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Peak Mountain 3

The Shaft

FA Postlethwait & Oswick.
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Description

Definitely not the best route at Patricia Bowl but possibly the most memorable, it ascends the giant stem box in the middle of the first cliff.

P1: 5.9, ~130'. Vegetated and chossy, close to a bomb. Belay at anchors well up the left side of the shaft.

P2: 11b, ~70'. Needs a lot of cleaning, but quite cool. Up the left corner of the shaft on overhanging rock with a crack that quickly expands from fingers to fists. The crux for me was the thin hands section. At the end of the crack, carefully pull into a rubblely alcove beneath a 5' roof. Again be very careful in this section as you have to move through enough loose rock to qualify as talus with the belayer pinned directly below you. Arrange gear carefully so as to avoid potentially showstopping rope drag then horizontally out the roof w/ good holds and gear to a fantasic ledge, The Sky Lounge, which has fixed anchors on its left side.

Descent: two 100' raps from the anchors described at the end of P2. NOTE: you don't rap the route.

Location

See Lewis. Starts to the right of the shaft itself and diagonals in.

Protection

Small nuts to a fist size cam and plenty of draws and runners. Since the crack expands so quickly on P2, you could get by w/ a single set of cams there. The roof takes medium to large nuts. P1 is long and squirrelly, so you might want double cams there, particularly in sizes smaller than hands.