bolted anchors overall including at the top of the wall.  The below description is for how the FA party climbed, with the exception of P. 1:

P. 1 - Scramble diagonally up and left along a big, broken up black dike, if you start from the glacier.  Make a belay at a narrow right-facing dihedral, about 30 feet before the dike meets the flake system of the 2nd pitch. ~400 feet, 4th class to very easy 5th.

P. 2 - Follow flake and crack systems via straightforward but strenuous laybacking to a bolted belay to the right of another thin black dike, this time a more vertical one.  Rock is OK but hollow in places and still a decent amount of lichen on it.  ~200 feet, 5.10

P. 3 - Follow the technical and balancey black dike up and slightly left to a bolted belay, can be broken up into two pitches at an intermediate bolted belay.  Small cams help with the start of this pitch.  Also, there’s a left-facing, vertical, sharp edge above the small cams that could cause concerns for rope damage if the leader falls. Add longer slings or modify the location of the belayer to avoid this edge.  ~200 feet 5.11-

P. 4 - Crux pitch.  Traverse up and right from the belay through a series of thin, technical, boulder problems.  Great rock and very tricky, thought provoking movement.  Plenty of excellent rests between cruxes, with the final crux being the last V4/5ish boulder problem - pulling through a crimpy bulge on the best rock on the whole route.  This pitch is all bolted except for two gear placements - a #3 BD on the first boulder problem and a #0.4 BD a bit higher up. NB: Either do some easy downclimbing or lower 5-10 feet to the base of a shallow, left-facing dihedral (first boulder problem) from the belay to start this pitch rather than traversing right directly off the belay.  ~100 feet, 5.12-

P. 5 - More or less straight up from the belay at the top of the crux pitch.  Some laybacking and a very short, rightward traverse (fun and balancey) to the next belay.  You don't need to go all the way left to some very large flakes, they won't make the pitch easier.  ~100 feet 5.9ish.

P. 6 - Follow a somewhat licheny chimney system off the belay for about 170 feet to a long (~50 foot), right-trending ramp.  If you are hauling gear with you, the bag can easily get stuck in the chimney, but it is very easy for the 2nd to free the bag as they climb (lots of stances).  If you decide to have the second free the bag as they climb, make sure to clip the haul line into a directional piece (for us, a #3 BD) right at the beginning of the ramp, otherwise the bag will swing away from their reach.  The second can unclip the line from there - the bag will swing to beneath the belay at the top of the ramp and should be easy to haul straight from there.  You could also potentially haul the bag directly to the next belay right away without redirecting the haul line, thus avoiding the chimney altogether - this may be easier but we didn't try it.  It is also easy to run out of gear by the time you get to the ramp, which can make for a major runout, but the ramp itself is very easy (5.5 or easier), though it can get wet in spots from seepage.  ~200 feet 5.8

P. 7 - Do a crux through a short, shallow right-facing dihedral right off the belay for about 40 feet to gain a left-leaning diagonal black ramp/dike with some technical and tricky climbing on interesting angular holds.  There are two bolts on this pitch to protect some of the climbing on the dike.  Save a #2 or #3 BD to protect the final, short, burly chimney before the topout.  When topping out be very careful of small loose rocks - the topout is a bit of a funnel of sorts and stones and dirt can wash down it.  ~200 feet 5.11-

Overall this route presents a wide variety of thought-provoking, fun climbing, up a natural line on mostly clean and solid rock, with bolted belays, in a stark and beautiful alpine setting.  See location section below for camping beta.

Arno named the route "In Honor of Crazy Horse" in homage to the history the Oglala Lakota/Sioux and in particular Crazy Horse himself have in the Bighorn Mountains.

In Honor of Crazy Horse

A Shimmering Abstraction

Medicine Crow

This circa early 1980's route is on the east face cirque.

This is likely the second full-length route on the East Face. It was climbed ground up over 4 days in July of 2016. There are six double-bolt rappel stations, 4 of which can be used for belay anchors. No bolts were placed as protection, but pitons were necessary to avoid an X-rated first pitch, which is 5.9. The climbing is sustained and either good or awesome the entire way, but there are some run outs, not least of which on the crux pitch (pitch 4, the way we climbed it).

The crux pitch is a 5.11+ golden roof. The crux itself protects alright, but there is maybe 20 feet of 5.10 climbing after you pull it that is unprotected. It might be a little scary, but man is it fun.

The last pitch is also 5.11, and tops out spectacularly on the summit plateau of Cloud Peak, the tallest in the Bighorns. Really incredible positioning.

There is a large ledge about 2/3 up the wall. Here the route connects for a pitch and a half with A Shimmering Abstraction, but we believe the final top-out pitch is independent (and awesome).

I will post a better description and a topo, but for now if you are interested, email me directly and I can give you beta.

As with any alpine route, there is loose rock, but overall the rock quality was quite good.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Cloud Peak East Cirque