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Peak Mountain 3

East Face Right/Finger Flatiron

FA R. Rossiter, solo, 1988 (???)
CREATED 
UPDATED 

Description

This route begins nearly the same as for the standard East face.

P1 (5.6, 60M) Start face-climbing near the small bolt-on "Mallory Cave" placard and climb up though a notch through an overhang, some 40-50 feet up. Continue up and right to the right most edge of the continuous face, staying left of the left-facing dihedral. You could work futher right (north) but the rock there is trashy and discontinuous. As you climb upward, you will see where the rock on the far right side ends. After almost 60 M you will be climbing up some broken rock to the right hand edge of the "finger" of this Flatiron. Belay after 60M. on a sheflf or int he dish just left (south) of a thin rib of rock.

P2 (5.7 "?", 70M) Step up and right around a left-facing feature onto a 2-3M wide "rib" of rock that faces east. This rock is mostly good, but there is a little lichen and crumble here or there. Protect in a vertical crack up and left after passing the remains of a tiny "Bonzai" tree, then continue to climb up and to the right. Protect whenever possible, as you will not have the opportunity later and may well wish you had put it in when it was available. After perhaps 60', you will be stepping out right on the arete formed by the right margin of this rib and wondering if the ground to the north is less than twice the distance from you as your last piece. Continue climbing up to the shoulder of the rock, and then up and left ont he shoulder to the summit. Just feet below the summit, there is a good beloay bowl. If you are on a 60M rope, you will have to have an intermediate belay or a little simul-climbing. A 70M rope [should] just make it.

To descend, rap NW from the station on the true summit.

Protection

The Flatiron can be protected reasonably with one set of cams from small to fist-sized. Nuts or tricams could be taken as a backup or to add a few placements... but if you are not comfortable here with just a little pro, you should climb something else.The slabby crux of this route comes after a 40' runout. In the event of a crux-fall, you would more likely smack the ground ont he north side of the Flatiron than you will be stopped by your last pro.