Scott nearing the first belay, with the tree behin...
Description
German for "walkway". This is a fairly obvious crack on the east face containing a small pine tree about 80' up. Right of this crack is a large right facing corner (Carpenter's Corner). The first pitch also starts about 30' right of Bat Crack.
P1 (100'): The crack with the tree does not reach the ground. Move right under an overhang to find a short, steep crack. Crank up this (5.7) and move up and left to reach the base of the crack with the tree. Follow this fun crack (5.6) past the tree, then traverse right to a small belay ledge about 30' beyond the tree.
One can also start below the crack, step over the overhang and up a steep face, but this is much more dangerous for the leader as there is no protection at all for the first 20' and it is probably at least 5.8 (the party behind us opted for this start). It is also possible to start even farther left, as for Bat Crack: Climb up a knobby face, and about 20' up traverse straight right on a line of knobs to the base of the crack with the tree (no pro but only about 5.5).
A large number of slings and rappel rings indicate that rappelling off or toproping the first pitch from the tree is popular. This tree is not large and shows some wear from all of this.
P2 (120'): Move up, then traverse right into a dihedral at the left edge of a large roof band. Climb straight up this over the roof, then continue up and somewhat right to the top of the rock (5.8). The rock on this pitch is a bit grainy, and it may be easier if you go farther right than we did. Near the end of the pitch we did a scary step right into an undercling.
By Tony B From: Boulder, CO Aug 20, 2006 rating: 5.8+ PG13
Can be done as a single pitch with a 70M rope- take a lot of slings with a standard rack. The upper headwall crux will be both difficult and poorly protected for leaders below 5'8" or so. My 5'5" partner had to run it out on less than ideal holds. Doing it her way, we believed it was closer to 5.10 than 5.8.
I agree with TB. I have been on this twice. Once in 2001 and another 2 days ago. I could not find the 5.8 way through the upper bulge. The way we went was hard and crumbling i.e. cat litter. A good route. You can rap off the block below the bulge on the far right. This will keep it 5.8. I did that the first time.
This is a pretty good route to learn a little about multi-pitch climbing. I led it with a small standard rack. I would have appreciated a little more gear but that is just something I'll have to acquire over time.
The first pitch is easy, short and a good warm up. The tree-anchor is bomber as are the slings and rings around it.
The second pitch is a little sketchy. I stayed right like the book told me to and found the bulge to be far more difficult than a 5.8 (there were several 5.10+ moves in a row at the bulge). The rock is very gritty and slabby with decent smearing for feet but nearly zero hand holds.
My advice: Trust your feet. They are stickier than you think.
Decent: Walk down the Eastern side of the summit where you will soon see cairns and a trail that guide you back to the bottom of the south facing side of the rock.
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