Buffalo Chips  5.5

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Type:  Trad, 80 feet Consensus:  5.5 [details] FA:  tom bowker, lee baert, alan hunter 12/84 Submitted By:  lee hansche on Nov 4, 2012 You & This Route  |  Other Opinions (1) Your todo list: Your stars: Your rating: -none- [change] Your ticklist: [add new tick]

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Description 

This is perhaps the funniest route I have climbed in my attempt to do as many Rumney guidebook routes as I can.

The guide says, "This is supposed to be 'A corner directly above a bushy ledge.' If you can find it please let me know where it is. Everything I saw looked like it needed a chainsaw"

That almost sums it up. Though I did find it, climb it, and even convinced a friend to follow it purely for laughs. We didn't bring a chainsaw but could have used it. The description can't get across the silliness of climbing this line which is fun in it's own way. Most won't get the point but for those who do, here is a description.

I started by climbing a tree, slinging a branch for pro, before stepping on to a slab with 3 inch thick moss and struggling not to slip until i could scramble to a dead tree. Climbed over the dead tree and on to a ledge. The corner is obscured by a good size conifer tree. I stepped around the tree placed a small cam and started up the corner which would indeed feel 5.5 if it was clean and dry, it was not. From a stance i fiddled in funky gear and made a slippery step up and left to a small stance. I slung a small tree growing from the top of the corner then used it to gain the bushy ledge above. Grabbing fist fulls of brush i dragged my self on to the ledge laughing (which is why I do this sort of thing, it's a good laugh). From there, there was a surprisingly trick move through small bushes in to a fingerlock in the only piece of exposed rock and another fist full of plants to a tree belay :)

it would be possible to continue up the slab above for 30ft to the top but we just walked off to the right.

Location 

The farthest route to the right. Look for the very mossy slab leading to, well, filth...

Protection 

regular rack.