Peaches

Peaches is located on the tallest and most prominent dark granite buttress on the south side of Stuart Draw. The climb tackles the steep and intimidating north face full on, with three and a half pitches of adventurous, and at times quite runout, climbing. Though graded 5.8, periods of loose and dirty rock, cryptic route finding, thin (or at times nonexistent) gear and insecure face climbing nearly void of sustained cracks promotes an added sense of respect. This route is probably best for the confident 5.10 climber looking for an off-the-beaten path adventure, primed for runouts and willing to forgive some flaws.

P1** (5.8, PG13): Begin in the right facing vegetated corner about 30 feet right of a single bolt with bolted anchors above. The bolts belong to Cash For Less, a 5.10- single pitch slab, which can be easily merged with Peaches above. Climb the better-than-it-looks corner (5.7) to a blank face above, where discontinuous cracks and insecure face climbing (5.8), with scanty pro, are ascended for a good fifty-ish feet. Belay from the ledge next to, or from, the Cash For Less anchors. If you don't care for pitch one, which is emblematic of the rest of the climb, an easy bail can be made from the CFL anchors.

P2** (5.8): Continue directly up for about 15 feet towards the imposing roof, until a miracle hand-rail crack offers a logical, albeit slightly scary, westward traverse towards the far right end of the roof. When the roof diminishes to only a slight vertical bulge, pull the roof on king-kong 5.5 jugs and continue up another spicy 5.8 slab reminiscent of pitch one. A large ledge for belay has surprisingly few suitable gear placements for anchoring - save a #2 camalot. 

P3** (5.7 PG13, 50+ meters): We definitely did not follow the original line on this pitch (according to the OJ guidebook) and likely made the climbing more difficult. I also think we accidentally linked pitches three and four from that original topo. Banter aside, our line diagonal-ed right and up from the belay on easy ground, then ascended a steep finger crack with good pro and face holds (5.7). When the crack dead-ended, I wandered back left, similar to the original topo, and continued through 40 some meters of dicy face climbing (5.7ish), dancing around questionable blocks and often choosing to runout the rope instead of placing gear next to death blocks. This pitch is perhaps the only reason I won't be repeating this climb, though with careful foot placements I was able to avoid dislodging any widow-makers. My follower knocked a toaster off this pitch. According to the original topo, Yvon & Collins may have done a contrived 5.5 traverse pitch to avoid this stretch - honestly though, I didn't find it too bad. We belayed from another large ledge just below the summit ridge.

P4* (5.7): Continue up from the belay on a face split by generally easy cracks (5.7), mantling onto the east ridge. Run the rope out on fourth class slabs to the top of the summit ridge. 

P5 (spire, optional): The summit spire located above the conclusion of this climb was not listed in the original route description. The north and east faces of this free-standing tower looked dangerous, but the south side provided an easy scramble on 5.1 ledges to a unique perch. The descent gully can also be scouted from here, though it should be noted that a down climb is required (no established rappel)

Descent: Descend the narrow gully/couloir directly west of the summit. The descent gully is loose and tough on the knees, but non-technical and returns directly to the base of the climb. 

If Peaches saw fifty ascents per year for the next half decade, it could easily form into a four star classic - yet sadly this is unlikely and therefor, this route will remain a lichen crusted relic of "bold-school" climbing history.

See above, and the approach description on the Stuart Draw page. Peaches buttress can be identified as the only prominent (and tallest) buttress worth climbing on the south side of Stuart Draw, first visible from the first and only major creek crossing on the Buck Mountain approach trail.

Cams (2x) - #0.5 to #2

Cams (1x) - #0.1 to #0.3

Nuts - 1 set, including small brass offsets/RP's

(an additional rack of offset nuts, if you own them, might be appreciated)

I think I placed twice as many nuts as cams on this climb