Sorry you misread the phrase "well-spaced" bolts. But "well-spaced" does have a pretty distinct meaning and it's not the same as pleasantly spaced. Are those bolts still old, rusty quarter inchers like they were when. I did the route? How did the rest of my description work?
I can't quite decide if my reading comprehension deficiency this time was actually blessing in disguise or not. Not sure if I had correctly interpreted the phrase "well-spaced", I would have gone that way. Can't say I was blindsided by the runout nature of that pitch variation because I did read, before our ascent, an MP comment specifically calling it 5.10aR, but I still did not expect the wide spacing down lower with a potential ledge fall or the 30'+ spacing between the 3rd and 4th bolts. To be honest, I think I did know what you meant by calling it "well-spaced", but I twisted my mind to misinterpret it just so that I would not be intimidated by it. It all worked out.
The scarce bolts on the route -- 2 belay bolts on the top of Pitch 1 and 4 on Pitch 4 10a variation -- are all in good shape, the result of the
2012 bolt replacement effort.
I was a bit disappointed in myself that the route took us way longer than I had expected before hand. Mind you, Starr Struck took us 2 hrs 40 minutes (Chris leading all pitches with me following on microtraxions), but West Face took us 6hrs 45 mins bottom to top. That said, an MP comment mentioned 11 hours on the climb, so maybe I shouldn't be too hard on myself. Chris followed the route on microtraxions (as in the "
fix and follow" system) at a normal speed, so the slow down was all mine. I don't recall going ridiculously off route (like I did on Pitch 9 of My Favorite Things), but I did have to consult with your description in the middle of my lead a few times due to my doubts about the direction to go despite having studied the description at each belay. That said, most of the time sink probably happened in those slab sections (esp. on Pitch 4) when I would really study the blank, often poorly protected, slab face to devise a plan before executing moves. It's funny how time sinks when one is just "thinking".
The description of Pitches 1-4 did match up, for the most part, with what we followed, but I was sure that I did not set up my belay stations higher up according to your description because my stops were purely dictated by what 2-3 pieces of gear I had left on my harness and where the least hollow cracks could be found when I was getting close to the end of our 70m rope. Both Pitches 6 and 7 were almost full rope length for me. I must have picked a wrong direction to head up on Pitch 7 before topping out. With the exfoliating rocks -- flakes, corners, roofs -- everywhere, it appears that many climbers found route finding challenging on West Face, a common theme in folks' MP comments, but I doubt you can really do much better in your description. So, thank you for your description, Brad. In the end, it did get us to the top safely whether or not I followed it correctly.
Chris took this photo of me leading out onto the 5.10a slab variation of Pitch 4 protected by the "well spaced" bolts.
P.S. my recap of the weekend that I shared with others (mostly non-climbers):
This past weekend was my first backpacking climbing trip in 16 years. The destination was a hidden gem in the Sierra -- Mount Starr King. Had the dome/area to ourselves for the entire weekend even though the dome offers great scenery and excellent climbing. We drove out of the Bay Area on Saturday morning, backpacked in with water, dropped our pack at the saddle after going up and over the middle dome to avoid bushwhacking, and blasted up a new -- established in 2018 -- excellent climb called "Starr Struck" (5.8 8 pitches). We then carried our packs back up to the summit via "SE Face" (5.2, 3 pitches) just in time to watch the gorgeous sunset, almost apocalyptic due to the haze. Sunday morning, I got to witness a dramatic sunrise from behind Mount Clark from our camp on the summit. We went down and around the dome and climbed a historic old-school route called "West Face" (5.10a R variation, 7 pitches). The sun set during our long hike out and we made it back to the Bay Area early Monday morning, tired but content.