Ascent Notes for: Totem Pole - 5.11a popular Average Rating : 4.73/5

On my os attempt I got a little right of the route after the traverse, I put all my weight on a seemingly solid jug which appareantly wasnt feeling very immanent. Pulled it off and took a 25 foot fall, swinging back around to the front side. After cheering out some adrenaline I looked up to see that the rope had caught between a v and the sheath had çut, exposing four feet of core. Got back on after a few minutes and got the rest clean, bring a .75 for the top.

Classic! An AZ most do! I did it in a single pitch easily with no rope drag using alpine draws. The crux at the top stymied me for a bit. just had to get my feet high and make the reach to the crimp, slot micro nuts deep in the crack and you will be well protected to make the move. The route potential in Lower Devil's is seeming endless. Kudos to the FA!

logging in to report my 4 th ascent,since late 90's.
Second was with Fritzski(1/20/2004)..
Today with Nestor G 1/24/2011. Enjoyed each crux. I use the
tiny single finger pocket just right of thin seam ( nut place) as a transition to reach finish. CM

My buddy Andy set a fixed line on the top. I jugged and aided my way through pitches 1 & 2 with 1 arm. An awesome day!

So Glad I got the OS! The first crux took me a minute to figure out.

my bad

Went on a very cold day. My fingers hert so bad. Used a #3 then a #2 rock empire nuts near the top.

Amazing route. Probably one of the best route I have been on in QC. Also it was the scariest and hardest route I have lead on gear. It takes little bit of bush whacking to get over to the bottom of Totem Pole's base. Even though this route has some bolts, I am not certain this should be considered sport route. Climbing just with quickdraw will make you pee your pants. I had to pull on half pad mono finger on some moves while only protected by small stoppers. Crux move for the route was certainly protectable with a stopper and I would definitely take a set.

Pitch1:
About 65-70 feet long. Although guidebook says 5 bolts, I've only found 4 bolts. Maybe someone removed bottom bolt because it can be protected with small cams??? Although moves aren't very hard, I used 0.4 Camalot to protect the bottom section. Otherwise, you will be soloing about 25 feet to first bolt.

Pitch 2:
About 50 feet long. It is certainly thin climbing moves. Crux move can be protected using BD #6 or BD #7 stopper, and the main stopper can be backed up (I certainly recommend this) using ~#5 stopper right underneath the most common stopper placement.

Getting Down:
Check and make sure sling is in good shape! You rap from home-made rap ring (I left an old bail biner on top to double up on a home-made rap ring) to top of the pitch 1. Rap once more from top of the pitch 1 to the ground.

Amazing climb up this pillar. I had to rest at the two cruxes, but was able to quickly work past them after a good look/rest. The upper crux is much easier on TR and the extra height over the leaders didn't hurt any. =)

Linked both pitches with no problem (2' runners helpful). small nuts are good to have for the end of P2.