Sicilian Defense

Counting left to right from

Bombay Chimney

, this is the 5th chimney line on the Bookend. It begins in a large chimney just left of a bolted route. This is a nice route, though I did not find it as good as

Corinthian Column

or

Bombay

.

P1. Enter the fairly easy but grungy gully/chimney through the bushes or come in from the left (better), climb into a tighter chimney and through a pinch to belay, 5.8+ or so, 100 feet.

P2, crux. Continue up (past a crumbly crack) to the steep flared chimney. Pass the flared pinch, insecure, 5.9+, which becomes much easier after about 20'. I found this more difficult than the section of

Turnkorner

labelled 10a 12" Squeeze (below the roof crux pitch) on the Rossiter topo, so graded it 5.9+ instead of 5.9. Also more difficult than other 5.9 chimneys in the area. The extra gear mentioned is for this pitch. I shoved a #4 Camalot along for quite a ways, sometimes leapfrogging with a mostly-tipped-out #3. Belay at a ledge with a big boulder, or continue for 30 feet of handcrack with a couple of chimney moves to another good belay.

P3. Climb the crack just mentioned (if you haven't already) which turns into a chimney, and continue to a big ledge, 5.8 or so, 140 feet.

P4. Walk left along the big ledge and climb the crack that stops about 5 feet off the ledge (this pitch and the next are the same as for

Corinthian Column

).

P5. Cross to the main buttress and climb big jugs for 150 feet to the summit, one nice crack section in the middle of the pitch (optional).

Descend the trail in the gully between the Bookend and Left Book / Bookmark.

Standard rack to a #4 Camalot or equivalent, RPs not needed, but some stoppers useful. Include several pieces in the #3-#4 Camalot size.