Breathing in Aether

Breathing in Aether is located directly in the center of the Puddy's Tower Wall in the The Monument area at Smith Rock. The route starts out over conveniently placed cheater stones laying at the base of the wall. While the first 10' of climbing is somewhat crumbly, the rest of the climbing that lies above is totally worth the effort.

Start out up on the big cheater stones directly below the route. A left hand undercling and a right hand jug crimp are keys to getting started. Establish yourself onto the wall and follow the trail of heavily cleaned hand holds up to where the good rock begins. Clip through the first 4 closely spaced bolts and start to work your way into the really fun climbing. After clearing the beginning bulge feature, climb over a slightly overhung section. Once established over the small overhung feature, delicately maneuver up and around a seemingly blank arête. Style your way through the lower arête section, working through a detachment in the feature. Maneuver through the smeary section of detached rock, reestablishing yourself onto another arête lying just above.
From here, you are met with the crux of the route. Clip from the jug at the base of the arête. Some small crimps on the face and good finger locks in the dihedral crack unlock this fun sequence. Once you're through the crux, lay back your way on jugs up to a traverse section lying just above the arête. After you have made the traverse left, start moving upwards. Clear the last little crimpy section of climbing leading to fixed steel anchors.

Located in the middle of Puddy's Tower Wall

13 bolts. Fixed steel anchors.