Wham Ridge without a rope

[JChitwood]

Great pictures of a route I’d love to do but probably should stay off. How about that helmet still on the pack. Wouldn’t help if you fell down I guess but might if someone kicked a rock from above.

[daway8]

How about that helmet still on the pack...

Lol, I've done that a time or two - bring a helmet for some technical pitch and then, once I get to the top I suddenly realize - oh, I forgot to put my helmet on! Oops...

[yaktoleft13]

https://www.14ers.com/usercontent/trips ... 2409251221

Here's the crux. That alcove/crack

This picture too, right? The cleft and rocks left of Brandon near the shadow match my picture above the crux. (as well as the group of rocks on the far right, and the triangle rock left of my foot, part of which shows up in Yaktoleft13's picture)

Kudos to Brandon on that being his first San Juan summit, by the way. Heck of an intro to the San Juans!

Yaktoleft13 from TR Above Crux.png

IMG_6249_S.jpg

Yep, that's the same! As for the helmet...Im pretty sure I do that half the time I bring one. Just forget it's there.

[zootloopz]

Here's a photo looking down from what I felt was the crux...

Looking at the ridge/left of your photo, I think you are above and further east of where I was at. In my picture looking down at what Marmot72 and I thought was the crux, there's a big cleft on the left. This cleft seems to be at the left of your photo, but right of the big pink loose rock.

Ha indeed! Are people sticking to the far right all the way up?

I remember using some sort of annotated photo for the route I took, but I can't seem to find it for reference. Felt 5.4, but didn't excite me enough to switch out of my trail runners.

[bdloftin77]

Ha indeed! Are people sticking to the far right all the way up?

I remember using some sort of annotated photo for the route I took, but I can't seem to find it for reference. Felt 5.4, but didn't excite me enough to switch out of my trail runners.

Yeah I think the easiest way up Wham is staying on the far right/ridge the whole way. But different variations follow the ramp part longer, and it looks like you went up a cool variation.

Okay, did a bit more research to confirm. Looked on mountain project - it mentions the casual route follows the ridge, but the center shift route stays on the ramp face.
https://www.mountainproject.com/route/1 ... wham-ridge
https://www.mountainproject.com/route/1 ... wham-ridge

[BKS]

Ben: glad you had success on wham and took some extra time to look at options. One thing that surprised me is that the cracks aren’t parallel to right hand ridge. So by following the cracks on the right side, it always leads to the ridge long before the upper mountain. Most of the cracks on right side will lead to that prominent ledge immediately below alcove crack. I remember that spot well and the steppy, angled ramp like feature (in your pic) you are calling a bypass. It looked temping, but it wasnt clear if there was a good exit back onto face to the left. It looked like the ragged drop off towards arrow could get rough quickly. So it’s good info that it is a good work around.

For me however, I didn’t think that was the crux. The final two pitches below the false summit and above the large ledge in a steep bowl like feature, I thought had harder moves- certainly steeper and not straight forward crack climbing like the alcove.

Prime route, many ways to do it.

[bdloftin77]

Ben: glad you had success on wham and took some extra time to look at options. Most of the cracks on right side will lead to that prominent ledge immediately below alcove crack. I remember that spot well and the steppy, angled ramp like feature (in your pic) you are calling a bypass. So it’s good info that it is a good work around.

For me however, I didn’t think that was the crux. The final two pitches below the false summit and above the large ledge in a steep bowl like feature, I thought had harder moves- certainly steeper and not straight forward crack climbing like the alcove.

Prime route, many ways to do it.

Thanks! To clarify for others, the bypass is even further right of the ramp, which itself is right of the crux. Bypass isn’t going up the ramp itself, it goes around behind. I edited and labeled the original photo for clarity. But yes, definitely a good option.

Yes, the route above is definitely not easy. I’d agree that there’s a lot of 4/5.0 terrain possibilities on the textured rock below the false summit, and it’s easy to get into low to mid class 5 in a hurry. Even with extremely good route finding it might not be possible to keep it at less than class 4.

[Jorts]

Here's a photo looking down from what I felt was the crux...

Looking at the ridge/left of your photo, I think you are above and further east of where I was at. In my picture looking down at what Marmot72 and I thought was the crux, there's a big cleft on the left. This cleft seems to be at the left of your photo, but right of the big pink loose rock.

Ha indeed! Are people sticking to the far right all the way up?

I remember using some sort of annotated photo for the route I took, but I can't seem to find it for reference. Felt 5.4, but didn't excite me enough to switch out of my trail runners.

I get the impression there are two distinct routes (not counting center shift): the one we took with the double crack that you took the photo of above, and one that traces along the ridge further climber's right where you can get on and off of the face. I don't distinctly remember that alcove in a few photos but I remember the double crack in your photo and felt that was probably the headiest section.

[bdloftin77]

I get the impression there are two distinct routes (not counting center shift): the one we took with the double crack that you took the photo of above, and one that traces along the ridge further climber's right where you can get on and off of the face. I don't distinctly remember that alcove in a few photos but I remember the double crack in your photo and felt that was probably the headiest section.

It does look pretty heady. What would you rate the double crack that zootloopz photographed?

BTW I edited my original picture and labeled things to make it a bit more clear.

[Jorts]

I get the impression there are two distinct routes (not counting center shift): the one we took with the double crack that you took the photo of above, and one that traces along the ridge further climber's right where you can get on and off of the face. I don't distinctly remember that alcove in a few photos but I remember the double crack in your photo and felt that was probably the headiest section.

It does look pretty heady. What would you rate the double crack that zootloopz photographed?

BTW I edited my original picture and labeled things to make it a bit more clear.

Easy 5th. Solid rock. Straightforward jamming feet and ample handholds in and around the parallel cracks. I had LS mutants on.

[seano]

I've done Vestal twice, once via Wham and once trying to follow Center Shift. My sense is that you shouldn't over-think it, as it's a choose-your-own-adventure route. There isn't a single mandatory way to do it if you can scramble low fifth, and it gets harder as you go, so you can always back off. If you are comfortable scrambling the second or third flatiron without a detailed route description, you'll be fine on Wham. If not, you should probably bring a partner and/or rope.

[andlours]

This is excellent information guys. Thanks for posting all the info .I’ve been wondering about this for a while.