Several years ago, Jon Pobst spotted a continuous link-up of cracks on the left side of Prusik Peak’s south face, just left of Solid Gold. Approaching the route on a Sunday evening, after a full day of climbing, neither of us had any expectations. It seemed farfetched to knock out a new five-pitch route in the four hours of remaining daylight. But four hours later, we were on the west ridge. Although it seemed possible the route had been climbed previously, we saw no signs of passage and other local climbers knew of no prior ascents. Either way, the thrill of the unknown was there and that’s what counts.

We decided to call our route Energizer Bunny (450’, 5.10+ A0) after the bunny ear–like appearance of the cracks at the end of the fourth pitch, where the route joins Solid Gold, and from our decision to climb the route at the end of a tiring day. The first pitch is a bit burly and dirty, but the cracks above are cleaner, and there are some excellent splitter crack sections. It was all free climbable at 5.8–5.10+ except for a 15’ section of 5.11+/5.12- terrain, where we pulled on gear. What an adventure!

– Steph Abegg