Beheaded Burro

On March 22nd, an unfortunate burro was beheaded in an accident on SR 159. We saw the aftermath that morning. A car was in the ditch, a burro lay in the road, and the head was nowhere to be seen. We don't know if the passengers were okay...

We decided to name the route after the event and wanted to remind people not to feed the burros. When they are fed, they come to the road and things like this happen.

On the 23rd, Neal Douglass and I climbed Purblind Pillar. We spotted a nice crack right above the descent gully and started climbing:

Pitch One -- Pull through cruxy 5.7 moves right off the ground. As the crack widens, it eases. Cross some low fifth class terrain to another crack on the right. Climb up onto a bushy ledge and belay. (160')

Before starting the next pitch, move the belay past the large block and set-up above the "Strawberry Chasm." Build an anchor near the deep cave.

Pitch Two -- Step across the chasm and move up right toward another nice crack. Follow the 5.7 crack to a large sandy ledge. (120')

Pitch Three -- Climb up the corner from the sandy ledge (5.7) to the top of the pillar. Drop down on the other side and build an anchor on the patina. (75')

The route may be found immediately above the start of the descent route for Purblind Pillar.

From the top of pitch three, rap 100' into a brushy gully. Descend the brushy gully to the main Angel Food Wall descent. Beware - right before you meet the regular descent, it gets spicy. Down-climb third, fourth and occasional fifth-class terrain right before meeting the standard descent.

A standard rack with doubles from .75-2 will suffice.

We left a cordellete at the top of pitch three to rap off.