This mission started in April when Josh Wharton invited me to the Black Canyon’s South Chasm View Wall to have a look at freeing an old, obscure aid route called Harpua (V 5.11 A1, Gunther-Schoepflin, 1994). The line starts just right of the infamous Black Hole (VI 5.12b, Copp-Donson, 2001) and left of Bull Girl (VI 5.11 A4, Warren-Williams, 1996). [Bull Girl was free-climbed by Toper Donahue and Jared Ogden and dubbed Burlgirl (V 5.12- X, AAJ 2003).] That day we free-climbed a couple pitches and cleaned a third. Above the third pitch we bailed onto Black Hole. Subsequently, we figured out that much of Black Hole actually climbs Harpua; so in a way we were still on route after all.

I returned in the heat of August with Stephanie Bergner, and we freed the third pitch at 5.12- and then another easier pitch of new climbing. On the fifth pitch we set off across a face toward another unclimbed crack system. I drilled one bolt, and then we bailed for lack of time. Stephanie and I came back in September, and we climbed the entire route wall-style over two and half days, placing one more bolt, though we did not manage to free the route. Wanting to finish what we started, Josh Wharton and I returned on October 18 to free the entire line in 11 hours. Originally done in 15 pitches, Josh and I did it in 12 pitches. The route contains many pitches of 5.11 with two of 5.12.

In many ways, Event Horizon (1,500’, 5.12) is a series of variations. The route more or less links the first three pitches of Harpua to four pitches of new climbing. After the seventh pitch, the route follows Black Hole to the upper meadows and then ends on the standard Astro Dog finish. The name arose from getting pulled into the Black Hole despite trying to find an independent line to the upper meadow.

– Chris Kalous