Oakey Buttress

The Oakey Buttress is on the western end of the west ridge of Cactus Flower Tower. It overlooks the first fork in Oak Creek. The buttress sits somewhat below and to the west of the Blood Wall, and is distinguished from that area by differing descent routes and character of climbing.

The first recorded climbing in the area took place in the late 1970's. Bob Harrington, Alan Bartlett, and Bill St. Jean put up Oakey Dokey. They had originally intended to name the route "High Anxiety," after the recently released Mel Brooks movie, but found that the name had already been grabbed by the Uriostes for a route on the Brownstone Wall. At around the same time, Harrington teamed up with Ron Overholtz climbed another line farther to the east. Bob called it a "super-forgettable grovel... that didn't merit naming." This line probably coincides with Okie from Muskogee.