- Edit (TBD)
Description
This sandy and chossy chute is the most prominent and easily recognizable crack and you can see it from the road. It starts right by a big fallen dead tree.
The climbing starts out bouldery as you mantle into a big dish and stem your way towards the crack. You get your first piece of pro here from a stemming position on chossy footholds about 20feet off the deck. Be careful! I placed a blue and/or yellow totem size and backed it up with something of similar.
Pull a cruxy move through the overhang and onto easier fist-sized ground for a while.
About midway you encounter the physical crux. A flarey hourglass-shaped offwidth. Protect this with a #4 or maybe #5 and extend it.
Just before the topout there is another place for a #4 C4 that you need to place, as it is a long distance to the belay tree, and it is important for your follower.
Finally, reach the sandy, blocky summit and walk a long distance to the tree.
Rappel with 2 ropes.
Right now this route is very chossy and sandy, but it might clean up as it sees more traffic.
Location
It's the most prominent and easily recognizable crack and you can see it from the road. It starts right by a big fallen dead tree.
Protection
Ideally use 2 70m ropes although 2 60m ropes might work.
A single rack with doubles or triples in #3 and #4 C4s. Extended alpine draws on everything! Rappel with 2 ropes.
It also ends at a big fallen dead tree. If you belay using the dead tree, be warned. Not sure how much longer that tree will last. There is a more alive tree up there that you can belay from on the far right side, but your partner needs to be careful not to fall at the top as it would be quite a big swing. Make sure you save a #4 for the very top as a directional.
You could also potentially go PAST the big dead fallen tree to another live one but this might require a rope longer than 70m.
Routes in Keyhole Canyon Roadside Buttress
- 1Crap Chute5.9+Trad