Gargoyle is the second, and harder, and better, of the pair of new routes that Peter Croft and his alpinist protege Lisa Rands established on Merriam Peak in the summer of 2011. This route has great, clean climbing on every pitch after the first "approach" pitch - and the two crux pitches in particular are stellar. Decent gear, comfortable belay perches, and warm afternoon sun round out the package!

Begin by scrambling to the highest point above the "toe" of Merriam Peak's North Buttress.

P1 (5.8, 175'): This pitch is mostly the same as for the Flying Buttress. Climb a chunky left-facing corner until it narrows and becomes easy to traverse right around the arete, out of the corner, and onto easier ground on the west side of the buttress. Zig-zag up blocks and loose rock and establish a belay in an appropriate place to set your team up for the next pitch: The key here is that you want to belay below an obvious wide (4-5") crack that is formed by the left edge of a big, wedged flake. The bottom of this flake also happens to form an undercut "roof" feature that makes getting into this wide crack tricky.

P2 (5.10a, 100'): Climb up to the flake and gain the wide crack on its left side. Doing this without a #4 Camalot is unprotectable. If you bring the #4 you'll be able to use it here and probably be able to dump it on several other pitches up higher; otherwise, boldly lieback up into the crack... Once you're in there you'll have perfect knee locks and hand-fist stacks so the climbing feels really secure. Above this wander up past a couple ledges (one of which is sloping) and through broken, vague, right-facing corners and pillars to the highest sensible stance nestled amongst some loose blocks.

P3 (5.9, 70'): Above you is a corner with a short, steep handcrack - climb it. At its end, hand traverse left out of the corner and mantle up and around the arete into the next corner over where you'll discover two excellent belay ledges. The lower ledge takes big gear, the upper ledge takes smaller gear. Note: It may be possible to climb directly up to this belay ledge by stepping left from the previous belay immediately and climbing the lefthand corner. This is not how the FA party went and it would also present the hazard of the rope running over a sharp arete, but the corner does look good.

P4 (5.11a, 120'): Climb the spectacular thin corner via stemming and good finger locks. At a small roof-like feature, shake out and move right (cruxy!) and continue up via brilliant, steep finger locks. At the top of the corner pull up and right around a steep slot-feature, then immediately step back left to an amazing belay ledge. Save your two #3 Camalots for this belay. My partner compared this pitch favorably to Coarse and Buggy in J-Tree. This pitch is easily as good and twice as long!

P5 (5.10a, 90'): Climb a physical wide crack (good jams in deep) up to a sloping, tiered ledge system. Extend your belay down and right 15' so you can be directly below the next pitch.

P6 (5.11b PG13, 120'): Climb another physical splitter (some lichen and flakies here) to an awkward stance at the base of an intimidating right-facing corner with a flared finger crack. Climb this finger crack - at first using  liberal chimneying, then committing to the jams. Up high you'll be able to rest in a slot before a final stretch up to a roof. Pay attention here!!! It seems obvious to pull through the roof; instead, arrange high pro and summon your inner monkey and hand traverse wildly rightwards under the roof before mantling up onto a wonderful ledge. This section is exciting and pumpy, and probably a little dangerous for the second as there is no pro on the traverse and a fall from the initial, difficult moves would result in a spectacular and bumpy swing across the wall. Oh yeah, and it's nice to have at least a 0.75 and #1 Camalot for this belay.

P7 (5.8, 60'): From the right end of the ledge, climb a pleasant hand crack up to the right edge of the huge pointy block that caps the ridge. Belay from a nice ledge next to the block.

Simul, pitch out, or solo the ridge line to the summit.

Gargoyle

Dr. Bear Love Project

The Foundation Crack

Triple Cracks Project

Direct North Buttress

The Flying Buttress

This route takes an improbable and steep line straight up the North Buttress of Merriam. This was originally reported to the AAC as the Croft-Rands Left. After one approach pitch there are four stunning pitches of steep cracks and exciting moves before the route rejoins the North Buttress route.

P1. 5.8  45m From the small ledge on top of the toe of Merriam head up a shallow dihedral for 50 feet before stepping right around the corner onto easier ground. Continue up until you can step left onto a decent ledge. There is a balanced loose block on the left side of the ledge.

P2. 5.11  30m

This pitch is visible from the ground and the P1 belay. For refernece you can see a piton halfway up the first seam/corner. From the belay traverse left past a large balanced block. Move past the block with care to reach a thin crack. Layback up past the piton to a small alcove with more opportunities for gear. Tricky moves lead to a stance and a thin hands crack that takes you left towards a roof. Belay at a small ledge with two fixed nuts and small gear.

P3. 5.11  40m

This is the incredible roof crack pitch visible from the ground. Work up a 4" crack in pristine granite towards the roof. Plug and chug out the steep hands roof until the angle kicks back and you are rewarded with 30' of blissful hands. The crack thins down to 1" and a set of face holds appear to the left. Traverse across these carefully to another crack. This thin hands crack leads you through a small roof (cruxy). Build a belay when possible.

P4. 5.11-  40m

Pitch four follows a large flake system also visible from the ground which then becomes two amazing thin fingers cracks at the end of the pitch. From the belay work up the flakes climbing carefully due to some brittle rock. A steep section in the middle adds excitement before the crack starts to pinch out at the end. A technical and thin crux, with occasional face holds, leads you to a large sloping ledge and a comfortable belay.

P5. 5.11  25m

The golden face above the belay is the the final obstacle before the larger cracks that lead to the summit. Crimp and finesse your way up the face, placing barely enough gear to keep you off the deck. After 10 feet, a few good pods open up and you are rewarded with killer jugs. Romp up the golden granite and take a step of faith across stacked blocks to gain another killer ledge.

P6. 5.10  60m

There are two options here and we took the left side since it looked cleaner. They meet up after about 50 feet of climbing.

Follow the wide crack on the left using the arete to gain a small ledge with many loose blocks. Continue up the corner until you meet up with the North Buttress route a the first, and easier, of two offwidths. Save your large gear for the second and plug your way up the wide cracks. Eventually you will reach easier ground and the detached summit block.

An exciting traverse, under the massive summit block, leads right to the summit ridge where you can build a belay.

P7/8 - 5.5

Additional traversing is required to get to the true summit. This section is shared by all routes and is about 500' with occasional moves up to 5.5

This route climbs a singular crack system on the left side of the headwall on the west face of Merriam peak.

P1 - 5.10 - 60m.  We 4th classed up the gully and then did a long pitch of dirty and wandering climbing. It is probably best to start on the Croft/Rands route but split right after the first belay. This will take an extra pitch but will improve the climbing.

P2 - 5.11, C1 - 65m

From the ledges on the right side of Merriam climb up until you reach a clean wall. Climb the nice arching finger crack using creativity when it gets thin. As the angle steeps the difficult picks up since footholds are hard to find. A six foot section of tips crack (probably 5.13) leads to a face hold and the ability to work into the right crack. Stemming and use of both cracks grants access to an alcove and a semi hanging belay.

P3 - 5.11, C1 - 30m

From the alcove work up a very flared crack with finger tip seam in the back. It could be possible to layback the flare with difficulty. The crack gradually gets wider before becoming hand size. A few well wedged chockstones lead to a steep section of hands and another alcove where you can belay.

P4 - 5.11a - 55m

From the belay head up perfect hand sized cracks ignoring the flaky rock for the first 20 feet. This initial section will clear up with more traffic. A brilliant section of clean rock leads to a good ledge (perhaps a better belay). Continue working up the crack, passing a cruxy section of flared fingers (5.11a) until the crack eventually becomes a more climbable size, 5.10. The final crux starts above small ledge on two opposing seams. Exciting climbing up these two "cracks" grants passage to a large ledge with a few loose blocks. Belay here about 50 feet below the ridge line.

Summit Traverse - 5.5

Follow the traverse on the back side of Merriam used by the North Buttress and all other routes. One pitch leads to a good stance where it is smart to belay due to rope drag. Another pitch downclimbs to a sandy gulley that leads up to the true summit.

This climb is an open project that could potentially be freed at hard 5.12 or 5.13. I am happy to change this page to reflect the new name/grade upon the first free ascent.

The route is named in honor of

Dr. Clinton Hart Merriam

and

The Oatmeal

This is a single pitch, rap in and climb out affair that is conveniently located right along the descent from any of the Merriam summit routes. Reminiscent of the "Speed of Life" in quality and difficulty, it is an excellent, long pitch of thin hands and occasional ring locks in an exposed location. The only thing keeping me from calling it a classic is that it has a fair bit of typical alpine granite potato chip crunchies - this will improve with every ascent though so if you're looking for a fun way to round out your day after climbing one of the other routes on Merriam, check it out.

The point of this route addition is to give some people a bit more psyche and information. All climbing was done on TR so I know it doesn't "count" for anything.

I lowered in 60+ meters from the summit ridge and was able to climb two of the three cracks. The only problem is that the sections, while sightly overlapping, would seem very hard to connect.

Link 1. From a ledge midway up the right crack, below an obvious black knob, climb the splitter crack until the angle steeps 5.10+. As the crack joggs to the right the difficulty increases quickly to the 5.11/11+ range. Once over the steep section make your way left to the middle crack.

Link 2. From the middle of steep section climb the middle crack with initial difficulties in the 5.11 range. Shortly the crack goes back to vertical and you will enjoy splitter 5.10 jamming. Occasional face holds appear to ease the sustained nature of this section. Eventually the crack runs out and you must work up various blocks and cracks to the summit ridge.

Our thought was to approach via a crack on the right side of the lower headwall. Next you would need to aid across the roofs, possibly on bolts to access the bottom section of the triple cracks.

The right crack is the best at the bottom and then the middle crack becomes climbable. Both cracks are in the 5.11 or above range in the steep section of the headwall due to their flaring nature.

The entire route entails some challenging but very fun diverse climbing. The crux 10.b lies on the Seventh pitch. It is definitely a Classic and must DO!

Total of seven technical Pitches with an additional 300' feet of Class 3ish to reach the Summit proper.

Approach: Scramble up the right side of the pedestal (3rd class) to the bottom of the route.

P1(5.9, ~100'): Climb ~30 feet of blocky 5.6, then head up the crack just left of the arete. Belay at the "ear".

P2(5.10a, ~100'): Climb the crack straight above the "ear". Fun face moves to link crack systems. Belay at ledge.

P3(5.9, ~100'): Continue up, traversing left on the obvious sloping ledge below the orange lichen-covered bulge. Belay at the base of the "Triple Cracks".

P4(5.9, ~120'): Climb the "Triple Cracks". This seemed like the physical crux of the route. Stance belay just above the obvious alcove. The rock below the alcove is somewhat loose, there is a thin crack just above the alcove that's solid.

P5(5.8, ~100'): Take the center of 3 cracks above the alcove. The left one looks like a wide lieback, and the right one is a splitter (but grainy) thin crack. The one in the middle takes the path of least resistance. After ~50', head left up a couple of rampy lieback sections (not the splitter hand crack directly above). Belay at a large ledge below a right-facing corner.

P6(5.10b, ~120'): Climb the crux dihedral. Stiff off the bat, then eases up. Below the smaller summit block, head left up an offwidth/chimney/stem with a large fixed cam in it. Belay at large ledge.

P7(5.7, ~50'): Head up/right through a small notch, then follow the right-slanting crack system on a slab below/around the larger summit block (the huge one that's obvious from the approach). Belay on another large ledge.

You're now on the summit ridge (~500'). The climbing along the ridge is inobvious, and is definitely not 3rd class, more like mixed 4th/5th class. Lots of gendarmes and large pillars to navigate. We ended up following the ridge proper for ~200', downclimbing to the right of the ridge, then heading straight up through blocky 5.6ish climbing to the summit plateau.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Merriam Peak