Hex Marks the Poot is an incredibly obvious crack (when standing near the Don Juan boulder) on a series of blocks leaning against the South Astro Dome. It is just left of the sheer northeast face of this formation.
Climb up the hand and fist crack past a horizontal rail, and then enter the off-width. Left side in, right side smearing on the face will get you up it. It's very fun but gym rats and posers will complain. Continue to a nice alcove with weird horns to sling and belay, or continue up the second pitch - a pretty right-curving crack (feasible as one pitch with a long sling or two). No fixed anchors that I could find but a rappel is easy with some long webbing around those horns.
The first pitch goes at 5.7 (possibly 5.7+ ?), and the second pitch at 5.8.
Protection
An assortment of hand, fist, and large off-width gear sew up the first pitch. The off-width is fairly secure so if you want to leave behind the 4.5 camalot you can. Smaller gear for the second.
I free-soloed this route in 1974 and found a #11 Hexentric at the start of the OW. I assumed that I had done the FA since there were no anchors on top and the downclimb turned out to be as hard as the climb! I figured that the hex marked their bail point (the poot).
I thought this was a fun climb and I gave it a 5.7+ because of the awkward offwidth. I had one #4 for the OW part, but it was too small. A #5 would be perfect. Once I entered the OW, I was committed and had to run it out to the top. I would recommend this route to anyone in the area looking for something a little different.
A very pure line in my opinion. Good hands to fist before the horizontal crack. The rest is a low angle offwidth that protects easyly with a single #5 Cam. Rappel slings at the top, or build an anchor with #2 and #1 Cam.
Bottom crack is great. Top off-width is nothing special. I agree... need's achors for the rap. Fun, but certainly not worth the long hike just for this one climb. Worth it if you're there already.
The second pitch is a 5.8 right arching finger crack that is very nice - small to medium aliens work great. From the end of the second pitch, you can add a fun third pitch by joining Primal Flake at mid-pitch. Climb the flakes and left slanting undercling roof (5.8+) of Primal Flake then up and right to the summit of So. Astro Dome. Highly recommended.
The Astro Domes - South
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