On the Northwest Face of Lower Peanuts Wall, locate a few dead trees leaning against the lower section. Just down and left from these is a left-leaning ramp that can be scrambled to a good ledge, some 70' from the ground. Move down and left on this ledge until a shallow, left-facing dihedral, which curls right to become a flake-roof. A crack about 10' right of there goes up to intersect the dihedral where it bends to the right to become the afore mentioned roof. This crack is the start of Peanuts.
From this position, a few bolted routes are visible. To the right you can see The Scared and the Profane (5.13) and Just Another Girl's Climb (5.12), some distance down and to the left, Blows Against the Empire (5.11) is [visible].
Start up the crack, arching left to follow it to the intersection of the dihedral and roof. Place gear and step left across the overhang, going a few moves further left through underclings before getting gear again. This is the crux. Once a vertical crack is available, begin moving up again until a good ledge is reached.
Go up and right [on the] ledge to place gear or belay on bolts. Rap [from the] fixed station or finish on Forbidden Planet (5.10d, sport) Wired (5.9) or Dihedral (5.9-). [There is a new fixe anchor at the top of the vertical crack, so there is no need go right across the ledge system to get down. It's 100 feet or a little less to the ground from the anchor.]
Protection
Nuts and cams to 2".
The crux pro is reasonable, but not at your chest, so this route is safe, but not a great route to press your level on.
Fun route. Be sure to wedge your body behind the over-hanging flake and enjoy a perfect no-hands rest before you tackle the traverse. The final crack up to the anchor felt more difficult than the crux traverse; steep finger locks with insecure feet.
Be careful of loose rocks when pulling your rope if you rap. I pulled a few grapefruit sized rocks off and almost crushed a few friends. Sorry guys!
Also, Rossiter's guide suggests scrambling up to the ledge below the 5.7 climbing and belaying there. My partner belayed from the ground and it worked out fine. 100' to the anchor.
By Guy Humphrey From: Fort Collins CO Jul 19, 2003
Can be led with a set of nuts and a couple sets of TCU's. If you wanted, you could place pro every 2-3 feet on the traverse. Don't let the above comments scare you off, give it a go.
The route felt on the easy side of 5.9 to me and the pro is great. The crux is short and the finger crack at the end is really fun. There are some small foot holds that, if used, decrease the difficulty.
Nice route! I only used one cam larger than finger size (on the scrambling portion by the dead tree) so I would suggest leaving anything larger than a red Alien on the ground. The crux for me was the finger crack after the traverse. I could have used an additional yellow Alien there but a gray works ok to back up the piton.
By patrick kadel From: Boulder CO Aug 19, 2007 rating: 5.9+
I did not read this site prior to climbing this today and looking up from the base I was not sure what holds there could possible be after the flake. I had more doubts than usual. Then, a short hand traverse put the biggest smile on my face. The vertical crack going to the anchors had some additional fun moves. It may be short and have an uninspiring start but this was a fun climb for me. I think not knowing of the hand traverse made it even sweeter, so don't read this.
Lower Peanuts
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