Hemingway Buttress Left End, 5.8-5.11c

Overview/Approach

Hemingway Buttress is broken down into four parts in Miramontes guide:  Hemingway Right, Middle Right Wall,  Main Wall and Left End.  The Left End is by far the most obscure of the four.  It contains just five routes, three of which are bunched together around a prominent arete at the very left end of the formation.  A short wall off the desert floor even further left contains the other two, one of which is named Ant Farm, 5.8, for a good reason.  The better routes are the three that start at the base of the upper arete.  It takes some scrambling and bushwhacking to reach the base of these routes.  Smoke a Bowl, 5.9, and Rock Wren, 5.10a*, share the same start off a small ledge.  The Roadrunner, 5.11c**, starts just meters to the left.  The rock on the face to the left of this arete is not stellar meaning Rock Wren and Roadrunner are not climbing the best of Jtree rock whereas Smoke a Bowl deserves more credit in the guide then it gets.   Ant Farm and Horn Dog, 5.10c*, are of course inundated with ants in the spring at least.  They originate from a sappy tree atop the wall and can cover both climbs.  A fixed rap serves the arete routes.  You can walk off skiers left the short ant wall.

These routes are located at the very east end of Hemingway.  Unlike the west end routes, there are not as many notable landmarks. The upper arete is the easiest to spot with a bolt line to its left (Roadrunner).  Horn Dog is bolted on the short wall further left with a large tree atop it.

Route Descriptions: Listed Right to Left

Smoke a Bowl- 65’-5.9/ A worthy non-starred route in Miramontes guide.  Scramble up a bushy ledge to below an obvious finger diagonal dihedral on a face.  To avoid rope drag, place limited to no gear in the dihedral until you reach a bolt on the right face.  Make the clip and traverse right over to the next face.  Climb twin corners up to a fixed rap on a broad ledge up and left.  Standard single rack, mostly just small.   Dow

Rock Wren- 55’-5.10a*/ Same start (dihedral) as Smoke a Bowl.   Smoke a Bowl is definitely the better of the two routes.  Instead of clipping the bolt on the right face after climbing the short finger dihedral, clip a bolt on the left face and mantel up onto a chossy face.  Edge climb through 3 bolts total to the same fixed rap ledge.  Requires more face moves than arête moves as the guide suggests.  Dow

Roadrunner- 55’-5.11c**/

Horn Dog- 30’- 5.10c*/ Out of 900 routes I have climbed so far in Jtree, one of the worst 5.10’s in the entire park.  Full time ant residents (sappy tree above the route), chossy face, short and uneventful climb.  The crux is a tough sequence to "on sight" dealing with mostly slab but some “corner type” foot long off balance features as well.  Belay off of small to medium gear vs the tree as it secretes a ton of sap.  Walk off climbers right.  Dow

Ant Farm- 35’-5.8/ Actually a secure solo for the grade.  Head up the well featured crack to the left of Horn dog.  There is a clean hidden finger dihedral above it that makes for the crux, maybe 15’ tall.  Same gear belay and descent as Horn dog.  Dow