Nutshell

Kitty Kat Skat

Jar of Flies

The Day You Died

Hell Within

Fire in my Veins

COVID Toes

Sludge Factory

Celebrating Nothing

Log Jam

Dance With The Devil

Man in the Box

Heaven Beside You

Cowboy Butts Drive Me Nuts

Message in a Bottle

Merlin's Flight School for Dogs

Shipwreck in the Sand

Exfoliating Fairytales

Marooned

Good Mourning

Little Lion Man

Bobcat Joins the Circus

Phantom Theatre

Dorsal Fin

Flaming Tips

Crackin’ Up Again

Climb a cruxy start involving a bad sloper to good edges, a steep bulge mid-height, and easy rock to the top. This shares the same anchor as "

Man in the Box

".

This is an okay route that serves as a good warm-up for "

Little Lion Man

" nextdoor. It has some cryptic moves that aren't too bad once you know where the holds are. This gets morning sun and afternoon shade.

Start on a boulder, and stem across to clip the first bolt. Making the transition onto the face is a little weird, with both options being a little balancy. Continue past 2 more closely spaced bolts and the crux to easier ground on the slab. The bolts get more widely spaced here. Climb up and slightly left then back right to the anchor.

A hard mantel start leads to a tricky, steeper section followed by easy slab.

Climb easy rock to a high first bolt, then thin moves lead to fine edging.

It is best to belay your second up and rap off any other route (or bring two ropes).

A tricky start leads to excellent and sustained face climbing on small holds. I recommend stickclipping the 1st bolt to protect your belayer. This route uses all of a 70m rope - belay from the obvious ledge, and knot your ends!

Note: there is poison ivy below the belay ledge. Pulling your rope from the

Celebrating Nothing

anchor to the left helps minimize risk of rope contamination.

The climbing is balancy and thin to the 3rd bolt with high quality slab climbing above. A 70m will just get you back to the ledge with stretch - knot your ends!

Climb the black streak to crux moves pulling over a bulge off a horizontal.

A hard start leads to big holds and eventually stemming your way up the water groove.

Step off a log to reach a jug, mantel, and clip a high second bolt. Do a low thin traverse until you’re established to grab good holds above the 2nd bolt. Finish on easier slab to the top.

Dance With The Devil is a bit out-of-character for the area as it involves almost no slabbing - it is predominantly chimneying and overhanging climbing. Don't be fooled though, you'll still want your footwork dialed for this one.

Beta-free version:

chimney the first 25 feet of the route before committing to the overhanging face to the anchor.

Beta-filled version:

chimney the first 25 feet of the route. At the fourth bolt, lace those dancing shoes up tight, and milk your rest, because it's game-on to the anchors. Suck it in deep, and commit to your not-so-great sidepulls to get set on the overhanging face. Work up to a great sidepull, clip your last bolt, and two-step your way through thin, sharp crimps and smooth, bordering non-existent feet. Move into the right-angling seam, and find the only jam of the route. Move to the first and only actual jug on the route, just below the anchors, and keep the hoedown alive as you hold the barn door and move your feet up. Those more vertically inclined can nab the anchors from here, those shorter will have to continue along the rail, discovering the absolute deficit of decent holds until the decent gaston at its terminus. Lower back down the ground, and pass the line dance on to your belayer - they'll surely thank you for hanging the draws for them.

If you want an extra challenge, the line can be done staying on the bolted face without chimneying, though it likely bumps the grade up a full number grade or two. Also note that the bolts were placed where good rock was found (as the original intent of the line was to chimney), not necessarily where the best face holds are, so human-stickclipping the first bolt or two via chimneying is probably a wise decision.

Layback a flake, clip the first bolt, and move left on bouldery moves to the second bolt. Then this opens up to fun edging.

A tricky start with high feet and rounded underclings leads to a throw to a crimp. Steep slabbing awaits.

This is the sister line to "

Marooned

" that has similar yet easier climbing and shares the same anchors. Climb the easy slab past a couple bolts to a short flake and a step right. Climb straight up using several good flakes before stepping right into the faint black streak. Climb it, passing a thin crux and a funky bulge above, to easier ground and the shared anchor (up and right).

This is thin, technical slab at its best! Pull a bouldery move to gain the slab, rely on delicate footwork and sharp crimps for sustained climbing - head towards the solid Argentina-shaped plate. The angle eases slightly as you leave Argentina, but then you enter the Atlantic Ocean which is devoid of holds - don't let your guard down too soon! Consider using a stickclip - some tenuous moves are required to gain the 1st bolt.

Pull onto a flake, and climb the black streak.

P1. Climb up the slab to a shallow, left-facing corner and a decent belay ledge.

P2. Move right off the belay, and follow bolts on easy slab...clip, skip the anchor you get to, and climb past one more bolt to the top of the crag.

This makes for a good, Flatirons-esque free solo.

Descent: do a short rap from the top of the wall to mid-anchor. From this anchor, rap to the top of pitch 1 then to the ground, or do an easy walkoff left.

This is a fun route, on generally very good rock, that is sustained in the ~ 10+ range (maybe easier, maybe harder?). Lots of small edges make this casual with good footwork.

Start up on a ledge by either scrambling straight up or traversing in from the right. Clip bolt one above the bulge, and crank up onto the slab. Climb the white slab and the faint water streak past 9 bolts to an anchor at the big ledge.

Climb slab to a steeper bulge between two water grooves...on perfect edges.

This is a short but fierce little climb that is much harder than it first appears. It has very cryptic climbing that would be a tough onsight for the grade. This felt every bit 12a to me, even knowing where all the holds were.

The rock is very good, but I'd imagine the coarse grains will settle with traffic, making the line more user-friendly but possibly also a little harder.

Climb through a small bulge to get established on the face. A good rest can be found slightly left of the bolt line here. Step back right, and crimp your way to bolt 5 where the climbing eases. Follow a short seam/flake past one more bolt to the anchor.

A tricky slab start leads to an interesting mantel. Stay in the groove for a few moves before committing to the technical face to keep it at the grade (goes direct for more difficult face climbing). Cruise the easy slab to the anchor.

Chimney up the featured faces, stepping out onto the slab and thin edges at the last bolt and continuing up to the anchors.

A direct, slab only route that approaches the same anchors from the right may be reasonable at a moderate grade as well.

This climbs the NE face of the fin-shaped buttress on the left side of the Upper Tier. It's not the greatest rock in the world, but the climbing -- on great flakes and jugs, is fun as hell and worth the effort in my opinion. Plus, bagging an isolated summit is kind of cool too. Quite a bit of choss wrangling occurred on the FA but the route has cleaned up quite nicely overall.

Climb past ~ 7 bolts up the center of the wall on crimps and good flakes to the top. Bolts on top with chains hanging over the edge accommodate either a "topout" experience, or a clean lower off from below. If topping out, just beware of the gravelly kitty litter rock above the anchor. Also, the start is easy, but the rock is funky, and the first bolt slightly high -- not a bad spot for a stickclip if you have one.

Flaming Tips is located on the south face, far climber's left along the same level as the Upper Tier.

This is an interesting climb with surprisingly good friction. The name says it all -- be sure to save some fingertip skin before hopping on this one.

Clip the first bolt using a stem or two on the right wall. Step left, and climb the water streaked face (the crux, probably mid-11) to a ledge. Slab your way up past 3 more bolts to another ledge and a steepening wall above. Continue up the steep "slab" on ridiculously frictiony holds to a crescendo move (10+/11-) at the top. Belay or lower from 2-bolt anchor.

Note: there is a hollow patina at the last crux that may break. However, if it does it will likely leave an even better hold -- so crank away!

Climb up a featured face to a crack. Enjoy placing cams and jamming before you have to turn on your slab skills. Clip a bolt, and make thin moves to an easy but enjoyable crack to the top.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Inferno Slab