Maverick Buttress

BETA PHOTO: March, 2002

Description 

The Maverick Buttress contains the highest concentration of climbs and also has the easiest approach of anything in Long Canyon. There are many perfect splitter cracks on the buttress in the 5.10 to 5.12 range. All the routes are one pitch long and have fixed anchors. A few do require two ropes to get down, so don't forget to bring a second rope. The buttress faces mainly east, providing sun in the morning and shade in the afternoon. The Maverick Buttress should definitely be on your list if you are climbing in Long Canyon. Gunsmoke, a 150 foot 5.11a and Hot Toddy, an 80 foot 5.10b, are among the best routes in the canyon and should not be missed. The views alone down Long Canyon of the Colorado river, Behind the Rocks, and the La Sal mountains make the trip worthwhile.

Getting There 

Maverick Buttess is easy to find and get to. When heading away from Moab on Potash road, turn west just after the Jughandle Arch and go 3.5 miles up the road. The road is a bit rough but a two wheel drive vehicle will have no problem getting there assuming there is no snow. After the fourth and final switchback, park and the buttress is just to the west. It is easily identified by three obvious cracks on northeast face of the buttress. A good trail starts on the right side of a large boulder and leads right up to Gunsmoke. Many of the other routes are found around the left side of the buttress. Squeeze behind a giant boulder near the base of Gunsmoke, and Hot Toddy is 100 feet to the left.

The Classics

Featured Route For Maverick Buttress

Miss Kitty Likes It That Way 5.11+  UT : Moab Area : ... : Maverick Buttress

This is a really fun route with a relatively short, but hard crux. It is the elegantly curving crack to the right of Gunsmoke, and starts with perfect hands before some fingery 5.10 moves into a rest pod. Moving out of the pod up to the final crux seems about 10+ or so, then it's 10 feet of desperate, splitter rattly fingers to the anchors. Jump on it even if you're not a solid 11+ desert climber since the crux is short. Great route! ...[more]   Browse More Classics in UT

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BETA PHOTO: This is the view northward down Long Canyon to Pot...	The view down Long Canyon from Maverick Buttress i...	What a view!
good stuff	Here is a shot of the road leading up to the Buttr...