This is a great route that doesn't seen enough traffic. You start by doing the first pitch of the Great Chockstone and belaying on top of it. The second pitch is the business and is a bit scary getting to the first bolt. The climbing's not too hard but the pro is kinda sketchy in flaring cracks - don't fall. Once you clip the bolt, you continue to the small roof which you traverse under to the right. Use TCU's or small nuts but leave room for your fingers. The crux is pulling out right and getting established on the arete where there's a thank god pin. Then more spicy slabbing past two bolts gets you to a nice belay. The third pitch is more face fun at 5.9. After passing a few protectable cracks you end up on the Final Link slab which you can join half-way up and continue on to the top. From here you can wrap down to the Coffin with a single rope.
Protection
Some TCU's, Nuts, QD's & a few long slings. A 3 or 3.5 camalot is comforting but may not hold in flare
The first pitch (2nd from the ground) is really dirty, tons of exfoliating granite and surprise micro flake that seem to hold until they explode under your feet. Makes getting to the 3rd bolt pretty nightmarish. The climbing is already heads up enough that you might want to make sure this thing has cleaned up before getting on it (read: go clean it before climbing it). The traverse and move around the arete are hard and scary but the crux is the slab mantle before the 3rd bolt. Before getting on this, remember that it is a Les Ellison route and read this cool story:
Quoting Gary Olsen (the whole thread can be found here and here) I will never forget the first time that I climbed with Les Ellison, talk about an eye opener. Little did he know the impact that he had on my climbing and many other people like Bret Ruckman and Steve Carruthers introduction to rock climbing. The day before I climbed with Les, Bret and I were up at the Crescent Crack Buttress in about 1980. I think we may have done something like the Coffin that day, I don’t remember exactly, but we were headed down and we looked up at a guy climbing out in no man’s land. This guy had his trademark black framed Vuarnet sunglasses on and he was on the edge of the buttress above the Great Chockstone. He was grunting and trying desperately to mantle a sloping hold. The last pro was a ways down and it looked way sketchy. Next thing you know, he’s off. Falling on a mantle when you are going for it is terrifying and Les swung upside down on the rope, nearly loosing those Vuarnet’s. I had never seen anything like that.
Crescent Crack Buttress
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