The Nose

The Nose is an excellent outing featuring lots of climbing on moderate rock. It is a great route to take kids / beginners on.

Start at the right side of Butt Wall. You'll see an obvious dike system leading up towards a large tree.

Pitch 1 (5.6). This is the crux - follow the dike. Adequate pro is available, but you can't always see it coming. The glacial polish adds some zest to the pitch. Pass a fixed pin and a bolted stance to the tree on a large ledge.

Pitch 2 (5.0). Work up easy rock, aiming for a small tree just to the right of an obvious dike system climbing the nose of the next tier.

Pitch 3 (5.6). Step up and left onto the dike. Clip a fixed pin and do a short crux at the initial bulge. Above, the climbing gets easier, but the pro is sparse. Work a bit right toward the next step. You could avoid this staying to the right. Belay at the end of your rope in a low angle area.

Pitch 4 (5.5). Climb up, aiming for an obvious crack at the left side of the steep area. Once up the crack, follow easy ground up and right towards trees.

You can unrope here and scramble the right side to the top or do an extra pitch.

Pitch 5. A final wall rises left of the big ledge atop P4. We shifted the belay to just left of a large tree and climbed a weakness on the right side of the step (5.8). Above, it's another 200' of 4th class to the summit.

Descend to the left.

Per

BJ Sbarra

: the best descent is to the East. From the summit, head north until you can pick up a faint trail that follows a mellow gully system through trees. Follow this around to the right, until you are heading east down a prominent gully (also low angled). From here, the way should be obvious, as the trail is fairly worn, with a few spots of downclimbing, and when you hit the aspen grove, make a hard right until you get the trail again.

A light rack will do.