Neurosurgeon climbs the stellar fingercrack on the far right side of the 'central' River Wall (after the bouldering approach in from right), just right of the steep 'slab'

Le Diamant E'ternal

. The only reason this climb doesn't receive three stars in my book is the scary finishing options. One must either climb difficult to protect direct 5.11 PG/R finish or move right around the arete as the crack fades in and out and finish on loose scary 5.9 R climbing. The lower portion of the climb, the meat of it, is beautiful and can be worth the scare above, or better yet TR the line.

Start with stellar fingerlocks. Just before the roof the crack widens to off-fingers and thin hands (cruxy). Polish off the roof above and climb several body lengths of pumpy crack.  Good footwork here will make all the difference. On the lead one must choose here as the crack fades in and out to climb right to the arete and up (5.9 R) or directly up the 5.11 (PG/R) finish. A TR will follow the 5.11 finish.

Neurosurgeon

Livewire

Surround Sound

Technicolor Nightmare

Introducing Meteor Dad

Dihedral [River Wall] aka Shades of Murky Depths

Brother From Another Planet

The Box

Aquadarius

Le Diamant E'ternal

New Horizon

Escape from Alcatraz

Lost Horizons

Big, Big Gunky Man

Social Dispensing

Redneck Hero

Arresting Arete

Pocket Hercules

Big, Big, Monkey Man

Although it may appear that the beautiful, bullet slab left of '

Neurosurgeon

' is all but featureless, don't be fooled, for there is in-fact a thin, arching seam that offers just barely enough to grab.

Begin the route with easy slab climbing on featured rock. Clip the third bolt and start a 30 foot section of amazing stone where grips are few and far between. Ride the varying seam via tight jams, lay backs and odd mini-pinches until you clip the 6th bolt and rest on good feet. Traverse right on tiny crimps and finish up and left through underclings to anchors.

Brilliant, engaging climbing on super rock. French for 'The Eternal Diamond'.

This route starts following an arete leaning right, soon traversing left into a mean offwidth protected by the third and forth bolt. The next lead out section can be climbed with little pro up to an 1 1/2". or just ran out to the last bolt (5.8+) just under the roof of

Introducing Meteor Dad

.

Steep climbing with a bit of loose rock leads to a moderate face up high. This is a decent warm-up.

This route ascends the bright lichen covered wall across from the dam above the River Wall.

This west-facing wall sits right above the road and is easily seen when walking east toward the parking area if hiking out from the reservoir or a session at the Lion's Den. It is just around the corner from the dam.

A gently overhanging face of nice rock sits above a 50 foot choss approach.

A large tree above the wall provides a easy fixed line setup. Approach the hillside to the east to get up there.

I climbed this via toprope solo setup and only climbed the upper face that contains the good rock and enjoyable climbing (although it still needs some cleaning).

I would be surprised if anyone else actually climbs this thing.

It is a shame that the approach climbing from directly underneath is such poor quality, otherwise this would be a good route.

A nice technical climb up the right side of River Wall. Climbs the bolted face just left of the obvious chimney corner (the Box). Carefully reach the 1st bolt and attack the face above. Several catchy sections involve delicate feet to reach the next holds. Edgy, pumpy, delicate and fun.

The route is on the far right hand side of River Wall and can be accessed without needing to cross the creek.  4 bolts on the left hand side of the dihedral lead to the anchor on top.  Fun moves requiring good footwork, but not much pump on the arms.  Good route to climb in order to access anchors at the top of several other climbs or to avoid needing to cross the creek to access other routes.  Lots of loose rock at the top between the 4th bolt and the anchors.  Anchors are set up and right of the final bolt.  Enjoy this fun warm up.

This superb power route climbs the third route from the left side of the crag. Reach the base by rock hopping across the river just below the Buttonrock Resevoir spillway. The furtherst left two lines are

New Horizon

and Lost Horizon, a bolted arete and an insane finger crack, respectively.

The next line, BFAP, climbs the right side of this constant angle overhanging section of stone on unrelenting powerful slopers and edges.  One leaves the security of the initial ramp and right corner launching onto the overhanging face after clipping the first two bolts.  Fire immediately into the powerful crux, a big move to a small incut. One amazingly consistent move after another bring one to the top. Stellar.

A worthwhile route, despite the loose rock. Climbs the chimney corner between

Introducing Meteor Dad

and Le Diamant E'ternal (LDE) to the left and right, respectively. A fun stemming problem surmounts the low crux bulge. Easy but loose climbing above past ledges. A crack on the left face can keep the rope from running across the ledge and dislodging anything loose. Climb on slightly choosy rock to the right at the top to reach the anchors atop LDE. Worth a smile, a nice moderate, just keep the belayer out of the line of fire.

Established and attempted by Darek Krol and Ed McKeown over the course of 2020, the first ascent was ultimately gifted to Matty Hong a few months after Darek's tragic passing at the very end of that year. In true Hong fashion, our multi-month project was dispatched with little effort and less fanfare, confirming the 8b grade we had suspected. Thank you, Matty, for opening the line in such good style, Darek would be proud (and smiling per usual).

Some 5.11 intro climbing past the first two bolts leads to the only large hold on the route. From there, two stacked V7/8ish boulder problems separated by a horizontal break and quick clip gets you to a shallow ledge containing some fussy holds that don't provide much of a rest. From here, it's mid-5.12 resistance climbing for a few clips up to where one encounters what feels like a heartbreaker V6 sequence at the very last bolt. Keep it together, and tick tack up for a few more moves to the chains.

While not entirely

au naturel

, there's no denying this is perhaps one of the more aesthetic lines at the cliff. Unrelenting in nature and just far enough away from the adjacent routes to not be contrived. With some concerted effort, one could feasibly escape off and re-enter via either

RH

and/or

BBMM

to find reprieve here and there - if done in this fashion, deduct several difficulty and style points, and give the excursion a different name.

There are two link-up variants that had been done early on that are quite good but don't warrant being posted as independent routes:

Hero to Zero (aka H₂Ø) - 12d

: climb the first four bolts of

Redneck Hero

. From the good stance at the "Hero" jugs below the crux section of that route, and with

Redneck's

4th bolt clipped just above your waist, move straight left via a punchy move and then up to the 7th bolt of Aquadarius; finish by continuing on that route.

Pimpa la Bimpa - 12b:

start the same as H₂Ø, but when you get to the 8th bolt of Aquadarius, don't make that clip, instead, match your hands and pull straight left into the large jug sidepull of

Big, Big Monkey Man

. Finish on the last two bolts and anchors of that route. Note: clip only bolt #7 of Aquadarius for best results. In summary, clip the first 4 bolts of

Redneck

, bolt #7 of Aquadarius, and the last 2 bolts of

BBMM

.

New Horizon is everything a sport climb should be- beautiful, natural, aesthetic, and challenging.  Slap the arete and hug the crack past fairly positive, yet widely spaced holds until it is no longer possible to span between the two features.  At this point commit to the arete, lieback past the last bolt, and then traverse left to the anchors.

This is an interesting line that escapes from the pedestal jutting out of the river in the middle of River Wall. Reach the pedestal by rock hopping across the river (impossible in spring/summer), access the right side of River Wall, and boulder to the pedestal (also tricky in spring) or rappel from the top. Note: place draws on one side of rope while rappeling, so the rope doesn't fall into the drink. Belay off the pedestal anchor bolt, and either place protection or run it out to the first bolt. After the first bolt, reach a layback and undercling flake. From there, technical climbing and tricky route finding will get you to the top.  Alcatraz is a solid and fun thinking man's route.

Start at

New Horizon

. Climb the thin, arching crack to the right.

Turning the lip of the small overhang and establishing onto the sheer face above is scary and intricate.

Social Dispensing is a slab climb, less than vertical but with enough techy moves to make you feel like it was harder than adjacent

Redneck Hero

. Body position and foot work are key on this route, so you have a taste of what climbing in Buoux in '80s was. A little footsy crux at the second bolt is followed by easier climbing to another crimps-smears puzzle. Keep it together to pull over and right of a small roof to the final slab crux. High feet will help overcoming the fear of botching the last move.

Classic pumpy sport route climbs directly out of the drink. Reach the

Escape from Alcatraz

pedastal via rock hopping across river, or access the right side of wall and boulder again left. Climbing directly left from the pedestal, clip traversing bolt with runner or double runner (or unclip later).  Now, climb the past the corner and up into the thuggish face. The crux comes near the top after the pump is well settled into the forearms. Great moves, rock and fun!

Follow the line of bolts up the left side of the obvious arete, next to the climb "

Dihedral

".  Use holds around the right side when necessary, and finish on the right face at the top.

This is the crack 25 feet left of "

Redneck Hero

". Steep and pumpy this route has good pro and fun movement. The route "

Big, Big Monkey Man

" splits off about mid way up. Best to do this route when the river is low.

i.e.

spring, fall. At the top traverse right to a bolted anchor at the top of "

Big, Big Monkey Man

."

This is a great pumpfest just left of

Redneck Hero

. It probably deserves a full three stars, but I gave it only two because the stone at the very top is a bit suspect - not as good as

Redneck

. However, as long as the holds stay put, it is a killer line.

To do this line, cross the creek on the upstream side of the cliff. Once you get to the wall, follow little ledges out as far right as you can go - this is the start of

Pocket Hercules

. Climb

Pocket Hercules

for 30 feet or so (requires gear) until you reach the first bolt.

The route then trends right up the overhanging wall, involving big reaches to mostly good holds.

It is totally fun - a solid letter grade harder than

Redneck

and every bit as cool.

Description

Protection

Routes in River Wall II