Northeast Buttress

A seldom done route to a lonely summit.

Approach to the north of Mystery Canyon.  Descend towards Orderville Canyon.

A long bench under the East Face provides access to the NE Buttress.

Once "on route"...weave back and forth whilst heading up to keep the climbing reasonable.

From the upper mesa, head south then southwest (exposed!) to find a low angle ramp providing a short easy fifth class route to the summit.

Notes from an ascent:

By weaving back and forth up the ridge crest, we were able to 3rd class weaknesses. A short, low angle shallow chimney was passed and several small rock outcroppings interspersed between loose dirt were surmounted. The climbing technique that seemed most useful was plunging fingers and hands as deeply into the loose dirt as possible, walking the feet up, mantling off the hand placements, then kicking in a high stance for the feet to prevent coming loose in a dirt avalanche. Sounds fun, eh? Loose, fragile rock had to be carefully weighted and the occasional large pine provided some transient security between jousts with the thrashy difficulties. By following lower angle dirt and rock outcroppings, we were able to work back and forth and surprisingly, we popped out onto the mesa without placing any gear or donning climbing shoes. Individual rock moves were probably no more difficult than easy 5th class although the entire escapade seemed like a necky alpine climb.

Most reasonable start is the East Mesa/Observation Point trailhead.

Head north towards the visibly lower angle NE Buttress.

Reverse route.  Don't expect to find any fixed anchors.

Easiest exit is down and out to the Temple of Sinawava.

A double set of ropes and a smattering of gear especially weighted with shoulder length slings and material for rappels for the eventual descent.