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Schoolroom West

5.7, Trad, 300 ft (91 m), 3 pitches, Grade II,  Avg: 2.6 from 240 votes
FA: unknown
Utah > Wasatch Range > Central Wasatch > Little Cottonwo… > Gate Buttress > Schoolroom Area
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Description

Schoolroom West is a great multi-pitch route on the left side of the Schoolroom Wall. This climb is more quality than the standard Schoolroom because it avoids the squeeze chimney and the long traverses. Climb it in 3 to 5 pitches. Breaking it into 3 pitches is most sensible.

P1) Scramble up the opening part of Schoolroom (easy 5th class) through possibly loose blocks. Traverse right to a tree at the base of a right facing dihedral (optional belay here). Continue up the dihedral to a large belay pod. Belay at a small tree with slings backed up with some gear.

P2) Climb a short section up a steep slick slab using a wide crack. Protection in the wide part would require a 4.5 camalot up higher (not necessary). Clip a fixed pin and wander up and slightly right through little bulges to a small tree (optional belay). Continue up through 2 or 3 more bulges with bomber hand jams to a large belay ledge with a tree.

P3) Climb the nice hand crack which is the last pitch of Schoolroom. Follow it until you can step left and traverse downward to the rappel tree. Another good option is to climb the Movie Variation crack just to the right. It is tricky for 5.8, but takes excellent pro.

Descent) Rap 80' from the top of P3 to a ledge. Traverse left a few feet to a set of chain anchors. Make a 100' rap down to the ground. A 60m rope is helpful, but some downclimbing could be done with a 50m rope.

Protection

Standard Rack, pro up to a #3 camalot, aliens are useful. Many runners/slings will help with rope drag if optional belays are skipped. 

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

Schoolroom 5.6 II on the Gate Buttress in Little Cottonwood Canyon
[Hide Photo] Schoolroom 5.6 II on the Gate Buttress in Little Cottonwood Canyon
Schoolroom West<br>
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Several of these pitches can be combined.
[Hide Photo] Schoolroom West Several of these pitches can be combined.
View of the Thumb and the roof!
[Hide Photo] View of the Thumb and the roof!
Traversing
[Hide Photo] Traversing
Topping out on this pitch.
[Hide Photo] Topping out on this pitch.
Maura on the first pitch of Schoolroom West.  A climber is on Schoolroom in the background.
[Hide Photo] Maura on the first pitch of Schoolroom West. A climber is on Schoolroom in the background.

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

Peter Gram
Jackson, WY
  5.7
[Hide Comment] The route can be seen on this beta photo, but the standard Schoolroom is the drawn black line. The first pitch climbs up to the tree before the descent in the photo, and follows the leftward trending crack to the obvious pod. Then the rightward trending crack that leads to the circled 4 is the second pitch. Last pitch is the same.

This is a 3-star climb if the Movie Variation is used. Mar 20, 2004
Nathan Fisher
St George
  5.7
[Hide Comment] Not consistent enough for 3 stars. Aug 18, 2004
[Hide Comment] Not quite as fun as I thought it would be. I prefer the Schoolroom Direct (even with the chimney). To me the crux was the first 15 feet of the second (or third if u dont link) pitch. Felt harder than 5.7. Kind of awkward but i blindly placed a medium cam up high in the flake, high stepped onto a bump on the right slab and made the move. Ankle breaker if u fall and dont have pro. Definately link this pitch with the fun roof pitch. There isn't any reason not to. Last pitch is good. It loves cams. Next time I will try that scary looking 5.8 on the right! Sep 15, 2004
philfell
Olympic Valley, CA
  5.7+
[Hide Comment] I just climbed this today. We broke it into three pitches and it worked great, although communication was tough in spots. The first part of the second pitch seemed tough for 5.7. It took me a little bit to get a plan of attack for it. I wasn't sure if I should try to lay-back, off-width, slap climb it and ignore the crack, or go on the face to the left with the few chicken heads. Overall the route is really fun with good gear whenever you need it. The final pitch is really fun. May 29, 2005
Jason Billings
Draper, UT
  5.7+
[Hide Comment] I agree with everyones comments. This is not an easy 5.7. Other than the off-width second of Crescent this goes down as one of the harder 5.7 climbs around. There are a few trick moves but they protect extremely well. Sep 27, 2005
[Hide Comment] With a 70meter rope we wre able to climb the route in one pitch with simu-climbing from 20 ft above the big pine tree at the last lower belay. Good pro and a nice direct line up the buttress. Oct 3, 2005
d-know
electric lady land
  5.7
[Hide Comment] best way up the cliff. usually nobody on it Jan 25, 2006
Stan Pitcher
SLC, UT
 
[Hide Comment] Great route that can use more traffic! 1st pitch to the nice ledge below the 2nd pitch flare. A 3 camalot protects the flare well. Use longs slings above to reduce rope drag and go to pine tree below Movie variation for belay. Definitely do Movie as third pitch - protects really well with small cams and nuts. Great climb! May 21, 2010
steven sadler
SLC, UT
[Hide Comment] The last part of the climb was really good. Fun easy with awesome hand jams. But the first few pitches really weren't all that great. Really easy climbing/scrambling with a couple of just awkward moves here and there. Worth doing once though. I had a single rack and felt like i had plenty of gear. Apr 2, 2011
Charlie S
NV
  5.7
[Hide Comment] Second pitch is the best. Typical LCC 5.7 difficulty. Avoids the traverses of standard Schoolroom. A very fun outing! Mar 10, 2012
[Hide Comment] Enjoyed this much more than repeating schoolroom over and over whenever I climbed with newbies. Apr 11, 2013
Garret Nuzzo Jones
Salt Lake City, UT
 
[Hide Comment] If you like Crescent Crack, you'll probably like this. Wonderful first pitch, terrible opening to the second pitch, just like Crescent Crack.

The wide flare is only protectable by a large cam so bring your bigger stuff (#5 probably). I didn't and got sketched out trying to layback the edge of the crack. A fall without a cam in that flare means broken ankles. Oct 2, 2013
Zandy
Salt Lake City, UT
  5.8-
[Hide Comment] The crux flare/layback right after the belay on the ramp/pod is sketchy, but I was able to make it much safer by doing two things:
1. Put a #4 Camalot in the wide portion of the flare and then back off to the scooped out area to the left of the flare, just a few feet above the belay.
2. Balance up on the two chickenheads to the left of the flare and you'll be able to reach the (manky) piton, clip it, then back down and climb the flare/layback with more confidence.

Fun climb, good placements for pro. Bring that #4 and six-eight alpine draws. Mar 21, 2016
Daniel H Bryant
Colorado Springs, CO
[Hide Comment] The flake just below the old piton, is where the spice resides. Once you make it into the crack above it, smooth sailing from there out. Jul 4, 2016
Crag Turkey
Liberty Wells, UT
  5.7
[Hide Comment] Great Variation, lots of stuff to like here. Beginning of the second pitch is the closest resemblance to the start of the 2nd pitch of Crescent Crack, though I don't think most/any would climb it as an offwidth. Super fun and tons of options for pro. I would say the #4 is optional, as there is plenty of opportunities for pro around. That being said, one could get a 4 in at the beginning of the second or towards the end of the movie variation.. Oct 21, 2016
Nik Benko
Salt Lake City
[Hide Comment] Was able to get a #3 camalot in the flake at the start of the 2nd pitch and then proceeded to grease off while liebacking. The piece held and kept me off the ground and my belayers head. Plug it in and send it! Fun route. Jun 30, 2017
[Hide Comment] The Movie Variation or final pitch described above was the highest quality. We found the second pitch in the right facing dihedral to be sopping wet but doable in the spring.

There was a set of bolt anchors at the top of the third pitch to climbers left. We rapped off of those down to the anchors for Hatchet Crack. With 50 m half ropes we could make it to the base of Hatchet to cut off some of the walk we would have had with the proper schoolroom descent. May 4, 2018
greggrylls
Salt Lake City
  5.7
[Hide Comment] Never needed the 4. I clipped the piton off the chickenheads and if you're flexible you can do a cool little rockover move to bypass the flared offwidth.

Very reasonable with no rope drag if you use runners on P1 of the schoolroom. Best done in 2 pitches. Ground to bottom of offwidth, then to the schoolroom big belay tree. Fun climb that climbs a bit differently than regular schoolroom. Jun 13, 2019
Brenden McGarrity
Norwich, CT
[Hide Comment] video of route: youtube.com/watch?v=4sI-xl0… Feb 9, 2022
Finn Lanvers
SLC
  5.8- PG13
[Hide Comment] I really dislike this route, I find that it skips the best part of the schoolroom and generally misses the point. I would rather do the Playing hooky variation any day. the mantle onto the ramp is a bit too sketchy for my tastes. The second pitch? Where you have to make a move around a corner really sucks. It is not a bad route for say but it is much worse than schoolroom Dec 7, 2023