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Middle Section

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Beaver Cleaver 
C. W. Hicks Direct 
Camptown Races (variation) 
Candyland 
Cinnamon Girl 
Classic, The 
Coatimundi Whiteout 
Crack Lover's Variation 
Good Action 
Good, Bad, and Ugly (GBU), The 
Green Savior 
Gunsmoke 
Hassayampa 
Help Me Mr. Wizard 
High Exposure Exit 
Hotline (aka Hiccup Delux), The 
Kingpin 
Magnolia Thunderpussy 
Once Upon a Time 
Reunion 
Said and Done 
Slammer Jam, The 
Tom's Thumb 
Twin Cracks 
Witblitz 

Middle Section

Submitted By: Greg Opland on Jan 31, 2006
Administrators: Greg Opland, James DeRoussel
Elevation: 6,500 feet
Views: 24,932 page views

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The Flying Buttress


Description 

The Middle Section (for lack of a better name) contains the bulk of the routes at Granite Mountain, running from Magician over to the right side of the Flying Buttress and the Coke Bottle route.** These are the longest, hardest, and arguably best routes at Granite Mountain, running up to 450 feet in length.

  • This separation was originally established by Jim Waugh in his 1982 Granite Mountain guide. I may try to break this up a bit more for ease of finding routes later.


Getting There 

Access for routes in the Middle Section depends on which route for the most part. Routes on the left end, say from Magician over to Green Savior or so, can be more easily accessed from the trail up to the Swamp Slabs. Routes from (this is approximate) Green Savior over to Coke Bottle are easier to get to by following the climber's trail up to the Front Porch area, racking up, and then hiking to your objective.


The Classics

Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for Middle Section:
The Classic   5.7     Trad, 3 pitches   
Green Savior   5.8     Trad, 4 pitches, 350 feet, Grade III   
Beaver Cleaver   5.8+ PG13     Trad, 1 pitch   
Magnolia Thunderpussy   5.9-     Trad   
Crack Lover's Variation   5.9     Trad, 2 pitches, 200 feet, Grade II   
Reunion   5.10-     Trad, 4 pitches, 250 feet, Grade II   
The Slammer Jam   5.10     Trad, 3 pitches, Grade III   
Kingpin   5.10 PG13     Trad, 5 pitches, 450 feet, Grade III   
Candyland   5.10     Trad, 5 pitches, 450 feet, Grade III   
Coatimundi Whiteout   5.11a     Trad, 5 pitches   
Browse More Classics in Middle Section

Featured Route For Middle Section
Heather Hayes pulling the crux on the first pitch of Candyland.

Candyland 5.10  AZ : Granite Mountain : Middle Section
Candyland is the right-hand crack system that climbs to the Great Roof in the middle section of Granite Mountain, and exits the roof to the right. Pitch 1: Climb up to the right end of a large flake and traverse it back left to the base of the main crack. Follow this crack through increasingly difficult jamming and stemming to the crux flakes near the bolt (5.10), through the overhang and to the belay on three modern bolts (thanks to efforts by R...[more]   Browse More Classics in AZ


Photos of Middle Section Slideshow Add Photo
Old times on the Front Porch (L to R) Paul Davidson, Steve Grossman, Jim Donini, Larry Coats, Gordon Douglass, Susie Walkup, Philipo Condrey (circa 1978)

Old times on the Front Porch (L to R) Paul Davidso...

Philipo Condrey rappelling Coke Bottle after the first "no hands" ascent (note that Phil lost his hands in a Civil War re-enactment!)

Philipo Condrey rappelling Coke Bottle after the f...

On the first pitch of the Hotline, Granite Mouuntain

On the first pitch of the Hotline, Granite Mouunta...

View of some routes in the Middle Section of Granite Mountain

BETA PHOTO: View of some routes in the Middle Section of Grani...


Comments on Middle Section Add Comment
Show which comments
By Dean Hoffman
Jan 1, 2009

70m rope will get you safely down the Coke Bottle Raps. Makes the hike in a bit more mellow and you don't have to worry about that pesky tag line.

By Paul Davidson
Jan 23, 2009

Hanging out on Front Porch once a few years back with Ron Beauchamp.
We'd just done the flying buttress w/ Reunion finish.

Sunset is happening and suddenly a lotta critters start coming out of Reunion crack. I thought at first they were bats but decided later they were probably swifts. After trying to count them all and reaching about 300, I gave up. It went on for 10 or 20 minutes.
I guess they like living way back in that crack.

I've spent more than a few evenings on the Front Porch and had never seen anything like this.

It wasn't quite the Carlsbad bat swarm but it was mighty impressive.

By ccmski
From: Prescott, AZ
Nov 7, 2009

Paul- I heard those critters for the first time this year on the Reunion crack- kinda spooky and makes you not want to stick your fingers in too far- not that you can anyway