North East Gully

Route finding errors lead me to a dirty gully full of friable rock, poor protection options, pine needles, lichen, overall a screaming choss pile, possibly the worst I have ever climbed. I had 2 holds break off in my hands. The climbing eases up after 40 meters to 4th/easy 5th class. The good parts of this climb were when I hit one of the main routes.

I joined the south ridge after the 1st belay which was pleasant 3rd-4th class.

The highlight is the 5.4 downclimb, fun and is easy for an experienced climber. Follow the obvious path until it appears to cliff out, grab some bomber holds above the V-slot ramp, and dangle your feet. You will find huge foot holds. Once on the ramp, easy chimney moves will get you down and a fall from here (slide really) would be inconsequential.

At the start of the east face routes, head up the trail 100 feet or so. Look for a slung tree about 30 feet up with a rap ring and dirty old piece of tat. If you are willing to run it out to that tree on manky rock, you are ready for this chossfest.

There are not many good protection options on the first pitch. I made good use of some finger-sized nuts and tricams. The cracks that look from the ground like they would have good cam placements are in expanding rock or they are full of the dark red sandstone that falls apart. I got 4 pieces in on the first 200 foot pitch including a slung tree. I ran a full 60 meters of rope out to a tree sitting inside a giant hueco that would fit 10 people. You don't get much better belay stances than this.