Flying Buttress, Good for the Soul

The leftmost (western) buttress, when facing north from Taminah Lake, presents a fine short adventure climb. Described by Ortenburger and Jackson (1996), this route has good bang for the buck (and may be a tiny bit sandbagged at 5.7).

P1: Start ~30 feet west of a set of pine trees and climb blocky terrain to a gray ledge below the open book.

P2: Start up the left side of the open book, switch to the right when convenient, and then follow the notch through the left side of the roof at the top. 25 feet higher is a belay ledge.

P3: Switch to the next corner system to the left, pass an overhang, and climb to the flattened ridge crest.

P4: One short headwall, and easy terrain lies beyond.

The top of Pitch 4 ends on a bench below the western side of the summit of the overall formation. To reach the actual summit, it may take another low-5th-class pitch. Instead, if the summit is not desired, traverse the 3rd/4th-class bench around the northern side of the formation into the talus gully.

A single set of nuts and cams up to gold C4 is just sufficient. A #3 C4 could be useful in the roof.