Route descriptions (2 March 2011)
East face topo (22 August 2007)
North face topo (15 November 2009)
West face topo (22 August 2007)
Upper West face detail topo (21 July 2010)
Lower west face topo (21 July 2010)
Approach: Contour around the north side of the Witch from the Witch/Sorcerer notch.
Descent: Scramble down the gully to the north side trail near the Witch/Sorcerer notch.
A. unnamed, 5.8
Start up the rightmost of two left leaning flakes at the west end of the broken blocks at the base. There is a small ledge on top of a flake about a body length off the ground. Follow the flake up until reaching a broken area. Traverse left 15 feet and continue up the low angle corner to the tree at the top. Gear is thin to non-existant to start, but the crack widens up higher. Either belay at the tree or climb a little higher to the trees on the descent route from the top of the Witch. The last section is insecure and the rock is crumbly (5.9?) but there are several options. It may also be possible to walk off around to the left or right (didn't try either).
Gear to 1".
B. North Face, 5.7
From the blocks at the base of the upper rap, climb up and right along blocks and edges, following the right facing corner to the Igor Unchained anchor. Following the corner is harder and offers protection, climbing on the lose blocks out right is easier.
Gear: Mostly 1/2"-3/4".
Approach: Descend the Witch/Sorcerer gully from the notch.
Descent: Rap from the rap station at the top of Igor Unchained. Rap once to a rocky ledge. From here is is possible to downclimb on the side towards the Witch/Sorcerer gully. There is also a rap station set up on a pinch point in the boulders near the edge. Rap to the trees below. From here scramble down the gully to the north side trail near the Witch/Sorcerer notch. Both raps are single rope raps.
For routes right of Igor Unchained, climb up and over the summit of the Witch to reach the rap station. Although not very hard, some of this climbing is extremely exposed.
A. unnamed, 5.9
Just left of North Chimney. Climb right facing corners to a tree. There are left and right options, both are about the same difficulty. Walkoff.
B. North Chimney, 5.7/5.8
C. Pizazz, 5.10a
Climb up the chimney until a sloping ledge on the left side. Traverse right out of the chimney on poor holds and onto the face. Follow the crack, which gets better, until it runs out. Go slightly left and follow cracks up to the notch.
Gear: Small to 2".
D. Pegleg, aka Hang 'Em High, 5.11d R
P1 (5.10+ R): Climb the right facing corner to a small ledge with a two bolt belay. Bold lead due to tricky thin gear. Short pitch.
P2 (5.12b): Continue up the right facing corner to the top. Looks like stemming with a thin crack in the corner for pro.
Gear: many RPs and small gear. A few pieces to 2" for the very top.
E. Ankles Away, 5.11d
P1 (5.10+ R): Climb the right facing corner to a small ledge with a two bolt belay. Bold lead due to tricky thin gear. Short pitch.
P2 (5.11d): Continue up the thin crack that diagonals out right on the face. Mostly insecure fingers with thin gear. Finish with easy climbing up and right along the corner to reach the anchor at the top of Igor Unchained.
Gear to 1/2" with many RPs and small pieces. A few pieces to 2".
F. Airy Interlude, 5.10a
|
| Climber on pitch 2 of Airy Interlude |
G. Hairy Interlude, 5.10c
H. Igor Unchained, 5.9
P1 (5.9): Left facing hands corner.
P2 (5.9): Continue up the corner past a short wide section. Belay on the ledge.
P3 (5.9): Fingers and hands to the top. With a 60 m rope belay on the higher portion of the ledge, or break this pitch in two.
Gear to 2", one 4" piece is useful for P2.
I. Vanishing Point, 5.12+
Project.
J. Shazam, 5.9
P1 (): Hands and fingers to a ledge. Much of the rock is grainy and of poor quality. Gear is tricky and not always confidence inspiring.
P2 (): Climb the hands and fingers corner through some steep sections. Belay at a wide area.
P3 (5.9): Continue up to a large roof. Climb out the improbable looking right side of the roof.
Gear to 3".
K. The Entity, 5.10+
L. Spook Book, aka Welcome to the Needles, 5.10d
|
| Hristo on pitch 4 of Spook Book |
M. Wicked, 5.12
N. Innersanctum, 5.9+
P1 (5.9): Hands to fingers to thin face. The face climbing is a bit runout. Going left is about 5.9, going up then left is a little harder at 5.9+.
P2 (5.9): Follow the corner/flare.
P3 (5.9): Continue to the top following various cracks.
Gear to 3".
O. Brute Force, 5.10a A0
P. Gorilla Warfare, 5.10+
P1 (5.10+): Climb the flare, past the offwidth section and continue up good hands for a long way. Belay at a rap station.
P2 (5.9): Continue up a rounded groove to a two bolt anchor near the top of the pinnacle.
Gear to 6".
Q. Red Snapper, 5.11a
R. Phosphorescent Flow, 5.10a R
Nice face climbing but with groundfall potential before the second bolt. Can be toproped by climbing Witch Doctor.
S. Witch Doctor, 5.10a
|
| Ren on pitch 1 of Witch Doctor |
T. The Pit and the Pendulum, 5.10+ or 5.10b A0
Route begins from the top of the pillar. Climb any of the routes between Gorilla Warfare and Witch Doctor to reach the top of the pillar. Then climb up the easy ramp to the right to reach the large corner. Belay at the bolt anchor or at the base of the corner itself.
P1 (5.10c): Climb up the corner to a two bolt belay. The crack starts wide but is mostly hands and thin hands.
P2 (5.10d): Continue up the large corner and chimney to the top. Or, pendulum left below the anchor and face climb up to the right facing corner and up that way. The pendulum can be avoided by face climbing left about 10 ft below the anchor. The traverse is 5.10d.
Gear to 3" plus a few larger pieces for the start of the first pitch. Maybe a 5-6" piece for the chimney on P2.
U. Green Tide, 5.11a R
Slopers, runout crux at the top.
V. Wicked West of the Witch, 5.10+
Climb up to the first bolt, then down right and up to the second bolt. Climb past the third bolt then left on good edges to black water streaks. Continue up to the anchor. Bolts are not visible from the start. Can rap with a 60 m rope to T1 anchors.
W. Terrorvision, 5.11b
Wild overhanging sport climbing.
X. Black Rabbit, 5.10a
This route is actually on the north side of the Necromancer. From the ledge climb up and right to reach a finger crack. Follow it to the large ledge. Rap from the anchor on the ledge. It is possible to scramble up to or down from the ledge via the gully, but it is exposed.
Gear to 1".
Approach: Climb the first pitch of The Howling and rap into the top of the gully between the Witch and the Warlock. It is also possible to rap in from the Predator anchors at the bottom end of the gully.
Descent: See west face descent for all routes except The Iceberg and The Lifeboat. From the top of The Iceberg or The Lifeboat, walk across to the rap anchor at the top of Igor Unchained or rap the route.
A. Shikata Ga Nai, 5.12a X
The following route description is by Michael Reardon. Follows obvious line/arete under Nautilus. Start with 100+ feet of 5.10 scrambling through bushes/trees with the occasional smear move. At the big ledge, follow the 250+ foot gorgeous arete (5.12a X). No cheating and going onto the face holds with buckets (not to mention that there are a few loose holds there). This finishes right near the base of Nautilus. P3: 100 foot arching low angle crack (5.9?) to a ledge. From here, stay on the ledges until reaching the base of p4, an obvious line of tufas that stretch for 200+ feet up to 5.11. p4 is about 200 feet to the left of Iceberg/Lifeboat. p4 tops out on the opposite side of Shazam. A really fun line and except for the second and last pitches, easy to protect. The name is Japanese and translates basically to, "there is no other way".
B. The Nautilus, 5.12
Three or four pitches. Bolts and belay locations are approximate.
P1 (5.12d): Sustained, technical and powerful. Gear to 2" with a lot of finger sized pieces. Make-shift rap anchor, can get down with a single 60m rope.
P2 ():
P3/4 (): As of August 2008, the last pitch is reported to be very R with a 15-25 foot fall possible because a bolt is missing.
C. The Cauldron, 5.10
D. Witch Way, 5.10
E. The Iceberg, 5.12a
Six or seven bolts. The first bolt looks new, the others look original. Positive edges on a steep face.
F. The Lifeboat, 5.10d
From the ledge, climb up into a scoop then right and up past 5 bolts. After the last bolt trend up left to the anchor. There are several fragile flake and edge holds. There is one bolt on the ledge for the belayer.
