PRINT: Rock Climb House of the 7th Bobcat, Index

House of the 7th Bobcat

5.11d, Trad, 110 ft (33 m), 2 pitches,

Avg: 2.6 from 9 votes
FA: Eric Hirst, Derek Pearson
Washington > Central-W Casca… > Skykomish Valley > Index > Lookout Point Area > Lookout Point > (b) Central Area

Description

(1) Start on a short handcrack up a trailside block, then continue up moderate ground to a bolt and a final short splitter. Belay at a comfortable ledge with a chain anchor. 5.9.
(2) Bouldery tips laybacking (crux) past 2 closely spaced bolts leads to a rest pod. 5.10 crack climbing leads to chain anchor. 5.11+ or maybe 5.12-.

Take care not to soak your rope on the descent, which tends to steer you down the soggy Lookout Direct starting slab just L of the route. It is also possible to rap or top-rope the entire route with a single 70m rope.

Location

About halfway between Bobcat Cringe and Steel Pulse. Starts right off the trail.

Protection

Single 60m rope, light rack to 3", mostly in the 1/2" to 1" range. Chain anchors on both pitches.

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

Michal Rynkiewicz shooting for the good finger jam after the crux on House of the 7th Bobcat.

Michal moving into the flaring thin hands section after the crux (House of the 7th Bobcat).

Awesome leaning thin hands/ fingers into a slab at the top! I brought doubles from .2-.5 and single .75 and 1 after boulder problem.

Pitch 2, on a sunny December day.

Carolyn Marquardt at the crux (11d) thin layback section of House of the 7th bobcat.

The short starting handcrack

Pitches 1 & 2, from the base

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

Jon Nelson
Redmond, WA

5.11d

The crux on the first pitch is next to the bolt. It involves palming a left-leaning edge that has a good jug on top. The bottom hand-to-fist crack can be avoided by laybacking up the right edge of the flake, though it has no protection.

The crux on the second pitch is getting past the second bolt. Really thin undercling-layback cranking for a few moves to a nice fingerlock just below a hand pod. Apr 16, 2012

Michal
Index WA

5.11-

Link both pitches in one for full value, great climb with a sequential crux. Really loved the off fingers section! Hike up and do this climb!!! Soooooo good... Apr 24, 2012

Eric Hirst

5.11d

11d may be a "sandbag by consensus" rating; not sure. I've tried doing the crux again on TR a couple times now since I first led it, with zero success. The crux is only about 5' of climbing, but the sequence is very specific and feels much harder than any single move on Stern Farmer or (according to Jon) Bobcat Cringe.

It's maybe V4 or V5 or V6 or V7 or or 5.11b or 5.13a or something -- I don't really have a clue anymore. At least the bolts are there to hang on while you work out the beta. Sep 29, 2014

Jon Nelson
Redmond, WA

5.11d

The crack above the crux is really nice thin hands and fingers. If you can't do the crux, aid past it and enjoy the rest. And as Eric said, it is pretty stiff, even for an Index 11d. Definitely harder than Solitude, and some call that a 12. Sep 29, 2014

Drewsky

The crux on this is a lizard slap to the face. It probably would be V4 or V5 if it were found amongst the pebbles. V5 = Index 5.11a. However, this route gets a grading score enhancement for the contrast between the first section and the crux, so .11+ it is. I thought it was fun. Mar 12, 2015

Jack Taylor
Issaquah, WA

Potent boulder with some ledge fall potential getting to the crack above (when linking p1 and p2). Was pretty dirty but the upper crack was awesome! Go grab the grabs! Oct 5, 2020