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BETA PHOTO: approximate route. Yucca Flower Tower can be seen ...
Description
Like the Candle in Chimney Canyon, this route leads to one of the few spire summits in the Sandias. An interesting route with a good hand crack on P1, the second pitch contains the routes crux which occurs right off the belay. The climb ends at a bolted anchor just short of the spires summit. A short section of class 3 scrambling can be done to top out on the summit.
P1: (90’) Starts at the spire’s west face, underneath a large roof. Follow a good hand crack broken up with intermittent ledges. The pitch ends at a bolted belay on a small but good ledge.
P2: (70’) Head straight up negotiating a small bulge (crux). Follow a broken dihedral to the bolted belay.
Descent: Rap the route [straightforward with 2 ropes or a 70m rope; a single 60m rope will also work but is not ideal]
Protection
Standard rack: double Camalots 0.5-2", some slings.
By George Perkins Administrator From: Los Alamos, NM Jun 22, 2007 rating: 5.9
Good route! If you don't want to rap, and don't need to return to the base, you can top out by continuing up Garden Party (1 long pitch+ 1 short pitch, "5.8+"), which (despite the name) actually has pretty good climbing too
By Ryan Smyth From: Albuquerque, NM Aug 5, 2008 rating: 5.9
First time leading a 5.9 trad. What a blast. Once you reach the crack, it is on. only got to do the first pitch because thunder and rain scared us off. Lots of jamming and some good liebacking. I wouldn't recommend trying to rappel from the first belay station. unless you have a 70m rope or are willing to do some downclimbing hah. heh.
Ryan, you are correct, the rappel needs a 70m rope to reach the ground. Don't worry, the first pitch is the better of the two and a half, you should go back though to tag the summit. Next time if your out and getting threated with weather you could TR feeding frenzy and if the S**T hit the fan just lower and pull the rope and get out.
By George Perkins Administrator From: Los Alamos, NM Aug 7, 2008 rating: 5.9
Re: rappelling the route with a single 60m rope... it involves a bit of screwing around, but you'll make it. [Angle hard to the south (down-canyon) on the 2nd rappel (going down where Bush Sharks' first pitch is, rather than over Feeding Frenzy). Still only just barely works and relies on rope stretch and maybe downclimb a short ways.]
Bush Shark Area
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