Geurt's Ridge is a really nice technical route which shoots straight up to the South summit of Mount Olympus. The rock quality is good, and tons of short finger/hand cracks add to the enjoyment. As for all routes on Mount Olympus, this has a pretty hefty approach. Start at the trailhead by Pete's rock, than follow the trail steeply uphill. Enter the wilderness after 15-20 minutes, and get to the stream crossing after 40-45 minutes. Above the stream is the so-called "Blister Hill". Switchback up this, with a rock rib to the right. This rib is a good landmark for when to leave the Mt. Olympus trail. Once you reach the level of the top of the rib (when you can see over it down to the city), this is approximately when to exit the trail (60 minutes from the trailhead).
Blaze north through brush towards the rounded ridge. Aim for just above the cliff bands. Once on top of the little cliffs, look for a couple of cairns that help guide the way. From here, keep traversing north, and notice the ridge that starts down below and works all the way to the summit. Drop down off the rounded ridge to get to the rock (only a small ways downhill). This part is brushy and makes wearing pants a good idea. Step onto the ridge, the bushwhacking is over (75 minutes from the trailhead).
This ridge more or less shoots straight up to the summit. Many breaks in the ridge are encountered along the way. Most of the lower ridge is 3rd/4th class, so roping up is probably not necessary. As you cruise up the ridge, more rock bands with nice looking climbing keep rising up from the left in the canyon. Eventually a beautfiul steep section of rock comes in to view, which provides the first good climbing.
Above this spot it looks like the route is over. Luckily, the best is yet to come. A catwalk on the ridge is encountered (nice exposure on both sides), which leads to some more scrambling until a dropoff is reached. Some slings around a block with rap rings allow a short rap off this tower, or a difficult downclimb might be possible.
Another steeper section of good rock leads eventually to yet another rap over a dropoff. This one might be really hard to downclimb. From here, straight forward climbing/scrambling leads to the summit.
Descend via the hiking trail. If you are not familiar with it, it drops off the ridge to the south a short ways west of the summit. The trail is hard to find, but quickly gets more pronounced.
Protection
Small standard rack. Most features seemed to be finger cracks, so a set of nuts and small to medium cams is more than plenty. Minimally, bring a rope for a couple of raps high on the ridge.
if you know the olympus trail well, all you need to know is after one hour+ or so of hiking up the trail when the trail turn right and starts going up the final push to the east(towards the saddle), that is when to bushwhack over to the ridge. i saw no cairns and climbed up the lower cliffband(classic 5.4) then down and over to the start of the ridge.
the "catwalk" part was the first pitch for us. we only had to use gear for two short moves on two different pitches. simul-climbing would have been better/easier with a 100' rope instead of a 200' and the 2 raps are no more than 50'.
Where the stream comes down before blister hill. Follow the stream and a very faint path up for another 30-40 min. and you can get 2-3 more pitches that are good and more sustained and steeper than the rest of the ridge. About 5.6. It is also the true start to the ridge.
Does anyone know if you can bail off either side of the ridge?
By Arie Leeflang From: North Korea Jun 12, 2008 rating: 5.5
Wow, my new favorite route on the Mountain of the Gods- Zeus should be proud of this line. Long, varied, adventurous, beautiful rock, and it ends at a summit. We only roped up for the super-cool sidewalk pitch (and the raps) but this would be a great beginner alpine climb. I nearly felt like I was in the Tetons. Bring a knife and some webbing to clean up the ratty rap anchors- I chopped about half, but didn't have enough web to do it right. And yes, you could easily bail off the ridge at numerous points (especially south). Very cool.
South Summit
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