Guides' Day Off on Day Tooth

I've been meaning to climb with Kurt all summer, so I was psyched when our schedules finally worked out.  We only had a day, and we were both feeling a bit on the low end of the fuel gauge.  Kurt had a great idea - checking out the East Face of the The Tooth, a route that sees practically no traffic compared to the South Face.

This route was a lot longer than we expected:
P1 - 200', low 5th - this pitch could be broken into two, and probably should to protect the belayer from rock fall
P2 - 80', 5.6
P3 - 200', 4th class slab
P4 - 80' 150', 5.6 with 3rd class schrubbery
P5 - 80', 5.8
P6 - 140' 180', 5.8

Our big observation - the rock itself was super solid and compact.  It was only the amount of loose rocks sitting on ledges and sills that detracted from the climbing.  This is a route that deserves a bit of time to sweep and clear the looseness off.  And the compact nature of the rock meant that the protection was sparse, especially on the lower grade pitches.  It will never be as classic as the South Face, but that can be a plus too - on a weekday we rappeled past three teams making their way up the South Face in a slow fashion.

I was home 12 hours after leaving the house.

Statistics:  The Tooth (5604'), East Face (III 5.8, 775', 7 pitches).  12 September with Kurt Hicks.