This is a standard climb in the Amphitheater at North Carolina Wall. A must do if you ever get down in here. Also populat is The Prow (5.4) on the north side of the Amphitheater. Follow the trail directions on the main page to this area. Head left (south) on the large flat rock at the end of the gully "trail."

Getting There

From the gully trail, head left (south) at the big flat rock, and follow the cliff wall about 200ft down from the obvious Mummy (5.5) face surrounding a crack system above a complex tree root system.

Route Description

Pitch 2

Pitch 1 - Climb a blocky corner or the face right of the corner to a large ledge, belay on left side. (5.4, 140ft)

Pitch 2 - Head straight up the wall using horizontal cracks and left facing flakes (see image) toward a pine tree on a ledge (barely seen in photo). (5.5, 80ft)

Pitch 3 - Traverse blocky ledges up and right, then back left to a belay stance on a pile of rocks on the left side. (5.3, 80ft)

Pitch 4 - The next two can be done as one long pitch, watch out for rope drag. Move up through a buldge, then angle up and right following cracks to a face. Possible belay station in a little notch/dihedral. (5.5, 90ft)

Pitch 5 - Climb the face above the dihedral and head to a clean corner. Follow through buldges to the top. (5.6, 80ft)

Descent

Mummy Buttress (photo by Wayne Busch)

Go to climber's left and find a gully leading behind the buttress, Downclimb to a steep dropoff, where slings have rap rings to get down the short section. Careful on the rappel, it is an awkward move, try not to slip into the hole on the right. Downclimb to the bottom of The Mummy and main trail. The image to the right clearly shows the descent in the shadow behind the buttress. The Daddy climbs the right side facing the Gorge.

There is an alternate trail at the top if you can find it. It basically follows the inside cliffline of the amphitheater, then shoots right under a small exposed roof section (Reggae Wall), up the right side of it and drifts back left until it meets the trail running into the Mountains-to-Sea Trail.

Essential Gear

Normal NC trad rack required, set of nuts, lots of small cams up to 1" and some larger. Be careful of fixed gear here, a lot of this stuff is pretty old.