Alyse (wife), Dan (professor merrick) and I walked over piute pass and camped nearby with the intent of checking out the north aretes on Pilot Knob. some of them looked kinda crappy and loose, so we roped up on the central north arete for what looked like some fun climbing. it was mostly 5.fun with sections of 4th class and a few touches of 5.7 and 5.8. we stayed true on the arete the whole time and never deviated into the gullies for two reasons. one: that would have been lame, and two: the rock was more enjoyable. we bent a 185 foot rope in half and did a combo of belaying, simuling and fake belaying using postured shoulder belay stances. the climbing was fun. the route approx. 1000ft. the other aretes were crap and loose...so obviously we chose the right one. the route was surprisingly clean and of good quality....reminiscent of the west butt on mt conness. unclear if anyone has climbed this route prior...but unlikely. peak register 12,200ft went back to 2005 with all ascendees seemingly coming up the 2nd class saddle. Alyse kept track of us from lake alsace. we would wake her up periodically by trundling rocks while smoking cigs. all in all a fun time.
