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Peak Mountain 3

Death by Hands

FA Pete Gallagher and Steve Sommers '86
CREATED 
UPDATED 

Description

This route offers a little bit of everything that makes Arches climbing great. You’ve got your poorly protected slab climbing right off the ground… there’s the thin aid in soft rock above a hard ledge… some chimneying and offwidth of course… a beautiful hand crack… some scary face moves… and a good old fashion roped-up crawl.

Enjoy.

Pitch 1. The first pitch is missing some of the original pitons and thus is somewhat runout and dangerous. Begin with gritty slab climbing up and left across huecos to a new bolt. Commit to the moves above and follow a shallow corner to an old stardrive. This is pretty spooky because if you blow it badly, there is a chance you could ground out. A long stick clip will help prevent this. 5.9R

Pitch 2. A few moves on fixed gear accesses the obvious splitter above which goes from black alien to offwidth. This is the money pitch of the route but again, the gear in the beginning is not inspiring and you’re looking down at a big belay ledge. Think light… the rock is pretty soft here. Belay from a fixed anchor at the top of the crack. (We fixed our rope to this anchor for the seconds to jug and then climbed up another 20 feet to a more comfortable ledge where we built a ‘reasonably’ solid anchor) 5.10, C2 (or C2)

Pitch 3. A boulder problem not far above the belay leads to a short, bolt protected chimney. Belay at the top of the chimney from gear. 5.10

Pitch 4. Traverse left on bolts to a short, funky chimney and follow this to a huge ledge. Belay from gear or climb on top of the pillar you were chimneying behind and clip in long to the rappel bolts. 5.9 C1

Pitch 5. We walked left along a large ledge and with a bit of exposed crawling and easy chimneying, we made the summit. When we looked at the book later we realized that we were supposed to go right on the big ledge. The book calls it Class 4.

Descent – Downclimb the last pitch and rappel the route. Be careful of stuck ropes on the first rappel.

Location

From the parking lot, hike up a wash to the base of the Organ and then go left to the north side and the base of the route.

Protection

1 set of nuts (#6-10 offsets helpful), double set of cams from black alien to #4 Camalot. A few larger pieces. Extra cams from green alien to #3.5 Camalot for pitch two. (It is easy to back clean on this pitch.) Screamers.

EDIT - If you don't want to back clean on pitch two, bring 4-5 cams in each of the hand sizes.


Routes in The Organ


  1. 2
    Death by Hands
    5.10
    Trad · Aid