Handmade

This climb is on page 243 of the Dockins/Kalakay guidebook (Bozeman Rock Climbs 3rd Edition) and ever since the book came out, I've been curious about the crag because of it's spectacular location, but skeptical about the rock quality. I was not dissapointed with setting and the rock was about what I expected - maybe a bit worse. The route itself follows some of the only goodish rock in that section of the cliff - though I fell twice in the crux section, first by busting a big foothold, then by ripping off a handhold. The crux is the first few moves getting off the ground, then it remains sustained 5.10 for several bolts with rock that is a bit hard to read. At the two-bolt belay at the top of the first pitch there was a very ancient piece of tat from someone who rapped here. I think this route gets done very infrequently! I was about to do the same until I spotted more bolts on the second pitch and saw that it looked OK - and most importantly that it was offset from the belay so the belayer would be safe from rockfall. Overall, I thought it was worthy of the one star it gets in the guidebook. It's an interesting adventure climb in a cool location, as long as you don't get too flustered by choss. The crag is a massive choss heap, but I might go back some day to check out the 5.10

The hike was longer and steeper than we expected, but had some great wildflowers in early July. There's a good, obvious trail that we followed all the way to the saddle before we traversed to the climb. This worked well. Even though it puts you a little bit above the start of the climb, I think it is preferable to trying to traverse to the base of the crag sooner/lower. For other routes on the crag it would probably make sense to traverse to the base sooner.

The guidebook recommends "an assortment of gear" but I only place a #3 stopper and a grey camalot on a fairly easy section near the top of the first pitch. There are probably a few other places I could have placed gear, but I thought it was well-bolted and would be comfortable going back up with no gear.