West Face

This route is located on the west side of White Spire in the center of the Garden. It follows the line of the protection and is listed at a 5.8 in my guidebook, although it would definitely feel harder on lead due to the zig-zag nature of the route. There are three manky looking pins on the west face if you are wanting to lead this climb. The first pin is on the left of the face about 15 feet up and the second pin is to its right and another 15 feet up. Both of these pins are obvious from the ground. The third pin is hidden on the right side of the face in a small pocket about 10-15 feet above the second. The easiest and safest way to do this route is to lead climb the 5.6

South Ridge

of White Spire and set up a toprope. While not very complicated, this route does require a bit of balance and is a nice toprope to do, since you will already be set up if you have led the north or south side climbs on White Spire.

Per

Stewart M. Green

: The "West Face" of White was a Garden testpiece back in the late 1960s. There was a parking area on the Gateway Road just east of Red and White, so it was convenient and always lots of folks congregating there to climb, to BS, or to watch. There was of course, no paved trail or stone wall at the base, just dirt. There are actually 3 starts to the route. The left start with the old piton is the "Dudley Start," named for first ascender Mike Dudley. The middle start was first climbed on top-rope by who knows who...I did it in 1968. The right start is "Kor Start" climbed in 1964 by Layton Kor and belayed by John Auld on one of Kor's forays to The Garden. From the ledge with the piton on its right side, several other variations happen. You can climb up left on shallow, rounded scoops on the "Muff Traverse," named for first ascensionist Steve Cheyney in 1971. We all worked on that baby trying to get the first ascent. I did the direct (toprope) up to the pothole below bolt 3 in 1974 and declined to rate it since it seemed off the chart for the ratings at the time. It's very bouldery.

There are three pins on the west face if you choose to lead the route, but it can be set up as a toprope from the two other easier routes on White Spire.