Rocky Racoon

This is a fun, burly old-school 5.7 that protects very well. Although it's a little vague, we tried to follow Hill's description and topo (1993:122-123) as much as possible. It goes, so we must have been nearly on route most of the way. I'm not clear how pitch 1 of this route might relate to Arrow Heads and Pitons.P1. Climb to a ledge and find a stellar lieback splitter that trends to the right. At the top of that crack, step left around an arete into a V-shaped alcove with a thin splitter on the left. Continue up the weakness to the left and belay on a large sloping ledge. No fixed gear was observed on this pitch.P2. This pitch is shared with some other climbs like the North Face Direct, and probably AH&P. Start up a deep chimney under a suspended block. Gain the block, and make a bunch of thuggish moves past more overhanging blocks. Pass by an old ring pin and a relic bolt to a large platform below the summit block. A big easy crack then leads to the top.Update 08/20/2021Descent: A bolted rappel anchor was placed at the north side of the top of the chimney on 08/13/21 to ensure that the rap was safe. A set of 60m twins or doubles should get you down to the start of the climb. A second anchor was set approximately 28m below it on 08/17/2021, roughly 25m from the ground. This will allow anybody with a 60m rope to rap from the top to bottom safely.

Ascends the northern face of the Chimney. Start near the right-hand (west) side, by a log lying right at the base. Rap as described on the main page.

A single set of nuts, 1-1/2 set of cams to 2.5" suffice (we took a #4 C4, but it was not critical). Some old fixed gear is present, but it is of dubious reliability. Gear is necessary for all belays. The summit has no anchor, so a belayed downclimb back to the lower platform will be necessary.