Type: Trad, 300 ft (91 m), 3 pitches
FA: Smith, Clark, E. Laeger, 6/76
Page Views: 5,887 total · 28/month
Shared By: ttriche on Oct 17, 2006
Admins: Cory B, Matthew Fienup, Muscrat, Mike Morley, Adam Stackhouse, Salamanizer Ski, Justin Johnsen, Vicki Schwantes

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Description Suggest change

Face traverse (somewhat exciting) into a handcrack splitting the obvious streak of yellow lichen. You will come across the remains of a salad oil bottle as the handcrack widens into an offwidth (lieback this, lest you need a similar bottle), terminating onto a huge ledge. (Rap anchors for a Brian Jonas sport route are at the left end of this ledge if you need them for some reason -- you do not want to be on top of the Wizard in a storm, for example.) The next pitch is the business -- thin dihedral to an exciting overlap. Rap off of some nasty slings (can also do a short rap to massive chains which may reach the deck), then 4th-class out of the notch to top out on the Sorceror and rap from there; or, with two ropes, you can rap the Demon and end up below the Sorceror's Apprentice. Classic route at the grade; I've climbed this route with several different partners of varying abilities, and all were amazed at its relative obscurity. Even among the many fine routes at the Needles, this is a gem.

Location Suggest change

West face of the Wizard. The route starts at a large bush which is reached by descending a gully from between the Charlatan and Djinn formations; the start of this gully is reached by chimneying through a notch with a somewhat beaten footpath to it. If you screw up and go too far west, you can rap in from any number of points and rejoin the gully. A line of bolts going up and left from the bush is the aforementioned Jonas route, rumored also to be fine climbing. The "Yellow Brick Road" is a huge yellow streak of lichen visible from the lookout, split by the crack system which you ascend.

Protection Suggest change

Cams to 4" (#4 or #5 C4 size is useful in the 30' offwidth section); nuts small to medium are crucial for the dihedral. Aliens are helpful for protecting the initial face traverse and the smallest may come in handy when protecting the pie-slice dihedral, especially if you run low on small to medium size nuts.

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