Can anyone here tell us the degree of the wall? More than a 45 degree pitch? Looks very steep, almost like a 90 degree ladder. (And I’m assuming there is a different way back down.......)
“And I’m assuming there is a different way back down.”
It’s the only way for a hiker to get up and down. Unless one want’s to do a swan dive off the front face.
It varies from piece-of-cake to holy-sh!t. It's truly scary. The near 90-degree part is slippery granite even when dry. Theoretically, with gloves and good upper body strength, it's doable by your average Joe. When I was there, an older gentleman had a heart episode at the very top. So yes, there are different ways back but it's either a helicopter or a litter.
The last 400 feet is just about a 45 degree slope. Much steeper than that and it would start to get sketchy for your feet to find support on the wood treads bolted to the rock face. I mean, maybe it is 50 degrees or something. It isn’t nearly as steep as the sheer drop it looks like in the picture.