Type: Trad, 600 ft (182 m), 5 pitches, Grade III
FA: Paul Horak, Mark Dalen, Glen Banks and David Baltz, 1977
Page Views: 13,165 total · 64/month
Shared By: David Baltz on Jun 17, 2007
Admins: Mike Howard, Jason Halladay, Mike Hoskins, Anna Brown

You & This Route


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Description Suggest change

Pitch 1: Begin below a short, curving half-moon flake about 20 feet off the ground. Climb up to the flake and then veer a little left across a slab, up, then left again across another steep slab below a flake. Hand traverse back right across the flake and into a corner with a pin under a small roof. Pull over the roof (5.11-) to a thin hands crack then go straight up steep rock past a bolt to a chain anchor. There are various harder variations to this first pitch, as noted in 'Taos Rock' and in comments below.

Pitch 2: Climb straight up the thin crack past a pin and where the crack dies out, make some thin face moves straight up to some seams heading left. Move left following the seams to the prominent diagonalling crack seen from the ground. Follow the flaring finger and hand crack another 80 feet to the bolted belay. (5.10-).

Pitch 3: Drop down and right traversing along a small dike to its end. Delicate friction moves lead up to a thin crack/flake, followed by more friction up and right to a second flake/crack system. Follow the crack and then make a hard move past a 1/4" bolt and up to another dike below the roof system extending across the top of the face. Clip another 1/4" bolt and then traverse left 30 feet under the roof system to a belay below an overhang with a thin crack running through it. (5.10).

Pitch 4: Step a little left to a huge pocket, go straight up over the roof following a crack to where it becomes a seam (5.10+). Climb up the runout seam to awesome chickenheads to a belay at tree (180 feet). An alternate finish traverses 20 feet down and right before the crack becomes a seam and follows a lower crack to the chickenheads (not as runout). There is also a bolted 5.10 slab finish directly up and left, after you turn the roof.

Pitch 5: Climb easy, featured rock on great chickenheads aiming for the tall pines on the summit of the rock.

This climb was originally called A Questa of Balance.

Protection Suggest change

Standard rack up to blue camalots. Bring doubles on gray and green camalots.

Descent Suggest change

From very near the summit, go right (east) following a faint trail to a gully. Pass above the gully and continue around the next outcropping to an easy tree-covered descent on a now obvious switchback trail. After descending several hundred feet, the trail enters a dry streambed and becomes faint. Bear right and traverse the slope back toward the main dome before dropping again to the base of the climbs.

Photos

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