The Flakes

My all-time favorite at the grade in Little Cottonwood, this route can be "Quite a grunt to get to and tricky to find," according to the Ruckman guide, but it's well worth it. Approach via

Tingey's Terror

to

Tingey's Torture

--traverse east 25ft from the bolted anchor atop the third pitch of

Tingey's Torture

--for a fun, long link-up or bushwhack your way up ledges to the base of

To Air Is Human

(.10d) or

Under Fire

(.10), granting access to the low-angle, splitter first pitch (5.6), which is named

Trivial Pursuit

(FA" Pete Carney, Tim Wolfe) in the 2016 edition of "A Granite Guide." The second pitch, however, is THE pitch... Scramble up the easy ramp to the base. Jam the perfect handcrack. Commit to a wild undercling/lieback out the first flake left to a stance in a squeeze, then again back right along the top of the airy second flake--CLASSIC! Two sets of bolted anchors appear above; use the newer, upper anchor to belay/descend.

If approaching from Tingey's Torture, traverse east from the top of third pitch toward the arete, then downclimb--easy, but exposed--to the belay ledge atop The Flakes. Rappel from two bolts--a single 60m rope just reaches the ledge below. To descend, a series of fixed rap anchors due east of The Flakes puts one back on the ground.

Bring a standard rack. Doubles in off-fingers to hand sizes are useful, but not necessary; a large 4.5" cam protects the wideness.