Type: Trad, 1800 ft (545 m), 11 pitches, Grade IV
FA: Ron Perla, Chuck Satterfield, 1964
Page Views: 6,200 total · 29/month
Shared By: Bobby Hanson on Jul 6, 2006
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

AKA: Satyr Ridge, the Ruckman guide says this is 1800 feet, but really, from car to summit it is well over 3000.

Typical alpine granite (good to crappy) with a (relatively) easy approach. Lots of hiking, though.

Although there are lots of easy sections that you could either simul or solo, the technical sections appear often enough that it probably isn't worth it. We seemed to find a 40m 5.8 pitch just about every 50m or so (alternates 5.easy, 5.8, ...). These were almost always very exposed.

The (small amount of) beta that I heard before we did this climb was, "it is loose and scary, and I won't ever do it again." We didn't find it all that bad. We didn't complete the route, however; we were stormed off at about 700 feet from the summit (long descent involving many rappels).

Location Suggest change

Park just up-canyon from the LDS vaults. There is a bouldering area here, but I don't remember the name. Look for the talus field coming off the ridge, this is your goal.

Hike down past the boulders to the LCC trail. Walk up canyon to the bridge and cross the river. A small trail enters the woods here (toward more bouldering). Follow this trail until it begins descending a lot. Leave the trail and bushwhack WSW until you get to the talus field. Follow the talus up and into the gully.

You will eventually get to some immaculate white slabs on your left (after a couple of bouldery moves). Further up the gully, it splits into two gullies. The right one is sandy and loose, the left is solid, but requires technical climbing (5.8+ R).

Above each of these there is a grassy quasi-meadow below a headwall. It looked like several lines on the headwall would go at around 5.7 or 5.8. We opted to hike game trails in the trees to the left to bypass the headwall.

Above the headwall are a series of ledges on the left side of the huge slabs. Follow these up along the path of least resistance, heading left when possible and aesthetic.

If you can find the "Endless Dihedral" pitch and the 5.8 o.w. right on the ridge, I highly recommend both of them (see topo)

Descent: Either south into Bell's Canyon, or two drainages east back into LCC. You can scope the second descent option from the road just above the gate buttress parking area.

Protection Suggest change

Standard rack. We didn't bring anything bigger than a #2 (gold) Camalot, but there were a couple of places where a #3 would have been useful.

Photos

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