Elevation: 1,338 ft
GPS: 47.82572, -121.55806
Google Map · Climbing Area Map
Page Views: 18,241 total · 1,935/month
Shared By: Jon Nelson on Jun 20, 2022
Admins: Jon Nelson, Micah Klesick, Z Winters

Description

If you were to take the Great Northern Slab area at the Lower Town Wall, add nice views, good belay ledges, and more climbing variety, then you'd get a fair image of climbing at Planet Index. Here lies some classic, short, lower-angle trad cracks, but also much more. The downside is the long and meandering approach trail, though this helps to get you away from the crowds and provides a scenic warm up. 

Planet I is divided into nine sectors. Find a complete listing with route topos and photos freely available at the guide link on the left. Probably has at least 70 routes there, though many are short.  

Briefly, find more sun exposure and slab at Lookout jr, steeper cracks and shade at The Towers, more steep cracks plus face climbs in the shade at Daddy and The Inferno. For morning shade on steep face and crack, go to Moonworms Wall and Noodle. These latter areas can have sun from mid-morning through late afternoon. Small Steps tends to be in the sun most of the time, yet offers more of the easier routes. Finally, Lolybird and Moai have some shade and a nice base for hanging out. On sunny days the upper tier tends to have more breezes from mid-morning that help keep you cooler. This tier also dries very quickly after a rain.  

Getting There

Go to Lookout Point, find your way to the east edge, then cross the gully. Alternatively, go to Hag Crag, do a pitch there, reach the top, then continue up a few more steps to the rock looming above. 

The best trail to Planet Index and the east side of Lookout point is the new trail that forks off the main Lookout Point trail just before Midnite boulder. It takes one directly to Hag Crag. We've been calling it Trillium Trail after the pair of trilliums that would appear each April at the start. The rains of the past winter and spring wiped them out, sadly.

See the maps, including the newer trail, in part A of the pdf guide: 

Part A: tinyurl.com/2he6k92b

Some History

The first recorded route here was Bone Daddy, previously in the Clint Cummin's guide of 1993 and put up by Matt Arksey and Jeff Kelly. About 10 years later, Derek Pearson discovered the unique potential of the upper tier and did the initial cleaning and toproping of Moonworms. He coined the name of the area. Then, about 10 years after that, other routes started being done. The original Bone Daddy was largely neglected by climbers. Now scrubbed off and joined by several other nearby routes, it is well worth doing, either as a toprope, or, if one is solid on placing thin gear from compression moves, as a lead. Moonworms itself is a challenging face climb, one of the few purely sport routes here. Most routes here are trad, and for most one can conveniently set up a toprope. 

39 Total Climbs

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Classic Climbing Routes at Planet Index

Mountain Project's determination of the classic, most popular, highest rated climbing routes in this area.
5.7 5a 15 V+ 13 MVS 4b
 26
More than 24 Dandelions
Trad, TR
5.7+ 5a 15 V+ 13 MVS 4b
 20
Oyaji Milkman Loves the Sea
Trad
5.8 5b 16 VI- 15 HVS 4c
 6
Life on Pi?
Trad
5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a
 20
Return to Easter Island
Trad
5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a
 5
Punishment and the Bunny
Trad
5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a
 4
Outta Sight
Trad, TR
5.10a 6a 18 VI+ 18 E1 5a
 3
Snow on the Mountain
Trad
5.10a 6a 18 VI+ 18 E1 5a
 3
Carefully Swallow the Metallic N…
Trad, TR
5.10b 6a+ 19 VII- 19 E2 5b
 8
Moai
Trad
5.10b 6a+ 19 VII- 19 E2 5b
 4
The 76 Ducklings of Lake Bemidji
Trad
5.10 6b 20 VII- 19 E2 5b
 3
The Secret Scales of Guthrie Govan
Sport
5.10b/c 6b 20 VII 20 E2 5b
 7
One Small Step
Trad, TR
5.11- 6c 22 VIII- 22 E3 5c
 3
Moonworms crack
Trad, TR
5.11 6c+ 23 VIII- 23 E4 5c
 3
Moonworms face
Sport
5.11 6c+ 23 VIII- 23 E4 5c
 3
Mercury Morris
Trad
Route Name Location Star Rating Difficulty Date
More than 24 Dandelions Lookout jr
 26
5.7 5a 15 V+ 13 MVS 4b Trad, TR
Oyaji Milkman Loves the Sea Lookout jr
 20
5.7+ 5a 15 V+ 13 MVS 4b Trad
Life on Pi? Lookout jr
 6
5.8 5b 16 VI- 15 HVS 4c Trad
Return to Easter Island Moai
 20
5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a Trad
Punishment and the Bunny Lolybird
 5
5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a Trad
Outta Sight Towers
 4
5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a Trad, TR
Snow on the Mountain Lookout jr
 3
5.10a 6a 18 VI+ 18 E1 5a Trad
Carefully Swallow the Metal… Noodle Wall
 3
5.10a 6a 18 VI+ 18 E1 5a Trad, TR
Moai Moai
 8
5.10b 6a+ 19 VII- 19 E2 5b Trad
The 76 Ducklings of Lake Be… Lolybird
 4
5.10b 6a+ 19 VII- 19 E2 5b Trad
The Secret Scales of Guthri… Moai
 3
5.10 6b 20 VII- 19 E2 5b Sport
One Small Step Small Steps
 7
5.10b/c 6b 20 VII 20 E2 5b Trad, TR
Moonworms crack Moonworms
 3
5.11- 6c 22 VIII- 22 E3 5c Trad, TR
Moonworms face Moonworms
 3
5.11 6c+ 23 VIII- 23 E4 5c Sport
Mercury Morris Noodle Wall
 3
5.11 6c+ 23 VIII- 23 E4 5c Trad
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