The direct start climbs a clean face just to the r...
Description
Here is a fabulous summertime route AKA: the Northcutt/Kor. Four good pitches, easy to find, once rated 5.6?? in Fricke's old guide and done in 1959, indeed quite historic. Way left of center, closer to Castaway Crag than the Central Buttress is a clean section of gray wall, to its left a continuous right-facing dihedral system.
1. Begin with a prominent, dog leg dihedral. Continue it as it bends back right past a soft iron piton than a long horizontal 5.7R stretch to either the Direct Starts anchors or higher from a wire sling flake, 5.9.
2. Faceclimb up into the crux stemming corner, (small stopper or cams), undercling the roof (3 inch piece) and make a exciting move onto a big ledge, 5.9+.
3. Jam a wide flake off the ledge, pass 2 pitons and the final roof, 5.8. Belay at a small stance.
4. Nice 5.7 buckets for 100 ft. to the summit shoulder. Walk off.
This is a stellar route. I did it yesterday with direct start and found it definitely worth three stars. We stretched the third pitch to a good belay stance near the top with a 60m rope. From there you can walk unroped safely to the descent. This crag is a great alternative on hot summer days and does not seem to get a lot of traffic.
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