The North Buttress

This is a climb that is more difficult and engaging than it looks.

Great movement outweighs a short section of poor rock before the crux.

Climb up a 10 meter section of right-facing flake (5.8, cams from small to 0.75) to the top, and move left as it runs out onto a ledge (5.8). Work up and left across the ledge on moderate climbing (5.6, 4" piece optional) to just below a roof.

Place some hand sized cams below the roof (red & yellow Camalots + long slings), and get ready for the crux. There was a bit of fixed bail gear (pink tricam + knotted webbing) here that was aged to the point of little worth. The tricam remains as it was corroded in: do not trust it.

Start cranking through the roof on tight sharp jams with really cool movement up and over the lip (5.10+) and get established on high feet up over the roof. Although difficult, it is ideal to have placed a small cam or stopper out just left of the moves here.

Rest up and then head up and left through the diagonal crack to the ridge line (5.10 with blind/difficult placements) and up onto the East Face slab. Go 20' South on the slab to a tree with a red sling to belay. You can back up the tree with a small cam.

To descend, rap from the tree.

This route lies down low on the North Face of the Northwest ridge of Dinosaur Mountain, very near its true low point, facing Skunk Creek. It starts on a 10 meter tall, right-facing crack and then goes up and diagonally left into a left-leaning, hand and finger crack up over a roof (crux) and vertical face.

A few stoppers and a set of cams from very small to 2.5" with an optional 4" cam. Longer slings down low. The gear can be blind, pumpy and insecure to place after the true crux, but there is still 5.10 climbing to go.