Lend Me a Dime
5.12b,
Sport, 160 ft (48 m), 2 pitches,
Avg: 2.6 from 9
votes
FA: Pat Contor, Gary Taylor, 1989
Utah
> Wasatch Range
> Central Wasatch
> Little Cottonwo…
> Kermits Wall
Access Issue: Gate Buttress Area Recreational Lease: Climbs on Church Buttress above vault remain closed
Details
Climbers Partner with LDS Church on Stewardship of Little Cottonwood Canyon Climbing
June 1st, 2017:The Salt Lake Climbers Alliance (SLCA), the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), and Access Fund announce the signing of an unprecedented lease for 140 acres in Little Cottonwood Canyon (LCC). The parcel, known as the Gate Buttress, is about one mile up LCC canyon and has been popular with generations of climbers because of its world-class granite.
The agreement secures legitimate access to approximately 588 routes and 138 boulder problems at the Gate Buttress for rock climbers, who will be active stewards of the property. The recreational lease is the result of several years of negotiations between LDS Church leaders and the local climbing community.
Access Note: The climbs on the Church Buttress above the vault as well as the Glen boulders that have been traditionally closed will remain closed.
Please help us steward this area and leave no trace.
Read More:
saltlakeclimbers.org/climbe…
Description
This has to be one of the best, if not the best, of the Contor-Taylor team's routes in the Cottonwoods. Although probably best considered a "sport route," it has much more adventure than your typical clip-up, requiring a blend of slab technique, creativity, and power. Rumor has it that some holds have broken off, particularly on the first pitch, which I don't doubt given what appears to be some of the remnants and a short section of dubious rock around the quasi-hanging belay. However, it still goes at "easy" 12, and if this is your standard and you haven't been on it, you just gotta do it. I bet there isn't another route like it in Utah.
(1) Relatively easy climbing protected by gear leads up to a rising traverse past five well-spaced bolts to the stance. The climbing gets increasingly challenging and trickier to figure out the closer you get to the small foot-stance that serves as the belay. Probably 12a, but I'll go 12b given the mental calculus and zen-like balance needed to solve the crux. A short chain was added a few years ago to one of the bolts to make the clip easier, I think, but it also helps the logistics of bailing if the crux proves too much.
(2) Make a few moves up past a bolt and step around the corner to wild climbing protected by a few more bolts and outstanding exposure. Chains on top. If this pitch were off the ground, it likely would get more traffic that All Chalk. Probably a give-away 12a. This pitch also serves as the latter and much easier half of Agent Orange.
Location
Start from the top of Smitty's Wet Dream.
Protection
A few cams under 2 inches and a few wired nuts for the first 25 or so feet (easy), draws; single rope okay. Two raps to the ground, stopping at the anchors atop Revenge of the Nerds/All Chalk.
[Hide Photo] Looking back on the technical traversing of pitch one
[Hide Photo] Pitch one from below. It follows the corner up, then traverses right under the overlap
The first time I tried this there was a biner on a very bleached piece of webbing that was manufactured with stitches along the length of the sling. Getting up to clip that biner was crazy hard for me and when I grabbed the sling there was a nauseating tearing sound as it ripped in two. Fortunately, the stitches in the webbing held. They were all that held. Two threads. Nothing else. Getting a draw clipped into that bolt was kinda desperate just then.
I went back the next week and placed the chain that's on it now. Jul 14, 2013
you can take J.S. out of bcc, but you can't take the bcc out of J.S. Jul 16, 2013
Wasatch Back, UT
Reno, NV
You might want to extend everything on Cranial Prophylactic with at least a shoulder-length sling, and even up to 240cm length slings, while also running it out, to be able to enjoy the traverse with no rope drag. Oct 30, 2022