Six Toe Crack

Approach

Follow the directions on the main page to find the Six Toe Rock from the trailhead. The route climbs the south east face of the southernmost of the three spires in three fun pitches (leftmost spire in this photo). Once near the base of the southernmost spire, make a left off the trail (a very faint climbers' trail can be picked up) and hike up 50 feet through the trees to the base of the obvious crack in the face (see photo).

Route Description

Pitch 1: 5.8, 100 feet (pretty exact length). Although the books claim that the crux of the route is right off the ground, that might not necessarily be true. Begin via a thinnish face move just right of the seam (which will become the crack 15 feet up). Once past the opening move, follow the straightforward crack (mostly hand crack) for 100 feet to a very good belay stance. There's another cruxy move about 2/3rds of the way up - nothing bad though. Belay from two bad/old bolts supplemented by one newer bolt and slings around a rock horn.

Pitch 2: 5.8, 100 feet (again, pretty exact length). Move directly up from belay overcoming a slightly overhanging dihedral (small). Keep moving up via the crack. About 20 feet below the 2nd belay station, the crack turns into a wide off-width. This I believe is the trickiest section of the entire route. There are some small features on the left face but not much. Struggling up the OW is probably the easiest way (pro 4 - 4.5 inches). Belay from a slung rock horn.

Pitch 3: 5.6, 100 feet. Move up the 3rd class gully and then up a small dihedral on the right wall. This (fun!) pitch brings you to the southernmost summit (not the tallest of the three) of Six Toe Rock. Belay from two new bolts.

Note that technically (acc. to guidebooks) Six Toe Crack ends at the top of P2 described above. However, you might as well enjoy this extra 5.6 pitch on good rock and the scenic summit once you put in the work of overcoming that OW on P2.

Descent: Rap the route. One double rope rap (single 60m will most likely do as well) back down to top of P2. One double 60m rap was sufficient (with about 4 feet left to spare) to reach the ground from this point.

Essential Gear

Cams, cams, cams. From about 0.25 inch to 4 or even 4.5 inch units (for OW on P2). Helmets. Route described above was done with 60m ropes. 50's would do fine as well - just be careful on rappells.

Miscellaneous Info

If you have information about this route that doesn't pertain to any of the other sections, please add it here.

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Images

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