Thumbing To Bogota

The crux is on the top, this ascends the East Face of The Thumb. It was my understanding that this Summit Block had never before been climbed in its entirety from the East Side to the top of the Thumb. We climbed it over two days with a bivy below the Block. It was an adventure which did not exclude quite a bit of gardening and pruning done on the lower pitches...which actually may be the crux. Climb many pitches in the gully to the right of the Matrix which has been the standard horror descent route for the Thumb. Some belays left in place, but this is a lot of terrain, so one hint at finding and staying on route is to start and continue up a buttress/arete type formation just up hill from The Plumbline route. Lots of 4th class and easy 5th down low. Head to the right side of the block and follow occasional bolts and fixed pitons to a steep hand crack in a right facing dihedral. Free climb up phenomenal knobs and patina to the very summit. These last pitches are the bread and butter of the route.

Hitching a ride to Bogota from the East, one would experience the jungle adventure/thrash just before reaching the beautiful clear mountain terrain and vistas that awaits.

Rappel anchors were installed from the Thumb Summit Block that go down toward S-Crack. it was our desire to establish adequate and easy rap stations all the way down to the bottom of the Thumb gully...the start of all Thumb routes. Chain still needs to be installed on these great rappel stations. Chain is already in on the top and the raps from the mangy tree have been eliminated.

All pitons used have been left fixed, but it takes a standard rack surprisingly well. All bolts left with hangers. Necessary, but easy to establish the belays.