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Delusions of Grandeur

5.10c, Trad,  Avg: 2.8 from 5 votes
FA: G. White, J. Nelson, S. Strong '82
Washington > Central-W Casca… > Skykomish Valley > Index > Inner Walls > E Side > (b) Grandeur Buttress

Description

A long steep face and crack climb in the middle of Grandeur Buttress. Ends near the small tree on top. Sustained, pumpy climbing on unique rock.

The route may be revegetated and need a recleaning.

Protection

Full range of sizes, from wired stoppers to 3".

Location

From the right edge of Grandeur Buttress, at Agent Orange and Cornerflash, go downhill and left to near the center of the face. The base region may be highly overgrown. The start is significantly lower than that of the routes on the right edge.

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

Geoff Georges
Seattle, WA
  5.10+
[Hide Comment] I think this is what I have a fixed rope on right now, work in progress, may not have been climbed for 30 years, extremely overgrown.
I uncovered 2 old pins, one came out when the block it was against came off. There were a few ancient slings on the cedar at the top that popped when I cut them. The main concern I have right now is that the entire top area seems to be exfoliating with very large loose rock. Jul 31, 2018
Geoff Georges
Seattle, WA
  5.10+
[Hide Comment] Douglas, I think after climbing many variations and consulting the Cummins guide that the Delusions route goes to the cedar tree further left, described as middle of the wall. It makes sense too because it is the only line I can climb after cleaning the other leftward trending crack system that starts at the boulder at the base. Maybe Jon remembers?
There are two distinct cruxes. 20 feet up is a hard to figure before you pump out sequence of find the holds and move left of small maple. Then the top out to the anchor is the other crux.
I thought about bolts on this, with several spots hard to figure out how to protect, but I feel like it protects ok if you think hard enough. Several in the .5 size and the #3 camalots fill the flaring cracks well. There are great toss in over your head nuts too. Currently a couple of my pins as well. Sep 2, 2018
Geoff Georges
Seattle, WA
  5.10+
[Hide Comment] My work is done on this, pulled the fixed rope. There is a bolted anchor right of the cedar tree now. I left a couple of pins for now. I don't think it needs any bolts and all the loose rock is gone. It would be handy to have a double rack on this, but not required. Nov 11, 2018
Darryl Cramer
Seattle
[Hide Comment] IIRC, this route ends right above the climber in this picture: cdn2.apstatic.com/photos/cl…

Coming in from slightly to the right May 19, 2021
Jon Nelson
Redmond, WA
  5.10c
[Hide Comment] I think Geoff and Darryl are right about the finish of this route. That picture does show what looks like the tree on top that we went to, and we came at it from a little to the right.

So, it and Undertoe merge at the very top. May 19, 2021