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The Pear with Observatory Dome in the upper left c...
Description
West of all the Books, an intruiging combination of good beginner routes, odd-looking overhangs, and enjoyable bolted slabs. Do La Chaim (5.7), Good Timing (5.10a), and Fat-Bottomed Groove (5.10d R) for a taste of all three.
Descent: you can walk off nearly nearly every climb after two pitches. Routes west of the landmark, giant Batrachian Dihedral intersect a convenient ledge. East of the dihedral, the "walk off" is quite confusing--wander over to the right (east) when things get lower-angle and easy, and look for a way off--the best way is counterintuitively higher than it appears, though it is easy enough to do a short rappel from most points lower than that. If summitting (usually 4-5 pitches), rappel from slings to the north and hike around east to the base.
Getting There
Follow signs west from the Twin Owls trailhead. Continue past the trail to the Book. There is a sign marking the trail to the Pear. This is just West of the Bookend.
Find the break in the long roof band to the right of the Batrachian Slab route. A brushy chimney descends from below this break. Scramble up to a pine tree to the right of this chimney that is about 60-70 feet off the deck and belay from this tree. P1: Ascend easy face cracks and face above the tree toward the roof band and clip an old manky bolt. Diagonal up and left above the bolt to the left of two short cracks, ascend the crack -- 5.9, then s...[more]
The very highest northern pinnacle has chains you can rap from - though we used double 60s and easily reached the ground, it might have been close with a single, as you're dropping into a deep trench. Alternately, scramble about 100' east to a bulbous rock where there are another set of chains with a considerably shorter drop. Then follow class II/III descent to the east and around - though one girl in our party had a spectacular feet over head spin fall (probably 7.8 out of 10) after stepping on a loose boulder - so do so carefully.
The perfect rock for a fun and mellow day of climbing, especially for beginers. It's got the easiest approach of any of Lumpy's formations and a greater collection of easy to moderate routes. It's definitely got its challenging runout routes as well, but it can't be beat if you're looking for a day of rest and relaxation on the rock.
A single 60m rope makes the rap from the summit. Rossiter claims this rap is only 75 feet so it would appear even a single 50m rope would make it. It is possible to walk off to the west from here, although this involves downclimbing some 5.0 slabs - not recommended!
First time I did Chrome Plated, got caught in a raging snowstorm on the 4th pitch. I discovered you can easily get off the Pear by traversing left (west) to an obvious pine tree that is below the summit headwall. The ledge turns the corner to the right (north) at this tree. The pine often has rap slings on it, but just continue traversing straight north across blocks and ledges beyond it (third class -- some exposure) into the west descent gully.
The Pear
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