When traveling uphill from the east on State Route 20 toward Washington Pass, several distinct granite panels are seen to the southeast after passing the Silver Star massif. They are regularly spaced along a 2/3-mile stretch of road, their bases approximately half a mile away and 1,500’ above. Black Horse Rock and the regularly summited Petit Cheval are on the northeast margin of this area, while the tallest cluster of panels, which we dubbed High Horse (7,280’), lies at the southwest extent, before reaching the highway hairpin. This cluster—though in view of the popular Liberty Bell—had no recorded climbs, perhaps because of the unappealing approach slopes or nearby high-quality routes.

This summer, a strained ring-finger pulley facilitated my previously eschewed exploration of this area. On August 16, Steph Williams and I approached up sparsely vegetated slopes from the hairpin, traversing to the toe of the lowest panel. Our general plan was climb the edge of these panels, which probably contained the cleanest yet only periodically steep stone, and reconnoiter weaknesses on the broad, stacked faces to the left. Steph led the first panel by way of mostly low-fifth moves. Traversing the few meters of scree and dirt that separated us from the next panel, we arrived at a shield-splitting crack.

A little more than two rope lengths led past pleasant cracks ranging in width from tight fingers to fists. Upon reaching the top of the second panel, we could hardly rein in our excitement: A vertical-walled hallway less than 2m wide and 35m deep divided the big upslope panel. This otherwise hidden hall is composed of the finest grained stone found in the Washington Pass area, abiotic-clean and graced with four vertical cracks. We dubbed it the Hall of Cracks. We chose the hand-size option, and nearly 200m of well-protected and fun climbing up corners and the left margin of the panel concluded our ascent: Unbridled Enthusiasm (550m, IV 5.10+).

After unleashing a stampede of loose talus down a gully on the backside, we opted to scramble and rappel to a point just above the toe of tallest panel. From here a rolling traverse toward the hairpin intersected our stashed packs and ascent track.

– Seth Keena