John and Lauren on the ridge. Lauren makes the th...
Description
A fun rest-day jaunt. This is by no means a "traditional rock climbing route"! It's a classic big mountain ridge on a small scale, and it's really fantastic. Do not attempt unless you are very confident in your abilities in exposed, exploratory, and adventurous situations. The ridge at the top of the rock formation is very unique, best described as "a steep petrified sand dune".
The climb involves scrambling/climbing up a 4th-5th class, grainy low angle, rounded hueco-ridden, 150 ft. face with a couple crux moves around the 5.5-5.6 range. There is little to no gear but there is a two-bolt anchor at the top that could be used to rap off, if you choose not to walk the knife-edge ridge. Be sure to realize that this is a scramble/free-solo due to lack of protection. The faces are grainy and rounded with hardly any breaks, just rounded huecos and divots. If you fall from high on the face, death is very likely. A rest day activity of "scrambleering" led us to discover this epic little rock tour. Free-soloed in sneakers, it turned out to be an exciting time.
The Face: Scramble up the low-angle center "buttress" of the south face of the Windy Wall with good, large huecos to the small tower with a shallow chasm separating the tower and the main wall. Step across the gap and use good crimps to establish yourself on the main wall (crux #1). Work left on the horizontal rail/shelf with a small alcove above (there may be bad gear here) and awkwardly stand up to the concave right-slanting chute with a good foot-dish at your thigh. Step up high (awkward) or use your knee, pasting your palms on the opposing walls (crux #2) and work your way up the path of nicely placed huecos and divots. The route curves left and then straight up to the last section which is an exposed, grainy, low-angle face with diminishing huecos to the summit. A two-bolt anchor can be found here.
The Ridge: This involves good balance, sure feet, and a straight head. In some places it drops off as much as 100 feet to the side. Walk north along the intimidating and winding narrow ridge, watch your step! As the ridge gets narrower and too narrow to walk on, you must lay-back the fin-like ridge tip (exposed) for a few feet then straddle the knife-edge. Eventually the ridge drops off abruptly in front of you to the flat ledge below. Facing north, shuffle down with the ridge and make a good jump to a sandy ledge below (crux #3) or down-climb. Jumping is easier as the landing is soft and padded with sand. Falling to either side here could be fatal. From here the easiest descent is crab-walking down the east-facing slab along the faint, slanting seam/dike to the rounded stance below (the ridge continues to the North, but dead-ends). From the rounded platform, go right (looking down) and use good foot jams in the water-chute until it peters out, then either run down/jump or test your slab skills the final feet to the sandy ground.
Location
South face of the Windy Wall, north along the ridge.
Protection
-Bolted anchor at the summit used for other climbs -Comfortable climbing shoes or sticky approach shoes -A harness and a rope on your back may be a good idea depending on your abilities and limitations
Windy Wall
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