Buzz Cut   5.10

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Type:  Trad, 4 pitches, 500 feet, Grade III Consensus:  5.10 [details] FA:  Kent Wheeler and friends Submitted By:  Vic on Sep 22, 2010 You & This Route  |  Other Opinions (3) Your todo list: Your stars: Your rating: -none- [change] Your ticklist: [add new tick]

Buzz Cut, pitches one and two link with a 70m rope...

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2013 Raptor Closures MORE INFO >>> Serpent Point and the adjacent walls within one-half mile are closed to public use from March 15 through July 15. This includes the landscape portions above the walls extending 50 feet from the rim edge. This pertains to the following areas: North Rim areas - The Alpine Aretes, Porcelain Arete, and Painted Wall. These climbing routes are closed: Alpine Route, Porcelain Arete, On the Border, Broken Porcelain, Northern Arete, Beyer Route, The Dragon, The Serpent, Forrest-Walker, Stratosfear, Journey Through Mirkwood, and Southern Arete. South Rim areas - Dragon Point and Dragon Point Buttress. These climbing routes are closed: Pilgrimage, Crumb Blunder, Magic Dragon, Black Adder, Black Snake, Black Heathen, Black Dragon Rider, and Silent Rage. This information is a public crowdsourcing effort between the Access Fund, and Mountain Project. You should confirm closures, restrictions, and/or related dates. Keeping climbing areas open and conserving the climbing environment

Description 

Buzz Cut is a quality line that never ended up making the guidebook. The rock quality for the first three pitches is very good, and the crux is steep and fun. It’s a nice route for those looking for a half day climb in the 5.10 range. Especially if you want to check out a new gully and aren’t about to jump on Lost Cities or Atlantis.

To get an idea of the route, go to the Narrows Overlook and look across the gully to the upper terrace of rock on the other side of Prisoner of Your Hairdo. There is a large, 500 foot or so, left-facing dihedral that splits the upper wall. This is the Buzz Cut… you can’t miss it.

Pitch one climbs a fun 5.7 crack on good rock for about 35 meters, ending at a small ledge/stance below a bulge.

Pitch two traverses a short distance to your right and pulls a steep section, climbing left around the roof (the 5.10 crux) and back into the crack. Continue up to a nice ledge. This pitch is about 30 meters.

Pitch three has two options. Either continue directly up the crack in the corner, at nice steep 5.8 climbing on quality rock, that evidently pulls a 5.9 bulge in a wide chimney section before a nice ledge.... Or climb the hand crack that starts about 10 feet to your right on the same ledge. This crack (5.9+ or so) pulls through some bulges and gets thin in a few spots – the climbing is a lot of fun, but it’s definitely a bit dirty and bushy in spots. If you choose this right crack variation, climb until it starts getting chossy, before a roof section, and traverse back left to a ledge. This ledge is also where the 5.8/5.9 corner pitch ends - about 50 meters from the top of pitch 2.

Pitch four is kinda chossy but not too bad. At 5.8ish, it climbs a series of wide chimneys. There are a few spots you can move right on the face and avoid the wideness. At the top of the pitch where it looks like the crack takes you under a roof, move out right and exit on the large terrace above.

From this upper terrace, you can either hike back out to the rim proper (via a short gully as you look up and right), or climb any number of cracks and single pitch lines at will bring you to the rim. There are a quite a few nice lines in the 5.8 to 5.10 if you're willing to wander around the upper tier.

Location 

Head to the Narrows Overlook and locate the route. It’s the obvious left-facing dihedral splitting the upper tier of rock. Once you have found the route and know what you’re looking for, head down the Prisoner of Your Hairdo Gully for about 15 minutes or so, passing a small isolated rock buttress in the gully, looking right for the large terrace that you will start the route from. Do not try and traverse right onto the terrace too soon (you will end up bushwhacking and scrambling through a tangled mess)… instead head down the gully a little further until you find a good location to head right and scramble up to the terrace. Remember, you’re climbing in the upper part of the gully… you’re not descending nearly as far as the start of Lost Cities.

Protection 

It's nice to have a few small TCUs and doubles from yellow TCU to #4 Camalot, one set of stoppers.

Photos of Buzz Cut Slideshow

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BETA PHOTO: Topo.