Early Times

Approach as for the standard

Northwest Buttress

.

P1. The first pitch begins directly off the top of the talus cone (in contrast to the NW Butt which begins well to the left). Take the obvious crack/dihedral to a belay below the roof (5.10, 35 meters).

P2. Pitch two climbs up and right, following discontinuous cracks (5.9+, 30 meters).

P3. Pitch three goes right 15 feet from the belay to a crack. Follow the crack to a ledge (5.8, 30 meters).

P4. Pitch 4 traverses straight left along a horizontal crack, then turns up and climbs to the 4th class bowl below the Unicorn Spire (5.8, 30 meters).

P5. Follow the standard

Northwest Buttress

route to the summit.

This has excellent rock similar to the first pitch on the standard

Northwest Buttress

, but this adds three more pitches of technical climbing. See the comments on the standard

Northwest Buttress

for warnings about loose rock up high. Nothing too dire. All in all, this is a very enjoyable outing — unless you get hosed by the weather.

You basically dead-end into this route after climbing the talus cone. You can see a bolt on the first pitch that protects moves into the dihedral. The route starts approximately 200 feet right of the

Northwest Buttress

route and follows a very obvious system of corners and cracks.

Single set of cams to 2 inch (#2 Camalot) including small sizes (TCUs or C3s) and a good selection of nuts including brass or steel. Take a bunch of shoulder-length slings to help with drag.

Fixed gear: Some fixed knife blades. Pitch 1 has one bolt. Pitch 2 has two bolts.

Anchors consist of two bolts on Pitch 1, a bolt and nut placement on Pitch 2, a bolt and nut placement on Pitch 3, and two bolts on Pitch 4.

Total bolt count: 9. Total protection bolts: 3.

You can bail at any point with a 60 meter rope (though you'll need leave two nuts and downclimb easy rock at the bottom of Pitch 1).