I saw this route added to Mountain Project and climbed it a few weeks later.
I think my ascent with Sam might have been the second ascent of the route. I led all the pitches. The route is sandy, but so is everything else in Arches. There are no fixed anchors for belays, so you can’t bail from the route.
In addition to the Mountain Project beta, here are some of my notes.
Approach: We parked at the 2nd pullout west of the Garden of Eden. It’s the pullout with the sign pointing up to Pothole Arch. The little 5.3 corner on the approach is easy to solo if you’ve got approach shoes on.
Pitch 1: Very short 5.8++++ awkwardness. I used a #2 and a #3 in a crack on the ground to belay up the second. A #4 could have worked, too, but I didn’t have one.
Pitch 2: Easy slabs with minimal pro lead to a crack with really cool pockets. Setting up the belay is a bit tricky and the placements aren’t very good.
Pitch 3: Starts with a 5.7+ sandy lieback. I got a couple of pieces (.5 and .75 Camalot) in the “unprotected” crack. The chimney part above is really fun.
The descent rappel is about 130 feet.
Beta photo with the approach marked.
Sam coming up the 5.3 section on the approach.
Me on the 4th class approach section.
Sam below the awkward first “pitch” that is all of 15 feet long.
Looking up the slabby second pitch.
Sam coming up pitch 2.
My mediocre pitch 2 anchor.
Me at the base of the final pitch.
Sam coming up the pitch 3 chimney.
Sam finding inner peace on the summit.
Me on top.
Panorama from the top.
Sam on the rappel.
Taking a look back at the second pitch on the way out.
Me with the summit above and to the left of me.
Elephant Butte (left) and Harkonnen Castle.