There was no indication that Saturday would turn out exceptional. I barely slept the night before, worried about the gigantic smoky face looming above our campsite. My anxiety level was off the charts. My partner, Nick, had his own problem. A varmint ran off with one of his climbing shoes during the night and he was beating the bushes for the little rascal. The shoe was never found. I did not want to climb. I was scared. But Nick offered to go with one approach shoe and one climbing shoe and a half hour later, despite my misgivings, I was leading the first pitch on the vast east face of Peak 11280.

The face is massive and for all we know, unclimbed. Three weeks earlier we had climbed Sky Pilot, the awesome Northeast Arête of Peak 11,280. We were so captivated by the climbing, that we desired to came back for more. I shed my anxiety on the first four pitches which looked sketchy from camp, but were actually quite easy. The rock steepened by pitch 5 and poorly protect face climbing bypassed a series of overhangs to allow access to the upper face. Pitch 6 ended with a funky headwall to a crow's nest belay on Sky Pilot proper. We followed Sky Pilot for an additional 6 pitches to the summit. In total, the route was BIG, 12 pitches, all stretching our 60 meter rope.

Nick is a great partner. He kept me going when I wanted to bail. We named the climb "Flight 818 to Sky Pilot". Like its sister route, Sky Pilot, most of the pitches are 5.6 or easier. Pitch #5 (around the overhangs)is 5.9R and #6 is 5.8 or so. Let's call it Grade III, 5.9R. A person with good route finding skills may find an easier (and safer) variation to pitch 5.

The climb did not end at the summit. Our descent was down a scary path which bisects the north face of the adjacent (northern) unnamed peak. This narrow ramp was recently discovered by Marc Hanselman of Sawtooth Guides. Very freaky and exposed. Thanks a lot, Marc.

The dark smoky east face of Peak 11280.


Nick belaying on pitch 1 the black dihedral. (Hope this photo is no tilted.)


Pitch 3.


Nick leading pitch 4 as the route steepens.


The 6th pitch connects to Sky Pilot left if the diving board.


The Crow's Nest. Sky Pilot takes the Arête on the left and Flight 818 takes the face to the right.


We descended down a ramp on the steep north side (right).


Sunday brought blue skies. The red line marks the rout. The top is very foreshortened. There is still 6 pitches to go after reaching Sky Pilot.

This looks so awesome! Since I'm not entirely sure where this is I'm gonna wager on the White Clouds. Next guess would be the Pioneers. Where is this?

It's above the Wildhorse Mine near the Wildhorse Campground. It is a spectacular area, but you need to climb to treeline to see it.

I've probably seen this before then but never really looked closely. My favorite range continues to surprise me!

Well done, Pat.
That face looks pretty intimidating. I'd have a hard time sleeping as well.

I'm curious about the descent. You came down from the saddle between 11280 and Abel? Beta?

Way to go!

I'm always impressed with those that explore "terra incognita".


Looking at the photos that show all the loose stuff: now makes me ill, but I too used to believe loose rocks & R leads added to the spice of new routes.

Good job Pat! We did a similar variation in July:



We walked off the top to the SW, then south and back around easily. There was a climber's trail near the Wildhorse Lake south of 11280. This route is getting popular! (and rightfully so).

Great stuff Pat, and Sean too! You guys are really knocking it around out there. That's a cool peak and hard to miss from anywhere in Wildhorse basin. did your plan include linking up to Sky Pilot at the Crow's nest or did the rock just go to hell on you above the shield? It definitely looks dirty but it's hard to tell for sure in the photos.
I'm curious about the descent too, does it go down the ridge to the saddle and then just drop off into nothingness?

I've enjoyed sport climbing, I've paid my dues on big walls, questioned myself every time I get the screaming barfies on ice, heck I've even tollerated the dirty trail on Borah far too many times. But the real good stuff, the real cream of the crop is solid Alpine Trad climbing at 10,000 feet. I love, love, love just climbing tame, 5.6 to 5.9 pitch after pitch after pitch till the sun goes down. Its the stuff of romance, the stuff of adventure, that transforms you from what you were to what you are now.
I can relate to the nervous feelings you get looking up at the wall you hope to climb. Not sure if its possible, not sure if you have what it takes, but the rock will decide who can pass, and who will fail. I take comfort in knowing you can always bail. It might be expencive, but you can always go down. Unless of course you can't. LOL
Kevin

Well said Kevin. That route looks fun! Looks like I need to get back into the Pioneers . . .

Thank you all for the nice comments.

Sean, I wish we knew about your climb. We thought no one else had been up on the east face. That knowledge would have made us less nervous. Congratulations. It helps to know that the east arête is climbable as well.

I will attempt to answer your collective questions:

John and Wes, Besides Marc Hanselmans beta, we met Eric Leidecker at the base of the climb on Friday after he and his climbing partner, Diane, used the northern descent route following their successful ascent of Sky Pilot. The descent traverses the north side of the adjacent nameless Peak 11,400(?). It provides a quick way down, but is dangerous. You drop down to the saddle WNW of the Peak 11,280 summit and head down an outrageous scree slope which leads to a 600 foot cliff. You go left around an improbable corner and traverse along an angled ramp that varies from 30 to 4 feet wide and is sloped towards the abyss. We roped up a few times to give each other marginal body belays. It was very uncomfortable. Follow the ramp for hundreds of yards to safety. The ramp is likely covered with snow from October through July. It would make a good snow climb from the valley below.

There is a notch south of the summit on the east ridge which may provide a better (safer?) route back to the valley. I dont know.

Wes, We had no real plan when we started up. We could see a faint ledge system traversing the face at mid height and we wanted to use it to get in the middle of the face. From that point, we simple wanted to go up. We followed the protection. The white rock is cleaner than the black rock, so we stayed on the white rock. The protection eventually led us back to Sky Pilot. We really did not aim for the NE arête.

Thanks Pat, I've been in there and looked at that as a possible descent but immediately wrote it off as too gnarly. I wasn't sure from your description it it was the same line, Yikes! I asked Marc how the pro was shortly after he and Drew put up Sky Pilot. He said it was pretty adequate and although they ran it out in places, there was still pro to be had, they just passed it by. from your photos, the face looks pretty thin in places. Did it improve once you got to the arete?

In general, the protection on this rock is great. The arete is long and relatively easy. To do it fast, you only put in a few pieces per pitch. The same is true of the face route we did, the lower 4 pitches were relatively easy and protection was there when you needed it. Pitch 5 went left of the overhangs seen in Photo 4 and then did this dicey traverse back above the overhangs to a long crack. Pitch 5 was out of character with the rest of the route. It was runout on bad pro. But like I wrote earlier, you could probably find a better way. There are countless options. I was simply moving fast and not looking around for alteratives. Bring a set of stoppers and cams up to 3 inches and you will be fine. The best protection is long slings.

How long was the approach? Do you think it would be reasonable to do this car to car?

From the road in front of the Wildhorse mine to the rope-up point of Peak 11280 is about 2 hrs. The climb from there should take another 6 hrs. That translates into 11 or 12 hrs car-to-car. The beauty of a one day trip is you can descend the south side and walk back to the road without returning to the base of the climb.