This writeup only discusses the first pitch which is all most people are going to be interested in. The second pitch is said to be 11b and very serious. Anyone care to add a description of P2?
P1. Start at the left end of Blob Rock, below a prominent clean, right facing corner which starts about 30' above the ground. The corner is visible in the Blob Rock perspective photo, just right of the top of a pine tree in the foreground and left of a prominent slab/bald-spot. (From the Bolt Cola area, walk left a couple of hundred yards and scramble up some ledges to reach the start.)
Some moderate, better-than-it-looks climbing leads to the corner proper. Place a good upward directional to protect the small nuts that will follow. Stem upward placing good small stoppers and RPs. The crux is at the top of the corner and can be partially avoided by stepping left around the arrete which the old Erickson guidebook said made the pitch 10+.
There is a fixed anchor at the end of the pitch, but continuing on Bearcat is highly recommended.
P2. On the second pitch you have to do the hardest moves before you get gear in, so it is a potential ankle-breaker, certainly "R-rated". It is of similar difficulty to the first pitch, though the hard part is pretty brief. It is also possible to finish the route with the Wounded Knee roof.
Protection
Mainly small nuts with some fingers to hands cams for the bottom.
Finally got on this as the first climb of my brother Paul's 4-day visit. A bit too ambitious for me, as I struggled on the 9 approach, got the first hard move into the stem, then hung a bunch figuring out the next moves into the higher stem. Lowered from there and Paul led through the upper crux clean. I was unable to get it clean on TR.
Neither of us could figure out the 10d "escape" out L. Perhaps it's at the very top.
Gear for the approach is red and gold Camalot and green and yellow Aliens. Then small brass protect the first crux. Paul placed 3 good small nuts to protect the final crux.
Ivan is right about the nuts protecting the crux, however.... a few years ago I belayed a friend leading who fell at the crux resulting in snapping the cable of the first nut, yanking out the second, then snapping the cable of the 3rd nut! (it's possible that both of the nuts that snapped had worn or kinked cables) The 4th piece, a small blue TCU held the whipper. So be careful of what you place there.
The Rossiter guide indicates that the crux roof of the second pitch can be bypassed by climbing a slot to the right at 10a. My partner was going to lead that but didn't see the pins mentioned in the guide and didn't like the looks of it, so she climbed a crack a few feet more to the right. I'm sure it's been climbed before, but it was a little crusty so maybe it hasn't been climbed in a while. It was very awkward and somewhere in the hard 9 to easy 10 range.
West Buttress aka Comedy Wall
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