PRINT: Rock Climb Sentinel Buttress, Hanging Rock State Park

Sentinel Buttress

5.5, Trad, 200 ft (61 m), 2 pitches,

Avg: 2.8 from 159 votes
FA: Robert Mosely, M. Davis - 1963
N Carolina > 3. Piedmont Region > Hanging Rock SP > Moore's Wall (R… > Sentinel Buttress > Center Buttress

Description

A fantastic introduction to leading trad in North Carolina.

P1
Starts at the foot of the buttress and heads up to the Crow's Nest (many variations). Terrain is easier to the left side of the face but gear placements are more plentiful to the right. Choose your adventure.

P2
Walk onto the big ledge on the west side of the buttress. Follow the obvious notch for 90' of cruiser climbing and good exposure, traverse right and up under the bulge to top out. Walk off or rap back to the Crow's Nest (a 60m barely makes it), and then to the ground.

Location

The first pitch of this is actually on (below) the Circus Wall, and serves as the most common approach to Zoo View and Bimbo's Bulge. Start directly below the Crow's Nest.

Protection

Nuts, cams to #3, tricams for horizontals are nice but not required. Gear anchors for both pitches. Pack plenty of long slings and extend your placements, especially on the first pitch.

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

top-roping p1, a great climb for beginners

Looking up from the start of the route

Rough line for the route, as seen from the road coming in

Multiple ways up pitch 1. The pink path is popular, but it's also an invitation to have someone rap down on top of you.

Rapel rings at the top of pitch 2

P2 of Sentinel Buttress and rappel anchor location

First pitch of Sentinel.

Walk right to the end of the Crow's Nest and route follows the line the ropes show in this photo.

2nd pitch of Sentinel Buttress route. Higher on the route, it's almost like there are steps carved in the rock. Fun climbing.

Rock that got pulled from the crows nest as part of an anchor loading mishap. Still at the base somewhere. It took the load of a lead fall first and got pulled off the ledge (simplified version of…

First Pitch

Looking down the 2nd pitch to the crows nest ledge

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

Scott O
Anchorage

Personally, I won't sling that boulder. If you look underneath it, I don't think much is keeping it there. I doubt the body weight of your second could pull it off, but it's not the sort of thing I'd trust for an anchor. Nov 30, 2011

Ryan Williams
London (sort of)

5.5

FWIW, another large boulder that used to get slug was pulled off a few summers ago. The way I heard it, a leader took a fall on Zoo View and his belayer had slung a large boulder as his only anchor to the rock/ledge. When the leader fell, he picked up the belayer AND the boulder, and the boulder fell to the ground below. Glad no one was down there... Feb 29, 2012

Matt Westlake
Durham, NC

5.5

I was at the Air Show belay level with the Crow's nest the moment that boulder got yanked up. Got a picture of the rock too that I'll post up for fun. Torso sized?

The belayer was anchored off the large boulder that has the rap slings under it but had also girth hitched a smaller boulder and clipped his harness into it - ostensibly to be "extra safe" and back up the usual big rock. The leader fell and the smaller boulder portion of the anchor took the load first, which caused it to get pulled out of it's little niche and left it dangling from the harness of the belayer, who was now fully weighting the bigger boulder. With some help he got it free and it tumbled down the face of Sentinel to land at the base, mostly intact. Me and my partner yelled for folks to clear out while they sorted out the dangling rock. No one was hurt but the main take away was be careful what you anchor into! Feb 29, 2012

wjmetcalf

Eric Metcalf was my son. He died 08JUL2012 at Sentinel Buttress. Investigation is still ongoing. Likely a rappelling mistake. Be careful out there. I was a Philmont rock climbing instructor. Eric was a very good climber. Mistakes can happen. Check everything. Verify everything. Trust nothing. Look up "basscausality" on Youtube or "Eric Metcalf" on Youtube. Thanks. Jul 21, 2012

Greg N
My Van

What is the descent off of zoo view? Sorry have never climbed in this area and not beta Dec 5, 2013

b.t.miller
Soddy-Daisy

Brought my 11 year old son here yesterday so he could lead Sentinel. Overall, it really is a fun climb with great exposure. Spectacular view of the Piedmont/valley.

Gear placement is interesting though. P1- climbed more right at the start which is a touch more challenging but better protected. NOTE: long slings are critical (36"-48" are good choices) because the short pitch wanders. Belay - very surprised to see others NOT backing up the cabled anchors around the boulder of crows nest. There are plenty of natural placements available on the wall proper about 10' behind the anchored boulders. #4 nut in perfect directional slot near the ground and a #0.3 and #0.4 BD cam placed about 6' up in a horizontal (directly above small vertical seam that took the #4 nut). Equalized on long slings. P2- the crack system that you ascend is typical for Moore's-- sort of jagged crack system. Long slings are a must. #3 cam comes in big handy. Climb to the bulge at the top and move up and right. Top out and setup a natural anchor in horizontals. Tri-cams worked really well on the belay setup.. #1.5 and 2.0. Rappel anchors are hidden to climbers left and just below the rim... about 10' to climbers left of natural belay. Mar 3, 2014

fromtheestuary
North Carolina

As of 9/19/2015 the rap station for this route looks beyond bomber, two bolts/hangers in solid vertical placements, connected with swaged cable, with two burly quick links to run the rope through. 60m made it just barely to the crows nest, and plenty to spare back to the ground. Sep 24, 2015

Chris Funk

Super fun route for an introduction to multi-pitch & trad. Jugs throughout and great exposure!! Apr 1, 2016

frank crisp
Moore

I'm always surprised I never see or read about anyone doing the 2nd pitch differently. I did the normal 2nd pitch once, twenty years ago. Just not that fun. If you go about as far to the right as possible in the Crows nest, you have a nicely exposed, all be it easy climb to the top.

I doubt it's 5.5 but it has such wonderful views. Has anyone gone super far climbers right in the crows nest and climbed the arete. Does it have a name or just another variation of Sentinel?

I might stop by this weekend with a new climber. This and wailing wall are just the best 1st outdoor trad climbs at Moores.

PS. Is the rap still that funky pulley anchor bolted just below the ledge at the top? I read in the above comments about a rap station that sounds different than the one that was in place during my last visit to Moores. Aug 28, 2017

Kennedy Carey
Midlothian, VA

5.5

Nice Route. All the rap rings in Moore's are sketchy in my opinion. There's a nice crack on the far right of the crows nest ledge to set up an anchor with gear to belay off of. May 2, 2018

Austin Goff
Winston-Salem, NC

If you dont trust equalized nuts, steel cable, and large boulders I dont know what to tell you. May 3, 2018

nbrown

"There's a nice crack on the far right of the crows nest ledge to set up an anchor with gear to belay off of"

Yes! That's the point with these types of Moore's Wall fixed anchors - to encourage climbers to build their own anchors. Sentinel Buttress can be a very busy spot and rapping down to find people belaying off the rap anchors can be very frustrating... May 3, 2018

timothy fisher
CHARLOTTE

If you look at the first edition of Thomas Kelly's first edition of his guide you will see how an area name became a route name in later editions. Sentinel Buttress was never a route name until the later editions of TK's guide came out. This is a historical mistake.

The are 3 main variations of the pitches under the Crows Nest rap anchor. Many minor variations are possible. Sep 2, 2022