BETA PHOTO: Madame Gs buttress. Climb ascends the middle of th...
Description
Madame G's battles for title of best 5.6 with High E.
The Madame G's access trail is the first one after Minty, about a 9-min. walk from the Uberfall, and a 5-min. walk from where the East Trapps Connector trail meets the carriage road.
Madame G's leads up the exposed, orange buttress with large left-facing (Southern Pillar 5.2) and right-facing (Northern Pillar) dihedrals on either side. Come around the left toe of the buttress and start atop some boulders below a thin-crack system leading to a large oak tree.
P1: Follow the thin crack to the tree. 5.4, 50'.
P2: Traverse right into a steep left-facing dihedral, with jugs and jams. At the top, traverse right and belay on a small stance at a horizontal crack if you are short on gear. 5.6, 80'.
P3: Follow the chalk through multiple overhangs on huge jugs and steep terrain. Near the top, angle right through the final overhang and belay at bolts. 5.6, 80'.
You can combine P1/P2 or P2/P3. The best combination is P2/P3, since they are the best pitches. Bring lots of long slings. With a 70M rope, you might be able to run all 3 pitches together. Rap twice down the Northern Pillar route from bolts with a single 60M.
Protection
Standard Rack; extra hand-size cams if linking pitches.
Another awesome route, The hanging belay still gets my attention. My second climb of the new year, we did it on New Years day. The climb was bone dry until the top out which was covered with an inch or so of snow...
This climb is even better if you do P1 of Columbia, just to the left as you face the rock. That makes the climb 5.8 though. That arching crack of Columbia is a lot harder than it looks.
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