Brian Prince, Brandon Thau, and I completed a route that ascends the tallest and cleanest headwall on the Spring Lake Wall, a backcountry gem. All three of us were excited by the improbable look of the intimidating line after repeating Angels and Demons, established in 2020 by Dave Nettle and Clayton Helzer (AAJ 2021). We ended up putting two days of work into the line on that trip, but both days finished with thunderstorms chasing us off.

For the second trip, I brought along a cheap backpack covered with images from the popular show “Friends,” which I’d bought from Walmart with the intention of using it as a lightweight haul bag. I’ve done that several times in the past, without any trouble. However, the pack lasted only half a pitch of hauling before exploding. All of our extra cams, headlamps, water, and food fell to the talus field. The only logical solution was for me to hike out, drive home, and grab the extra rack, headlamps, clothes, and water bladders, and a real haul pack. I didn’t get much sleep but was back at the base of the wall at 8 o’clock the next morning.

This allowed us to complete the route, which worked out like magic. Pitch after pitch of varied crack climbing, connected by sections of fun face and even an all-out dyno. The route was sustained at 5.10 to 5.11 all the way until the summit ridge. All three of us recommend the route: Friends (1,500’, 5.11b). This beautiful wall has high-quality climbing and a mild approach for an alpine wall at altitude.

— Vitaliy Musiyenko