Creeping Obscurity

On the left side of The Annex, climb a shallow, left-facing, double dihedral past the rightmore of two tiny Douglas firs, about 30 feet up. Wander upward as necessary to find protection and avoid loose rock. Build a gear anchor before reaching the left-descending, grassy ramp. After my wife, Jeana, seconded the pitch, I lowered her to the ground, rather than subject her to the potentially sketchy scramble down the ramp. Date: 30 Nov. 2013.

About 20-30 feet right of our top-out, a relatively tall ponderosa pine stands on the edge of the cliff. I found two old slings wrapped around its base. I took the better sling and descended to the west, down the ramp, because two 70m ropes would be necessary to rap from that tree to the ground. I guess that the slings were left by previous Annex climbers, or (more likely) by climbers who summitted the Bitty Buttress and descended to the east, instead of west. Descending to the east, then down, into the west-descending ramp is easy and inviting —— until you reach the lower part of said ramp, which has loose downclimbing above deadly drop-offs.

The Annex is the large, slabby face directly to the right (east) of The Amphitheater. As a whole, The Annex is more massive than BB and almost as tall. If it were in Connecticut, it would be the biggest and most popular rock. Creeping Obscurity lies on the left side of The Annex. Stoner Slab (Rossiter, 1999, p.83) lies hundreds of feet below The Annex.

SR.