Type: Trad, 100 ft (30 m)
FA: Stuart & Bret Ruckman, 1980
Page Views: 2,518 total · 14/month
Shared By: Boissal . on Nov 9, 2009
Admins: Andrew Gram, Nathan Fisher, Perin Blanchard, GRK, D C

You & This Route


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Warning Access Issue: Gate Buttress Area Recreational Lease: Climbs on Church Buttress above vault remain closed DetailsDrop down

Description Suggest change

The Ruckmans recommend starting this route by climbing the face to the right of the Dragon Arch, which involves 5.8 face moves up and around the precarious-looking stack of blocks on widely spaced gear. The gritty face above leads to a dihedral that is home to - wait for it - a right-leaning LCC crack!!
Lieback this awkward beast using the occasional jam and face feature until you can pull onto a slab just above the Dragon Arch anchor. From there, a few slab moves bring you to a bolted belay. Bring up your second and rap or shred your rope trying to lower.

Hairstyles is a worthy outing and would be loads more fun if it saw some traffic and cleaned up a bit. Get after it and fight the lean!!

Location Suggest change

The recommended start is the same as Dragon Arch, a short groove/hand crack. Step out right just below the arch and head up the face toward a right-facing dihedral.
The alternate start involves scrambling up the loose and scrub oak filled gully to the east and following a treed ramp to the base of the dihedral.

Protection Suggest change

This "hand crack" climbs suspiciously like a thin hands/finger crack lieback, meaning you can leave the hand-size pieces at home.
Gear from red C3 to a #1 with doubles on .5 and .75 (BD cams) will suffice, although a #3 can be dropped in the lower section and an extra .4 and #1 could find a home in the crack if you wanted to sew it up.
Medium to large nuts are also welcome.
Sling long at the start and try to keep the rope out of a couple of grooves, otherwise expect rope drag OF DOOM!

2-bolt anchor on the slab (shared with Toymaker's Dream) with fresh webbing and rap rings. Rap off into said gully, seems like it would take all of a 60m rope to get down.

Photos

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