BETA PHOTO: Showing the general line of the start of pitch @PO...
Description
Pitch 1: Begin up the obvious line. Some creative movement up a system of cracks and corners will lead you to a face. Place some small stoppers in a Pegmatite seam. Pull through the face section and gain a huge ledge. Belay at a fixed pin (LA) at a stance directly below a 10ft thin hands crack in golden rock. 5.10a/b R-, 120 ft.
Pitch 2: Climb aforementioned crack directly above the belay. Powerful liebacking will get you through this section. Be sure to place some gear in this crack. At the top of the lieback, step left into the clean cut grayish corners. Here you will find some thin gear. Stem your way up these corners until you can step *slightly* left into another crack system. Climb this up and into a short (20ft) broken section. At the top of this broken section, you will gain a big flat ledge, traverse approximatly 20ft right and belay. 5.10a/b R-, 100 ft.
Pitch 3: Climb the obvious dihedral that makes up the obvious right side of the ledge. Start with a short bit of chimneying that leads to a hand and fist crack. Follow this to the obvious big ledge. Belay at the base of a short face/bulge directly below a right facing dihedral above. 5.8, 70 ft.
Pitch 4: Climb the face directly above the belay, leading to a small roof/bulge. Creative stemming and face moves. I promise there is gear! You'll have to look for it and trust that it's going to be there. Once ontop of this section there is a small ledge to regroup on. Next climb up the obvious left-facing, flared dihedral. There is a crack on the left hand wall to aid in upward progress. At the top of the dihedral, there is a small ledge on the right, regroup again, then step back left and pull through a short section gaining yet another large ledge. Head back and to the right a bit and belay to the right of the obvious, loose chimney. 5.10+, 80 ft.
Pitch 5: Climb the loose chimney to the top. This was soloed on the first ascent. 5.4, 60ft.
Descend by casually walking southwest back towards the Black Wall.
Location
As you hike down the approach ramp for the Tan Butt's, the route is on the first major buttress you come to. Take the obvious, but not great, looking line in the middle of the Buttress. I assure you the first pitch (and the route) is MUCH better than it looks.
Protection
1 set RP/HBs. 1 black and 1 blue Alien. Double yellow Alien through #1 Camalot. 1 Ea. #2, 3, and 4 Camalot.
This climb is not only fun and on good rock, but also very accessible. The approach and descent are both very straightforward and easy. The only hammered gear placed on the first ascent is the piton at the pitch 1 belay. We had bolting gear and there is some slightly runout climbing. However, none of it was dangerous enough to warrant us placing bolts. Let's keep it that way.
Had a great time on this route today. The rock quality is not as good as the Black Wall, and it climbs differently, but there are some interesting and hard passages. The 2nd and 4th pitches involve some pretty heads up climbing with less than optimal protection.
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