This takes the smooth face a ways left of 200 Motels/Taken For Granite that passes over a small roof/overlap midway up.

Sustained climbing with a distinct crux is played out on high-quality stone far better than the usual Indian Cove oatmeal.

Not too far from the car, but far enough away to get a feel for the wildness that Rattlesnake Canyon has to offer. Well worth a visit for this or one of the other fun routes on Rattlesnake Buttress.

Eureka!

Pictures of Home

Cactus Cooler

200 Motels

Test Pilot

Jojoba Heater

Foxtail Fryer

Taken for Granite

Back Up Singers

Roy's Route

Approach Pitch

10' left of Test Pilot, climb a wide slot to a horizontal.  Move right in the horizontal and join Test Pilot.

To the left of the bolted dike "Roy's Route" .11b is this nice right-leaning, right-facing corner with a thin crack. Scramble through some scrub oak and nolinas to reach an uncomfortable vegetated belay at the base. Mind the prickly pear cactus, too.

Climb up the fun tips-to-fingers corner (crux), to easier and wandering terrain above. This route really shines as a JTree "adventure climb" - expect to find some loose blocks, cactus, yucca, and some easy runouts enroute to the top. Belay on a sloping slabby ledge with a horizontal crack.

This is the straight crack just right of Taken for Granite.  Same start: a 5.8 boulder problem under a small roof.  Climb a wide slot with a finger crack on the right for 30' to the top of a large block.From here, go straight up in a finger and hand crack.

2 rope rap from slings or easy 5th class descent down gully behind the face.

The right curving off width.  Requires a burly chicken wing and knee jam to get up to a ledge.  Then some hand and fist jams to get into the long and sustained off width section.  Use a combination of chicken wings and lay backing to ascend.  Eases up at the end with a hand jam traverse. Wear a long sleeve shirt to climb this.

This is the obvious wide crack located to the immediate left of Cactus Cooler.

This is a bit of a squeeze job, but it's pretty fun nonetheless. Climb the first part of Cactus Cooler and then transition to the face and climb the face to the top.  Fun and interesting moves make this one worth doing as long as you're in the area.

This is the obvious left-arching crack splitting Rattlesnake Buttress.  Start with a 5.8 boulder problem under a small roof.  Climb a wide slot with a finger crack on the right for 30' to the top of a large block.  From here, stay left in the beautiful hand/finger crack.

2 rope rap from slings or easy 5th class descent down gully behind the face.

Rattlesnake Buttress is known for it's two classic 5.8 cracks, 200 Motels and Taken for Granite. This is the (and until recently, overlooked) crack to the right. Same start as the other 2 but hand traverse right (foot traverse possible but not as fun) and head up cracks on the edge of the buttress. A great variation is the splitter seam leading up to the middle crack of the three (try not to stem to the right!).

This 160' pitch on the west end of Rattlesnake Buttress begins at the base of an intermittent black vertical dike. Steep face climbing on thin edges (crux past third bolt) leads to doubled bolts 40' up (lower section of route - possible belay / rappel). Continue on lower angle runout slab to the rappel anchor. A long route with some interesting moves but there are too many exfoliating flakes for this to be a 3 out of 5 star climb.

The climb starts on obvious chicken heads following a fairly prominent groove. The first 30 feet is 5.5 and then it is a class 4 scramble up to the wide crack. From there you make your way onto a ramp. There are two cruxes on the route, the first is climbing the wide ramp that gets progessivly narrower on grainy rock that has your feet skittering off. Once you have begun lay backing your way up the crack the second crux comes at you fast. The route is not well traveled therefore the rock is fairly loose and lichen is growing in the crack. The crack peters out and you are faced with a 20 foot run out on Joshua Tree slab. The rock quality on most of the route is very grainy, loose, and sandy (especially at the cruxes).

Description

Protection

Routes in Rattlesnake Buttress