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Peak Mountain 3

Dappled Mare

FA John Long, Richard Harrison, and Rick Accomazzo, January 1973
CREATED 
UPDATED 

Description

Approach: walk up the wash below the Lost Horse Wall. Your landmark for finding this route is the traverse down and left along a horizontal from the top of P2 into P3; look for this about halfway down the ledge that defines the right side of the wall. At the left edge of this traverse, there is an obvious, left-facing dihedral. Scramble up boulders to reach the approach pitch.

Photo opportunity: as the leader gets into the dihedral at the start of P3, they end up parallel with and 15 feet left of the belay stance. It's pretty easy for them to lean back and smile for the camera.

Short leader advantage: the dihedral in P3 is slightly less awkward for a shorter climber.

P1: 5.6-: Start from boulders roughly below where the crack starts from the ledge. Work up and left across easy terrain to gain the ledge, then traverse right to the base of the crack. Straightforward gear anchor.

P2: 5.8: Work straight up the obvious crack system. You may find yourself using both cracks towards the bottom, but before long you'll be entirely in the left crack. You can't really miss the three-bolt anchor at the top of this pitch.

P3: 5.8: Take the obvious, 15-foot traverse down and left into the base of the dihedral. Enjoy the fabulous fingers and plentiful protection throughout the dihedral, continue up either crack above until the angle of the wall tapers off. You'll end up with a gear anchor a short distance from the top of the wall.

P4: 5.8-: You can probably choose any of several options to exit this climb. I opted for a short, obvious, somewhat-right-facing crack above a low-angle slab. As you exit, you'll want to move right to avoid the Pancake Prickly Pear growing in the top of the crack. Gear anchor beneath a blade of rock about 15 feet from the edge of the cliff.

Protection

Standard rack. This climb protects beautifully. If you choose the right of two cracks above the dihedral on P3, there will be a runout towards the top of the pitch when the crack runs out.