Bushy Pussy

This is a fun, adventurous climb up a (relatively) clean bit of rock.  It rained for a few days prior to the day I got there and everything else in Panther Gorge was wet, but Bushy Pussy was surprisingly dry (a few holds on the P2 crux were damp).  

P1: Start on the right side of the slabs in a gully and work left onto the slab with parallel vertical cracks.  Go up these cracks until they turn to tips and peter out.  Throw in some gear and make a couple pucker inducing slab moves up and right to gain the arete.  Then follow easier climbing up and slightly left to the base of a steep, dark section of rock split by two vertical cracks.  5.8

P2: Climb through the steep face using the left-hand crack (crux - be careful of rock quality here) and then keep going up easier crack and knobby face to the dense krumholtz at the top of the cliff.  Climb/swim through this incredibly tangled mess of vegetation until you can find a tree large enough to belay from.  5.9+

Do not expect any more technical climbing after the second pitch.  I recommend wriggling out of your harnesses, changing into approach shoes, and stashing your rope and climbing gear in a pack, because otherwise you will simply clip and knot yourself to so many spruce trees that the mountain will claim you as its own.

P3: Bushwack up and right for a short stretch to reach a vegetated gully that breaks a low cliffband.  Thrash up the gully.  3rd Class

Descent: Once you get to the top of the gully, head north uphill for 10-20 minutes through more dense forest to reach the Phelps trail. 

Walk downhill from Panther Den wall, following an intermittent herd path that curves slightly away from the cliff and rounds a buttress.  After getting around the buttress, head back up towards the cliff to a dirty slab on the left side of a wet gully.  Go up this gully for a few feet and then move left to get on top of this dirty slab. Bushy Pussy and The Cat's Meow start here.  The P2 crux (dark face with two vertical cracks) should be visible from the base of the climb.

Gear is G/PG. One mild run out on P1. There is no fixed gear on this route, and there are no rap stations. If you needed (or wanted) to bail from the first or second pitches, it might be possible to traverse left to rappel from trees.