In mid-August, Justin Griffin and Kyle Dempster went into the Deep Lake area to explore Haystack Mountain and work on free climbing the upper part of an old Jeff Lowe aid line at the southern end of the wall. Steve Bechtel had previously tried to free the bottom of the climb. After a week of work, including placing a few bolts, they found a great line weaving in and out of the aid route, and were confident their line would go free.

In the beginning of September they invited me to come and try the route with them. We horse-packed into Deep Lake and spent a week climbing on the route and trying the crux pitches. On September 6 we tried the route from the ground up. The weather was perfect­—almost too hot. We succeeded in climbing the 11-pitch route to the top, free climbing up to 5.13b, but were unable to free the fourth pitch, which currently stands at 5.13 A0. The climbing includes everything from steep roofs and offwidths to very delicate slab climbing. We tentatively called the route the Lowe Spark.