Smoke Screen

This quality route climbs through the face and cracks right of Gemini Cracks. The line begins in an arching crack and flake system that leads to a clean friction slab peppered with thin knobs. The route takes the thin crack right of Gemini and continues above for two more pitches.

P1: Climb through a right-arching series of flakes and cracks. Pull onto the face above as the arch system peters out. Climb past 2 bolts to a bolted anchor.

P2: Friction and knob climbing on a steep face. A fun and well-protected pitch. Go straight up and then trend right past 8 bolts to a bolted anchor.

P3: Climb the face past two bolts. Trend left to clip one last bolt before heading up to a bolted anchor. This anchor is shared with Gemini Cracks, positioned directly beneath the twin cracks.

P4: Climb the thin crack just to the right of the classic final pitch of Gemini Cracks; an exquisite and not to be missed pitch. This pitch ends at a shared bolted anchor with Gemini (5.10b/c; take a bunch of thin gear from smallish nuts through about a 0.75 Camalot ).

P5: Climb straight up from the belay about 10 feet to a ramp/dike. Next traverse straight left for 20+ feet until you can step up and clip a bolt. The climbing is easy here, but be cautious as a fall will result in a 25 footer directly onto the belay. Climb up from the first bolt passing a couple more bolts and a cruxy 5.9 bulge. After the bulge you can get a blue or yellow TCU (or something similar) in a horizontal crack before you need to run it out on pretty easy ground to gully of sorts. Get some gear at the base of the gully (around a #2 Camalot) and climb up to the top of the pillar that makes up the right side of the gully. There is a bolted anchor at the top. (5.9; bolts and a couple pieces of gear).

P6: Wander up and left to the base of an obvious headwall. Climb the bolted headwall. I don't recall whether there are bolted anchors at the top of this pitch, so it is probably prudent to bring something to sling a tree etc.

The fourth pitch really shouldn't be missed because not only does it climb an amazing crack, but it provides a great counterbalance to the smeary face climbing of the first few pitches. The fifth and sixth pitches are worth doing at least once, but are not as good as pitches 2-4.

Park where the road crosses the aqueduct east of Hammer Dome. Follow the aqueduct until it enters the Dome. Scramble up and left to the base of an obvious right-arching system of flakes and cracks.

Rap the route with a 70m line.

Pro to 2.5". 8 QDs.