Mystery of the Desert 

can anyone tell me how the pro looks on this route? is it pretty good or are there some tricky placements before crux/difficult sections? are there enough bolts to give the leader some good peace of mind?

The only pitch where the pro seemed a little sparse was #2. In the bolted sections the bolts are plenty close. Definitely nothing seemed all that scary but I didn't lead P2. None of the cruxes were hard to protect.

great, thanks for the info.

Did this over Beanfest weekend, 4-12-08, wonderful route. Fun, mostly moderate climbing with good pro and minimal rotefinding. Surprised this doesn't see more action considering I think it rank's close to classics on Sheepshead like 'Too Tough to Die', 'Absinthe of Mallet', ect.. The infamous 'Wedge' on PIII is pretty unique... squueze through the heinous chimmney if you can fit... or sprice it up with a strenuous chimmney/OW section protected by 3 bolts for some nice peace of mind. The last pitch with it's excellent hand crack is also really fun.

I would love to know who has actually "squeezed through" The Wedge. Don't be shy!

No lie! I tried to "engage the wedge." First I took off my rack and started with it ahead of me. Then my helmet got stuck. Then I got the claustrophobic panic and said "F*ck it! I'm going OW!!" And for those of you who know me, you know I don't enjoy OW. OW = Other Way!(and no, I can't take credit for making that up--I stold it from someone.)

All that aside, it was a great route, that I have now climbed several times.

...Eric Deschamps and I did go through the chimney... after taking our helmets and everything else besides harnesses off. Even just my knot got stuck over and over again and I'm a bony, small, person. It was great fun, though!! Good route.

How'd you get your britches off without taking off your harness?

...OK, so we took off all our GEAR except harnesses... Thanks for pointing out my sloppy language... but it would have been much more humorous if it really was EVERYTHING but the harness. That would be a funny stunt to pull. YOU get to be the one going through the squeeze chimney. I'll handle the camera this time!

nice route. so what's the deal with the bolted crack line that heads off right from the base of the wedge?

That is the third pitch of "The Inevitable Awaits You".

A friend and I did this line last weekend, and I thought it was a pretty good romp. Pitches 1 and 2 have more good gear than you can see from their respective beginnings. Both of us squeezed through the "Wedge"... I am 6'2 and 170 pounds. It took a while, but I made it through.

be sure to do p6 to summit the formation. standing on the summit is an experience you'll not soon forget, plus that last pitch is a solid 3 stars by itself.

be aware that there is some sketchy gear on the route and the first pitch is 5.9R if you start in the dihedral. if you use the 2 bolts from the other route 5 feet to the right and move into the dihedral afterward it's a pretty safe 5.8.

I did this route in 4 pitches and slightly different than described above.

P1- climb left facing dihedral (40' 5.9R- to avoid this climb bolt line to left 5.10b or right 5.9 and then step in to crack) traverse left across dike, past 2 bolt anchor, and up crack to the roof. Pull the roof to 2 bolt anchor. ~140'

P2-The well discussed squeeze- if you get sucked into the bolted crack on the right, and still want to stay on Mystery of the Desert-move left after 3 bolts to stem over the squeeze to the anchor. 50' 5.7

P3- traverse left of belay on face to short hand crack to the bolted slab left of the veg. step onto more face to climb the hand crack and traverse left along dike to 2 bolt anchor 5.9 180 '

P4- climb bolted 5.8 face to top. ~80'

be aware there is no gear for the first 15' or so of pitch 1 on 5.8 terrain. a safer alternative is to start on the bolted route immediately to the right of mystery, and then traverse left on to mystery after the 3rd bolt.

The Wedge: NO need to engage it except as needed to clip the first bolt. Instead, I can assure that one and only one of the following techniques can significantly ease the difficulty (height independent!):

• gaston;

• layback;

• stem;

• heel hook;

• dyno;

• figure four.

I climbed this route in 4 pitches, but would do it in 3 next time:
P1: up the dihedral and over the roof to a 2 bolt belay
p2: through the wedge and up the veg to a belay below the corner
p3: up the corner, across the dike, then past the belay and up two bolts to the top
optional p4- from the large notch, follow bolts up a lichen covered face with a few gear placements to the top of Muttonhead. Rappel this pitch back to the notch and follow the standard walk-off

the Wedge isn't as bad as people make it out to be- just take your gear off, chose a direction for your head, and move with your breath

Pitch 4 contains a difficult to protect 20 foot traverse. As mentioned above there is one bolt and then anchors. While not too bad this could be stressful for a less experienced follower.

For the recorded I engaged the wedge. 6'0 and 175 lbs.

a topo for this climb can be downloaded at this link:

www.geir.com/muttonhead%20w.pdf

If you feel like your life needs a little more excitement, finish on the hootgoat variation. You and your partner will not be disappointed. Near the end of the climb, when you get to the thank god dike, finish right instead of left. With this finish, you get yet another classic stronghold treat. After following it, I had to go back to lead it. Yikes!

Good job Dashle! Thank you Joe for recommending the hootgoat variation, we did it and it was AWESOME! We couldn't decide which way to go until we reach the anchors and then we traverse right through the dike and up the cave...I recommend gearing at the base of Ewphoria, so when you hike down your stuff is right there, instead of going back to the base of Mystery of the Dessert.

Engage the Wedge! Do it before the obesity epidemic in America kills the wedge forever ;)

This climb was great-a lot of variety-face, crack, roof, offwidth...

Excellent-I would say go for it, the cruxes do not last for too long and have good pro (I did Geir's recommendation for P1)-and yet there is something a little spicy for each pitch...

It was a really good day, and I would do it again!

This is a fun climb.
The Wedge is a hoax, don't sweat it.
The layback pitch is stellar- perfect rock and great moves. Worth doing the route for this pitch alone.

got a cam stuck last weekend. Hopefully I'll be back in the next week or two to claim it. If not, I guess its yours.

Did this over the weekend- one bolt of the anchor after the Wedge is loose. Down not out right?