Fantastic four pitch face climb up a sea of sparkling white granite littered with Tuolumne-like knobs.

Very well protected by most slab standards; even on 5.7, you only need to climb 15 feet or so between bolts. Great rock and great climbing throughout.

Pitch one: traverse rightward for a handful of bolts until the bolt line heads up to the first anchor. At the second bolt, a variation called 'Gimme Shelter' goes straight up for 180 or so feet to the second anchor of Sheltering Sky. (60 feet; 5.10a).

Pitch two: Follow bolts wandering up and left for a great and fairly sustained pitch. (5.10a; 95 feet).

Pitch three: Follow great knobby rock straight up clipping bolts on the way to a two bolt anchor. Fun. (5.8; 110 feet).

Pitch four: Follow bolts straight up to an anchor. The final 35 feet of this pitch are protected by an old quarter inch bolt, but the climbing is moderate and solid. (5.7; 95 feet).

Important note on the rappels

. Croft and Lewis' book states that the raps are all 100 feet. I don't think this is the case on the third pitch. I had maybe 4-5 feet of tail left on my 70m (with rope stretch) when rapping the third pitch. I don't see how a 60m rope would have made it.

Sun exposure:

the route faces east-south-east.

Sheltering Sky

Mr. Cramps

The One That Got Away

Gridlock

Chicken Pot Pie

For Whom The Road Tolls

Walk the Line

Big Blue

Jonny Cash

Missing Inaction

Pinky The Strap-on

First Responder

From the flat Center Terrace walk left and start climbing the hill along the base. Look for Famous Authors, which begins up a left facing corner. First Responder begins just to the right, at a right facing flake.

Pitch 1: Climb a chossy flake about 10 feet then reach out right and clip the first bolt. Traverse right across the blank slab to reach steeper and more featured rock. Head straight up on good knobs, pulling over a small bulge (10a+) to reach lower angle terrain. Wander up past another couple bolts to the anchor. There are several bolted anchors around here and it can be confusing trying to figure out which is the right one.

Pitch 2: Climb straight up along a line of bolts, just to the left of a water-streak. This pitch and the next are considerably easier than the first.

Pitch 3: It gets a bit more runout here which isn't necessarily scary because the climbing is quite easy, however it does make it much more difficult to spot the next bolt and where you are going. Just keep climbing up and follow the path of least resistance.

From the top make 3 raps with one 70m rope. I recall some of these being close to 35m, so pay attention to your ends.

Go right from the first bolt of Chicken Pot Pie and rig a gear belay.

P1. Face climb up and right, then up to the first belay of Nervous Habits.

Rappel or continue up NH/CPP

Face climbing just right of the start of Two Lane Blacktop, ending at it's first belay.

P1. 10b. Long face pitch right of No Pie A La Mode.

P2. 5.9. More face. At the diagonal crack of Moe's Liquors go straight up. Gear in ML.

From the first bolt of Gridlock climb up and right across the corner and climb up next to the arete to the first belay of Two Lane Blacktop.

Start on the far right side of the big ledge at the base of Candlelight.  Have the belayer clip an anchor bolt for Bobo's.  Leave yourself (the belayer) about 10ft of slack so you can see your climber.

Climb out right off the big ledge over a small mogul and clip a bolt, up and right again, then straight up (5-6 more bolts) to an anchor.  A great pitch.

Second pitch is not bad, but pretty easy at about 5.7 (5-6 bolts).  It is possible to do another pitch and top out (no bolts).

This route was established Sept 12, 2003 - the day Johnny Cash died.

Start from a belay on a little ledge just up and left of Peripheral Scavenger. This is the right of two routes.

This is the old unfinished route (F in the guide), now a decent steep face climb.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Candlelight Buttress