We're giving this page a facelift!
Visit the previous versionto make edits.
Peak Mountain 3

Black Magic Woman

FA EFR & Steve Amter, 1986
CREATED 
UPDATED 

Description

Black Magic Woman is two pitches of superb slab and face that parallels Voodoo Child high on rappel rock. Strictly speaking, the route is two pitches, but you have to climb several pitches to get there. Like SQL II says, this is easier than VC but more sustained. The feet are also a little gritty-it probably doesn't get much traffic. It's still a great pitch. Unlike VC, you need geir and there is hard climbing, possibly even 5.10+ climbing, that is gear-protected.

From the shared belay with Voodoo Child, climb straight up the thin crack with tricky 5.10 moves and good gear. Clip into a pin (contrary to the SQL II topo, this pin comes before any of the bolts) and continue past 5 bolts with great cruxy moves and micro route-finding all over the place. The climbing finally eases as you near the 2-bolt anchor, which is also not shown on the SQL II topo.

From this anchor, one more pitch (5.8ish) straight up past two bolts and over a fun roof to the chickenheads leads to the top. This pitch is pretty contrived, but fun.

Location

Begins from the 2-bolt anchor that marks the start of Voodoo Child's crux pitch. This anchor is hidden (i.e. not visible from the notch at the top of the Obituary Column) in a corner just to the left of P3 of Black Quacker, about 1/2 way up that pitch.

Protection

A set of small cams and small-medium stoppers (including large rps) will give options for the initial 5.10 thin crack. From the piton henceforth, 6 draws is sufficient. The bolts are a bit spaced in places but there is nothing to hit.