Rocky Raccoon

This is a fun, burly old-school 5.7 that protects very well. Although it's a little vague, we tried to follow Hill's description and topo (1993:122-123) as much as possible. It goes, so we must have been nearly on route most of the way. I'm not clear how pitch 1 of this route might relate to Arrow Heads and Pitons.

P1. Climb to a ledge and find a stellar lieback splitter that trends to the right. At the top of that crack, step left around an arete into a V-shaped alcove with a thin splitter on the left. Continue up the weakness to the left and belay on a large sloping ledge. No fixed gear was observed on this pitch.

P2. This pitch is shared with some other climbs like the North Face Direct, and probably AH&P. Start up a deep chimney under a suspended block. Gain the block, and make a bunch of thuggish moves past more overhanging blocks. Pass by an old ring pin and a relic bolt to a large platform below the summit block. A big easy crack then leads to the top.

A single set of nuts, 1-1/2 set of cams to 2.5" suffice (we took a #4 C4, but it was not critical). Some old fixed gear is present, but it is of dubious reliability. Gear is necessary for all belays except at the top.

RAPPEL BETA
Two rappels off a bolted anchor with a 60m rope gets you to the ground. The rap anchor is at the north edge of the very top part of the summit. The 2nd rappel anchor is directly below that top anchor about 100ft down. A single 60m rope is adequate for both raps with a spare meter or two of rope on the first rap. Knot the ends.