Mark on the opening moves of Perseverance Bulge Cr...
Description
Located on Bumble Bee Wall in Storm Mtn Vicinity. Deserves more ascents than it gets. Looks like a nasty offwidth... but it's not! Start on the FAR right side of the ledge, below a nasty looking offwidth. Scamper left up a slab to bypass the offwidth, and continue up fun (!) jugs, occasionally stepping right to place gear where the crack narrows. Belay on a stance below a steep bulge with a darker, smoother face. Need a 2 or 3 camalot and med - large hex for belay!! Pitch 2: Crux move just above the belay: jam, smear, stem, and then grab for a jug. The only 5.9 section on the route. The route degrades just past this point, with some loose rock and scrambling to the top of the buttress. If you top out, you walk off to the west. It is possible to rap off a sling around a horn just below the top, be prepared to leave a LONG sling and rings, rap to Bee Pitch anchors, 60m rope recommended! A nice rap station at top would improve this route tremendously, as the walkoff is loose and brushy!
Protection
Big gear, but not as big as you'd think! Cams up to #3 Camalot; large hexes, a couple medium pieces. Leave the micro gear at home. Make sure to save a couple large pieces for the belay!! Number 4 camalot NOT needed.
Even though this route is not very sustained, you have to really protect your second well or you'll wind up lowering them off if they can't figure out how to do that crux. Its the classic traversing gear route beta. Its not that hard, but if your partner has to take or fall they're out of line with the crack.
It really is kinda fun to dig in and climb that offwidth crack and then push all the way to the top of the route in one pitch. If you bring webbing for the top, be sure to have 8 to 12 feet with you and if you build an anchor its nice to have a hand sized piece and a cordelette. Its fun to dust off the hand sized tricams for this because in many places the crack undulates and they set particularly well.
Finally, you can easily drop just over to the left and down to the anchors of fowl play to rappell with a 70m rope.
Bumble Bee Wall
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