Jonny nearing the anchors atop pitch 2, after lead...
Description
An awesome and exciting climb, with beautiful views of Juniper Canyon, especially Rainbow Wall!
Climbs the first two pitches of a climb called The Nightcrawler (Jorge and Joanne Urioste route, FA, also in 1978).Pitches 3-5 are the climb Hourglass Diversion.
Pitch 1: Climb up the low angle, broken up cracks on white rock. Protection scant on the initial moves, but climbing easy. Veer slightly left to catch a steeper crack. Follow the crack for a ways, then traverse about 8 feet left, to bolted anchor. (below the obvious varnished wide crack and chimney)165ft. 5.6
Pitch 2: Climb and wiggle up the stellar chimney (you will find intermittent protection opportunities in the deep corner of the chimney). Climb up to a right facing corner to bolted anchor. 140ft. 5.9
Pitch 3: Traverse right on a low angle ramp to the base of a thin, steep crack. No fixed anchor. 80 Ft. 5.4
Pitch 4: Climb up the thin crack. Protects well. Watch out for hollow flakes. No fixed anchor. 80 Ft. 5.9
Pitch 5 and Pitch 6. Climb the continuing crack system on varied climbing to the top. No fixed anchor. 270 feet. 5.8
From top of the route, hike and 3rd class up a bit, then head left to eventually end up at the Gunsight Notch descent.
Note: See beta photo by George Bell of Brownstone Wall. Also see Gunsight Notch descent beta photo on same page, by Larry DeAngelo.
Climb starts down and right of the distinctive Hourglass feature on Brownstone Wall on white rock.
Descend (walk-off) the Gunsight Notch descent. From the top of the climb it took us approx. 15 minutes to reach the start of the Gunsight Notch descent, then another 20 minutes or so, to our packs, near the base of the climb.
The Gunsight Notch descent is a blast in itself! There's a rap anchor (chock-stone) about two thirds of the way down, but you can do an easy butt slide down the hole instead. I suppose if there is more water flowing down, then you'd want to rap to avoid getting soaked in the hole and/or doing a "Slip-n-Slide."
Protection
We used a standard rack to a #3 Cam. , but I noticed a couple of spots where bigger pieces would be handy. Bring a good selection of nuts and plenty of long runners.
If there are any 5.10 leaders in your party, their eyes might light up when they see the beautiful blank looking, varnished face with some bolts on it,directly above the bolted anchor atop P-2. This starts the third pitch of The Nightcrawler. Of course, my eyes quickly averted to the 5.4 ramp. Can't help it, it's the hiker in me: take the path of least resistance. (Maybe if you climb The Nightcrawler 5.10B, you can write a nice description on it?? Pretty please, with a cherry, I mean, bolted crux on top.)
be aware that there is a fair amount of loose rock on the crux pitch of this route- making it a bit more exciting than the grade would suggest. i didnt think it was hard 5.9, but a fresh 5.9 leader may not like the bad rock.
also, its better to not stop at 80' on pitch 4, but instead continue up to about 110' where there's a very nice ledge. this also allows you to finish the climb with one more pitch of 200' or so (maybe a few feet of simul-climbing, but nothing hard or scary).
also, the ramp is currently coated with a nice layer of bird crap that is unavoidable as you climb up it. nasty.
Brownstone Wall
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