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.
By Jon Ruland From: Tucson, AZ Dec 13, 2007 rating: 5.9
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 Jon Ruland From: Tucson, AZ Dec 14, 2007 rating: 5.9
great, thanks for the info.
By Phil Persson From: Boulder, Colorado 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.
...Eric Deschamps and I did go through the chimney... after taking our helmets and everything else besides harnesses off. Even just my knot got stuck over and over again and I'm a bony, small, person. It was great fun, though!! Good route.
By Daryl Allan From: Sierra Vista, AZ Dec 14, 2008
How'd you get your britches off without taking off your harness?
...OK, so we took off all our GEAR except harnesses... Thanks for pointing out my sloppy language... but it would have been much more humorous if it really was EVERYTHING but the harness. That would be a funny stunt to pull. YOU get to be the one going through the squeeze chimney. I'll handle the camera this time!
A friend and I did this line last weekend, and I thought it was a pretty good romp. Pitches 1 and 2 have more good gear than you can see from their respective beginnings. Both of us squeezed through the "Wedge"... I am 6'2 and 170 pounds. It took a while, but I made it through.
By Jon Ruland From: Tucson, AZ Mar 16, 2009 rating: 5.9
be sure to do p6 to summit the formation. standing on the summit is an experience you'll not soon forget, plus that last pitch is a solid 3 stars by itself.
be aware that there is some sketchy gear on the route and the first pitch is 5.9R if you start in the dihedral. if you use the 2 bolts from the other route 5 feet to the right and move into the dihedral afterward it's a pretty safe 5.8.
I did this route in 4 pitches and slightly different than described above.
P1- climb left facing dihedral (40' 5.9R- to avoid this climb bolt line to left 5.10b or right 5.9 and then step in to crack) traverse left across dike, past 2 bolt anchor, and up crack to the roof. Pull the roof to 2 bolt anchor. ~140'
P2-The well discussed squeeze- if you get sucked into the bolted crack on the right, and still want to stay on Mystery of the Desert-move left after 3 bolts to stem over the squeeze to the anchor. 50' 5.7
P3- traverse left of belay on face to short hand crack to the bolted slab left of the veg. step onto more face to climb the hand crack and traverse left along dike to 2 bolt anchor 5.9 180 '
P4- climb bolted 5.8 face to top. ~80'
By Geir Hundal From: Tucson, AZ Nov 26, 2009 rating: 5.9
be aware there is no gear for the first 15' or so of pitch 1 on 5.8 terrain. a safer alternative is to start on the bolted route immediately to the right of mystery, and then traverse left on to mystery after the 3rd bolt.
By Bill Lawry From: New Mexico 1 day ago rating: 5.8+
The Wedge: NO need to engage it except as needed to clip the first bolt. Instead, I can assure that one and only one of the following techniques can significantly ease the difficulty:
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