South Face Variation

Phyllis’ Engine – South Face Variation (5.9)

There are three obvious cracks on the south wall under the highest smokestack. Climb the rightmost crack next to the corner. Begins with a few meters of hand jams and quickly widens into an offwidth. This continues for a couple meters before solid hand jams, ring locks, and finger locks can be found. Traverse right afterwards to follow the low angle hand crack up to a slanted ledge – first belay.

Second pitch goes straight up the vertical cracks to the ledge. Traverse right into a hand crack and continue straight up. Mostly low angle except for the start and a small section in the middle.

Traverse around the summit smokestack to the east side and follow the hand crack to the top.

Rappel off slung blocks.
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If climbing in the Spring, the approach on skis is quite reasonable. Definitely climbable, but expect ice and snow on the route. You will want to consider racking an ice axe to hack ice out of the cracks.

There are three obvious cracks on the south wall under the highest smokestack. Climb the rightmost crack next to the corner.