Black Dagger

This route is on the far left side of the Brownstone Wall and the approach takes about 2 hours. The route is in the sun most of the day so can be quite warm, although the 3rd and 4th pitch are in a recessed chimney and are shady except in the early morning.

We had some difficulty locating the start of this route. If you head up slabs which lead to the center of the Brownstone Wall, you will have to traverse left quite a ways to get to the route, even going down a bit. You are nearly back to the creek bed when you reach the base. The white overhang in Swain's topo on pitch 1 was not obvious to us. The best way to find the route is to locate the the overhang on the second pitch and the crack system above it.

P1: Climb a crack us through some soft rock to a block that is below a white roof (5.6, 120'). P2: Traverse left, then up to a crack at the far left side of the roof. Sock in some good gear (on long slings), then head up and back right on varnished plates to the crack which forms the right side of the roof (now below you). Continue up this crack to a belay ledge (5.7+, 140'). Swain calls this pitch PG but the runouts did did not seem bad to me. There is a runout above the roof but it is not as bad as that on the next pitch.

P3: Here is where you look up and say "Oh yeah, Swain did say to bring 'large gear' for this pitch ...". Above you is a fantastic black corner, but the back necks down into a fairly fat crack. I don't exactly recall the width of the crack, I just recall we didn't have anything big enough to fit in it (I'd guess it's 5-6 inches). You need a #5 Camalot or #3 Big Bro, and the crack might be too flared to fit the Big Bro (I don't think a #4 Camalot fits either). Stem and face climb up the corner, with or without pro, until you reach the base of a chimney (5.7, 130'). If you don't have any 5-6 inch gear, you will have to run it out at least 20', this is the S section. If you take big gear you may be able to walk it up and remove the S rating, please add comments below on this.

P4: Wander up into the darkness of a deep slot, exit left through a wild hole onto a huge ledge which faces south and (if it is late enough) into full sunshine (5.2, 100'). Two more pitches go more or less straight up from here, on softer rock. Great views of the Rainbow Wall to your south.

Descent: Head south into the Gunsight Gully and scramble back down to the start of the route. Pretty quick and easy descent.

Standard rack to #3 Camalot with maybe a 5-6" piece (see description). Make sure you have some longer slings for the wandering pitches. Only one rope is needed.