The Snaz 

Some notes from our climb on July 17th, 2006.

We intended to climb the "Snazzette (5.10)" finger crack variation for pitch 4, connect back to the Snaz for the roof pitch, and then rappel after the 6th pitch.

P1 (5.5) - Enjoyable climbing in a short ramp above a tree leads to a dirty ledge system. Belay and then move the belay to below the blocky overhang above the ledge system.

P2 (5.7) - Climb the blocky overhang, pass another dirty ledge system, and continue up steep broken rock to the first set of fixed anchors. The anchors are a little right and about a 100+ feet up.

P3 (5.7) - Up the broken crack system that diagonals left. We aimed for the obvious finger crack on the headwall above and built a belay right below it. The fixed anchors for the regular Snaz route were up another 30 feet to the right and are poorly placed if you intend to do the finger crack variation.

P4 (5.10 variation) - A phenomenal crack pitch that begins as fingers (crux) and slowly widens to tight hands. 120 feet of beautiful crack climbing up a spectacular headwall. A must-do pitch!! We took a 60m rope to its end and belayed too high. It worked out, but a better plan would be to start looking to build an anchor as soon as you're done with the long crack portion.

p5 (5.8) - A diagonaling pitch to the right back to the Snaz. Like I mentioned above, we belayed too high (below a big yellow wall that is part of Caveat's I think) and had to traverse downwards and then up a finger crack to join the Snaz. The finger crack was unexpected, bonus fun! We hit the Snaz at the fixed pin anchors about 30 feet below the giant detached flake.

P6 (5.9+/5.10-) - Fun pitch! Gingerly climb up and around the detached flake....and cross your fingers it will survive one more day. Some wide crack action takes you to the dark roof. Awesome stemming and some conveniently placed chockstones see you over this obstacle. Fun climbing and good gear if you're willing to look around. There were some pins on this pitch, but they looked pretty sketchy. A week before we did this climb, a climber fell off the crux, pulled 3 cams, and landed next to his belayer after a 70 foot fall - resulting in a bad ankle break and rescue. There is plenty of good gear through the roof, so take your time to find it!

We rappelled from here (should have kept going!) with two ropes. We passed the fixed anchors below the detached flake and continued down another 50 feet to the anchors directly abovethe wide pitch on the Snaz. The anchor is hidden but it on an obvious ledge. This anchor consisted of 3 bomber, fixed nuts. Another rappel down to the bottom of the wide pitch. Another rappel to fixed anchors below the long, easy crack pitch. Another rappel to a small tree with slings directly above the first 5.5 slab section. And a short 40 foot rappel to the ground. Next time, skip the raps and keep climbing!

Gear: Nuts, 2 sets of cams from TCUs to #3 Camalot, one or two bigger pieces (I had a #3.5 and #4 Camalot). We didn't do the wide crack pitch of the Snaz, so this gear recommendation is for the doing the Snazette variation!

"A roof at the end of every pitch" - that is how I remember doing this climb. Awesome!

Fixed nut near the crux of the Snazette as of 7/07. Also, first two 5.7 pitches of the Snaz are easily linked w/ 70s. 3 #1 camalots may be nice for some people on the Snazette variation. Another note: one can easily continue into the 5th (overhanging handcrack) pitch of Caveat from the top of the Snazette. Just trend left.

To find the second pitch, you basically climb plumb straight above the giant fir tree below the route. Don't get tricked into going left in the vicinity of the chimney with the chockstone (O's topo somewhat confusingly depicts a left-slashing chimney with a chockstone; there are apparently two such features)!

The Caveats/Snaz link-up is a great way to get the best pitches of both climbs. Climb the first three pitches of Caveats, and then do a right-trending pitch (first right, then up, then across a dirty ledge, up a finger crack, then right again) until you intersect the Snaz. Belay here (right below the huge flake on the Snaz's 5th pitch). Then climb the crux pitch of the Snaz and continue to the top. 8 pitches in all (3 at 10-), with only one dud (the first pitch of Caveats).

The walk-off descent was surprisingly quick. After topping out on the last pitch, climb up and left on the 4th class slabs for about 300'. There is a huge cairn on the left skyline that becomes visible... aim for that. Once there, an easy trail leads West back to the Death Canyon trail. It only took 45 minutes, including climbing the slab.

Gear for Caveats/Snaz linkup - nuts, 1x TCUs, 2x #.5 camalot, 2x# .75 camalot, 2x #1 camalot, 3x #2 camalot, 2x# 3 camalot, 1x #3.5 camalot or #4 camalot... We also brought a pink tricam and two big hexes. The hexes were great instead of lugging up some more big-hand-size cams.