Soul Journey

Soul Journey tackles the giant and blank upper northwest face of the Traffic Jam buttress. Like many other face routes at Black Mountain, the route appears to have no features. Closer inspection reveals just enough features to allow passage at a relatively moderate grade. It is still a bit gritty as a result of the coarse, weathered granite, but great friction and hidden holds abound. Lovely and exposed climbing on this one.Begin at a 2-bolt anchor on a small ledge, 2/3rds of the way up the first pitch of Expanding Horizons. From the very nice belay perch, one tricky move gives access to shallow vertical cracks and jugs on a steep orange and white wall directly above the belay. Gain a short obtuse corner and mantle onto the lower angle upper face (small cams in horizontal cracks on the left). Wander up the upper face, passing 2 bolts along the way. Near the second bolt, using the left edge of the face makes standing up easier.A challenging move up and right (finger size gear in a short crack) gains a small ledge and the final crack system. Belay using the bolts directly above, which are shared with Sweet Life, or lower back to the belay perch at the start of the pitch. Rappel the route to avoid loose stuff on the ledges above.

Start on the same wooded terrace as for Expanding Horizons and Sweet Life Begin by climbing the first 20m of Expanding Horizons, until you reach the 2-bolt belay at a nice, north-facing perch. Soul Journey begins at this perch

Single rack to 2", extra tips-fingers size for the small horizontal cracks along the way.