Note, some of these cliffs are often closed (Mar 3 - July 31) for raptor nesting. MORE INFO >>>
Closed areas, from March 3-July 31:
Twin Owls Bat Flake Batman Pinnacle Batman Rock Lightning Rock Checkerboard Rock Thunder Buttress The Parish
Getting gear before the crux moves. Lenny Miller b...
Description
Short Circuit is a route on Lightning Rock, the left-most of Batman's satellite crags. Hike up past Checkerboard Rock and look for a smooth, 300 foot high buttress left of the Batman Pinnacle, which is easily identified by a long, jagged white streak, (resembling lightning!) in its center. Begin on the ground left of the streak (which ends 80 or so ft. above the ground), at a shallow right-facing corner with a short, thin crack just to its right.
P1-climb the scary 5.9 corner, working some iffy nuts into the seam, and continue to an easier ramp which is followed up and left to a belay below a steep hand crack. One can also start further left, avoiding the scary 5.9 but also missing some of the route's best climbing.
P2-climb the nice hand crack, then continue up and slightly right over a roof and belay on a ledge (5.8).
P3-climb a 5.8 crack over a bulge on the right, then work up and right to the summit.
Descend the gully to the west, with one rappel likely, or head over to Batman Rock and do a route there, or follow the descent for Batman Pinnacle. Eds. you can descend around the west of the next formation just left of Lightning Rock without rappel.
Protection
Bring some small stopper and RPs for the first pitch, otherwise standard stuff to a #3 Friend (and maybe a couple of those).
Forget Justin's comment. I did this years ago and the "S" rating on the first pitch had me rattled, but I found it to protect easily. I thought the 2nd pitch took a lot more skill at finding pro and was harder for me. In any case, I don't think this route deserves an "S" rating.
Greate route! Ken Heiser and I climbed this today, and I led the second pitch. I found that pitch to be a bit awkward and balancy, but it took great pro (bring extra #3 to #4 Friends). The pitch is also runout after the bulge, but the climbing is very easy.
It's straightforward to avoid the 9 (s) first pitch to the left of the official start if desired though it make for a rather uneventful first pitch (one star only).
The second and third pitches can be combined. We climbed the whole route in two pitches.
I followed the guidebook and moved left after the seam into the farthest of the two underclings almost directly under the tree. After that, it's a 15ish ft runout up the slab to the tree definitely earning an R rating in my mind.
A friend of mine did the first pitch, and it looked like he trended right into the weakness above the micro seam. He said that was probably a little safer than the undercling left. He also had C3s while I screwed around with micronuts.
The tree is slung and has a nice set of rap rings, so you can do the first half of the first pitch and rap. The second half of the first pitch is basically bushwhacking anyways.
Lightning Rock
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