Over the Wedge crack and through the Veg crap, to ...
Description
This is a great moderate climb with varied and fun climbing from start to finish.
P1 - (5.7) Start at a prominent left facing dihedral. Climb up to the dihedral and follow this feature until a good stance on a dike. You can belay here on gear or move left along the dike about fifteen feet to a two bolt anchor.
P2 The Wedge - (5.8) Continue up and slightly left along a crack to a roof that is well protected by some bolts. Surmount the roof and continue up to a wide crack. You can squeeze through the wedge or climb up and over it via an offwidth and three bolts for pro. On the other side of the wedge there is a two bolt anchor.
P3 The Veg - (5.7) Head up to a short slightly right leaning handcrack. Climb the crack and then follow three bolts up a low angle rib of rock to a nice slot with a couple of trees for the belay. The original route took the gully to the right of the rib which is basically a ramp filled with shrubs and trees, thus the name of this pitch.
P4 - (5.9) From the slot face climb up to a beautiful 5.9 layback crack. At the top of the crack traverse left along a thin dike protected by one bolt to a two bolt belay.
P5 - (5.8) From the two bolt belay climb a short face protected by two bolts to the top. There are some stout trees at the top for a belay.
Location
This route starts at a left facing dihedral on the far left of the Southwest face of the Muttonhead. The dihedral start is in between two bolted lines. The descent is a walk off.
Protection
Gear up to three inches and bolts. Most of the anchors are two bolt with a few anchors off of sturdy trees.
can anyone tell me how the pro looks on this route? is it pretty good or are there some tricky placements before crux/difficult sections? are there enough bolts to give the leader some good peace of mind?
The only pitch where the pro seemed a little sparse was #2. In the bolted sections the bolts are plenty close. Definitely nothing seemed all that scary but I didn't lead P2. None of the cruxes were hard to protect.
By Phil Persson From: Tucson, Arizona Apr 13, 2008
Did this over Beanfest weekend, 4-12-08, wonderful route. Fun, mostly moderate climbing with good pro and minimal rotefinding. Surprised this doesn't see more action considering I think it rank's close to classics on Sheepshead like 'Too Tough to Die', 'Absinthe of Mallet', ect.. The infamous 'Wedge' on PIII is pretty unique... squueze through the heinous chimmney if you can fit... or sprice it up with a strenuous chimmney/OW section protected by 3 bolts for some nice peace of mind. The last pitch with it's excellent hand crack is also really fun.
No lie! I tried to "engage the wedge." First I took off my rack and started with it ahead of me. Then my helmet got stuck. Then I got the claustrophobic panic and said "F*ck it! I'm going OW!!" And for those of you who know me, you know I don't enjoy OW. OW = Other Way!(and no, I can't take credit for making that up--I stold it from someone.)
All that aside, it was a great route, that I have now climbed several times.
The Muttonhead
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