Starts right in the center of the face, up prominant crack feature.
P1: long 5.6 to bolted belay, stay in dihedral.
P2: crux pitch 5.9 bulge, pull it, then continue on easy 5.8 finger crack on slab, to another uncomfortable bolted belay w/ cable running trhough bolts.
P3: short 5.8 chimney come out to the right to another nice bolted belay.
P4: mental crux pitch, short, and hard to find the hold, 5.8+ go up the dihedral then break out right to face climbing, a number 2 Camalot in a horizontal slot is key.
P5: traverse no pro 5.6 to a dihedral left, then continue up lie back 5.7+ dihedral to another outstanding belay.
From here, it's route finding from the top, nothing harder than 5.8 which ever way you go.
Location
You can rap down or walk off.... Rapping, I found to be easier, just make sure to always look at Mt. [Princeton], 'cause what ever is on the top of it, is heading your way! To get up to the climb, it's a faint, if any, climbers' trail.
Protection
Bring mid sizes up to size 3, double on .75 helps. Bring smalls though (Aliens!!), really, just a normal rack up to 3 in.
By Bowe Ellis From: Taos, NM Jun 17, 2008 rating: 5.8+
This is a great route unlike most other Buena Vista climbs. It has more of an alpine feel and the granite has small crystals and many featured holds.
There are six belay stations. Pitch 1 is long and probably can't be linked. Pitches 2-5 are all very short - generally 40 to 80ft each. Pitch 6 is longer, probably 130-150ft. We linked P2-P3 with some rope drag due to the roof. The true P2 line appears to go left through the roof, but a right variation is also possible.
P1 is easy & fun with a short crux at the top, probably 5.6.
P2/P3 go back right from the belay into the dihedral, go straight up and do a lieback move to gain a bucket right in the roof. From here do some hand traversing left or right to pull the roof. Neither route can be seen from below the crux lieback so there's a little bit of faith here. We went right, passed a fixed pin, and led up an intermittent finger crack (good pro). Maybe 5.8+ but airy and committing. The left option looks great and possibly easier: grab big chickenheads and work up and left into a left facing dihedral with a fixed pin and good pro. The right variation lends well to linking P2 & P3 but it's still possible to traverse back left to the intermediate belay.
P4 goes into a chimney that turns into a shallow groove with no pro for about 8-10ft. Delicate and certainly cruxy 5.8.
P5 easy friction traverse left with no pro for 25ft. 5.4 or so. Go up into a beautiful lieback right facing dihedral with splitter (5.7).
P6 has many options following weaknesses. Our line felt like 5.6.
On our rap we used the tree with lots of slings, the P4 station, and the P1 station to make 3 raps.
What a great line!
By Lee Jenkins From: Buena Vista, Colorado Jun 22, 2008 rating: 5.9
Hey Bowe,
Glad you liked it. The normal P2 crux is pulling the roof right. Also, P2-3 as indicated in your Topo are almost always linked and P6 is rarely done, and when it is then you can walk of left (cliff facing) and down a gully.
Pretty good climbing with great exposure. It was fun to do and I would definitely recommend it but I don't feel the need to go back due to the logistics. It is a long drive (need high clearance) and a hard 30 minute hike so it turns into a full day.
I definitely wouldn't do pitch 6. Isn't very fun and it doesn't feel like you are at the top more so than pitch 5. Also, aside from pitch 1 it is the only pitch you need 2 ropes to rappel. Therefore if you skip it you can leave your second rope at the first belay ledge after the first pitch.
Pitches 2-5 are very short. I would definitely combine 2 and 3 to skip the uncomfortable belay. You can't combine 4 and 5 due to rope drag on the traverse.
You can however rap 4 and 5 together with a 60 meter rope. **Be careful to find the exact middle and to tie knots at the end of the rope because you just barely make it to the belay ledge for pitch 4.** From here you have to rap pitch 2 and 3 separate if you only have 1 rope. Then tie your ropes together and rap the first pitch down to the ground. This method is 4 rappels but we only needed to carry 1 rope past the first pitch.
I recommend this climb to all. Although the climbing was easy it made you use different techniques. The roof at P2 was probably the hardest move and a bit balancy. I also think pitch 6 was a blast. Protection is scattered and long runners are encouraged. It would have been nice to leave our extra rope at the top of P1, but glad we hauled it to the top!
Davis Face
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