Kreuser's Chimney

P1 (100+ ft.): 2 or 3 tricky smear moves up to crack. Scramble up to large ledge. Go deep inside chimney and scramble up. Squeeze through a small, awkward gopher hole, then move right onto ledge with tree and bolts. This was not much fun. Preferred variation: stay on outside of the chimney and stem move your way to belay ledge. Although the chimney is wide, there are plenty of cracks for cams and nuts. Harder than the scramble in the chimney, but much more fun.

P2 (120+ ft.): from belay ledge, move left back into chimney. Opening moves are tricky as chimney is narrow and flares out. Not wide enough to stem. Too wide to hand/arm jam. Felt harder than 5.3. Also, for the first 25 - 30 ft., it is too wide to take any protection. This makes for an intimidating run out. Finally, you will reach a diagonal crack branching out and up from right side of chimney. #2 or #3 cams work nicely. From there, the route gets much easier to climb and protect. Keep following chimney to the top (more of a large crack than chimney near the top). Last 30 feet or so are an easy scramble. To the right (climbers') of the top there are two bolts. Use these and some big boulders past the top to protect the belay.

Descent: It is possible to rappel down on one 60-meter rope. You will need to downclimb the climbers' left-side of the chimney to an obvious little ledge with a boulder on it at the top of The Phantom. Find two bolts with rings on the face to the climbers' left-side of the small ledge. Rap down and to the right to reach the ledge at the top of pitch 1. Use the chains at top of pitch 1 to rap down to base. Ideally you would rap down and to your left to reach the base of Kreuser's Chimney.. A 70-meter rope might do it. with a 60-meter rope, go straight down to reach the ground to the right of Kreuser's start. Once on terra firma, boulder move your way left 10 ft. over the rock leaning against the face to get back to your gear.

Left side of Gardener's Wall. Allow about 45 minutes from the trailhead for the approach. Hike 1 mile up Tom's Thumb Trail - very nice but very steep. From "Climbing Access to Gardener's Wall" sign, follow primitive trail. Gardener's wall is on other side of the ravine. The trail gets more primitive as you cross the bottom of the ravine, probably because people branch out to various points at the bottom of the wall. Although there are a few ways to go, perhaps the best approach is to shoot for the "A"-shaped hole/tunnel between leaning boulders. Scramble up to it, watch for snakes! Move slowly through and up the tunnel. Awkward mantle over a large flake will put you a few feet from the base of Kreuser's Chimney.

Cams: .5 to 3; medium to large nuts