A long, aesthetic route up the right arete of the Leaning Tower proper. The climb begins with a surprisingly technical rising traverse that ends at an obvious rest near the fourth bolt. From the rest, crank through the steep, bouldery crux onto the undulating face above. The climbing mellows to 5.10 and 5.11- at this point but remains intriguing all the way to the anchors near the tippy top of the tower.  

  Note that a 60m rope is required to lower!

Blinded by the Light

Sausage Candles

Original Route (aka Mean Leaner)

Second Thought

Tiny Propeller

Lichen Attack Crack

Craggy Crack

Tupelo Chain Sex

Hard Yakka

Mainliner

Will of the Wasp

Unknown

The Leaning Tower is just like it sounds. A big leaning tower. In the center of it is a prominent crack system that starts out fairly thin and widens as it goes up. The crack was first climbed to about halfway up (on aid) by Chris Foster and George Rinker in 1978. They left a bundle of pitons and anchor material when they bailed off. Cam Burns (with help from Mike Schillaci and Paul Fehlau) then climbed the entire crack in late 1989 (A2). It was later free-climbed by Luke Laeser who I think renamed it Mean Leaner.

Thin, sharp crimps typify the meaty business of this line ending in some fun arête slapping to the anchors.Start up the corner/crack just right of Tiny Propeller. The corner/crack is Hard Yakka, a 5.9 wide crack route. Clip a few bolts out right. At the third bolt commit to the face and move out right towards the blunt arête and a couple more clips. A creaky but great flake (go easy on this) just below the fifth bolt offers a good shake before the bulge.Crimp hard through thin, sharp crimps passing bolts five and six to another good but potentially breakable jug rest on the arête (again, go easy on it.) Move back left into the shallow corner and the crux of the route on poor crimps to a killer two-finger pocket on the face and up to a jug horn.Weave back to the right to the airy arête-slapping finish.This will likely feel harder the shorter you are.

Climb arête left of Lichen Attack Crack (just left of the Leaning Tower). Devious and balancy with slopers and body tension. Stays challenging almost to the chains.

Starts in a dihedral and then climbs up and left on big huecos past a challenging and devious crux over a small bulge. Follow easier terrain to the top. The best route in this area.

This is a painful and exciting continuous finger to hand crack up a slightly overhanging right facing dihedral. Once you take off on the climb it stays on you most of the way, but does offer a least one good rest above the crux section midway up. Tape recommended.

This route climbs the obvious off width crack to the left of Mainliner. It's not long, but a really fun route. It is possible to set up a top rope/top belay if you sling the big block after topping out.  

  Since there are no chains or bolts nearby after topping out, the best thing to do if not having someone follow would be to sling the large block, get lowered, retrieve your gear and walk around to the left, scramble up and grab your sling.

Typically avoided because of the super funky chain-links-used-as-bolt-hangers setup on the lead protection bolts and a lack of a real anchor, the route is surprisingly fun.Pull onto the rock and make tricky moves to the second clip. Sneaky moves get you up to the third bolt before another slabby crux past the fifth bolt. Pretty sweet holes and huecos lead to the seventh bolt and one more tricky bulge move before clipping two new (February 2015) bolts to the anchor at the top of the formation.For a couple decades a carabiner on the last (seventh) bolt served as the anchor with a single carabiner on it. Cam says they topped it out and didn't install an anchor, thus the current single bolt anchor setup. In February 2015 Jason added two bolts and an anchor to extend the climb and make for a safer lowering experience.

A beautiful line left of the main crack that splits the tower (Mean Leaner). Technical climb with face and a bit of crack climbing, mostly at the top.

Heads right up the center of the east face of the Leaning Tower with hard technical crux moves right off the ground. Then wander up the face through jugs and one more challenging section before a final crux at the anchors. Watch out for the wasp's nest in a pocket 3/4 of the way up the wall. If it ever gets cold enough the nest could be removed, but there is a way around the nest that is....um, interesting.

This route climbs the arete on the left side of the tower from a high start off of a ledge around the corner. Compared to the other routes it is quite short but the climbing is interesting. 

  After stick clipping, head up the arete working between it and a seam/crack on the face to the left. Continue up to some better holds under the small roof on the right side of the arete. Powerful moves back to the left side and up into better holds along a right facing flake and the anchors above.

A huge leaning chunk of rock about a mile back in the canyon. A big crack splits the overhanging south face of this tower.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Leaning Tower