Starting in September 2014, Sam Bendroth and I began establishing and free climbing a route on the 1,300’ seaside cliff Blow Me Down. Our route is just right of Lucifer’s Lighthouse (AAJ 2007) and shares its initial 20’. On this initial trip, we freed the first four pitches, including the crux, ground-up.

This summer we went from the top down to find a line through the upper section of the cliff—an area with a few roofs and lots of features. After a few days of work we put it together and cleaned the fixed lines.

The route has 12 pitches, including one 5.12a and six 5.11 pitches—all 5.11c or harder, with the exception of one 5.11a pitch. It feels pretty stacked by the end of it. Of the middle eight pitches there is only one easy pitch, a short and wet 5.9. I freed the 5.12a pitch on my second try, pulling ropes and stripping the gear between attempts. All the other pitches were led on the first go with one notable exception: after falling off a very hard slab section high on the route—many times—we pulled the ropes and traversed around this crux section, joining Lucifer’s Lighthouse for a bit of easy terrain. From here we regained our line and continued to the top without any more shenanigans.

We called it The Betrayer of Hope (12 pitches, 5.12a), after a character from the Wheel of Time fantasy novel series, which Sam was reading.

– Bayard Russell, USA