A quality straightforward fingercrack more reminiscent of Trout than the Lower Gorge. Lock, reach, stem and lieback, your way up this short but pumpy thin crack.

Trout Geek

Masquerade

Charlie Don't Surf

Razor Boy

Bush Doctor

Judas

Carole Baskin

Jungle Book

This route is the hardest route at Smith with zero fixed lead gear. First climbed by Alan Watts during a breakout 5 month period where he went from FA'ing 12c to 13c, Masquerade has mostly sat forgotten as just another sandbagged thin crack, but the movement, position, and protection of the climb are nothing less than perfect.  

  Start off with some technical stemming off the ledge. A brief shake leads to an amazing crux on 'make-believe' holds. A complete rest after the crux allows you to remain fresh for the finishing tips and finger crack that stays on you until you clip the chains.

This route packs a whole lot into one pitch. The crux is a compression boulder problem similar to Child Abuse or The Caning, but two lesser cruxes involve bouldery face climbing on positive crimps. The route starts on the prominent arete  under the first bolt. Prepare to use three aretes, power face climbing,  and a little bit of body position mastery as you fight the pump and solve the sequences. It is easy to top rope Masquerade off of the anchors,  and a worthy link up between the two could easily yield the hardest route in the lower gorge.

This is the farthest upstream route for the Lower Gorge area documented in the Watts guide. It is a must-do for long time gorge aficionados and affords great views around the corner to the Upper Gorge as well as a unique perspective downstream to the Lower Gorge. Climb a short hand crack to a ledge then fire up an easy corner. Thin hands with sharp edges up high lead to a crux pulling through a mini roof with plentiful lichen on the holds to keep things interesting.

If you can survive the bushwack, this route is a lot of fun.  A path was chopped out through the jungle a year or so ago when we went in there.  The route is rough on the hands as it sees little traffic, but it is pretty clean.  Left some blood on that one.

Despite only getting one star in the Watts guidebook, this route has the potential to be a gorge classic. It typically is on the dirty side due to a lack of climbing, however, those willing to venture up will find a nice finger crack leading to a short stem box capped with hand jams on quality rock. Unique and varied crack climbing make this a fun route, though perhaps best left for those solid at the grade.

Climb Masquerade through the crux and head right into Charlie Don’t Surf at bolt 4.  Combines some of the best Lower Gorge stemming and compression moves without any significant rope drag.

This route is the easiest way up the masquerade columns, and combines the lower half of Charlie Don't Surf with the upper half of Masquerade for a diverse and compelling pitch. Column compression, finger locks, and stemming, all separated by a good rest and solid gear, what more could you want?    Jungle book is a great warm up for the other hard pitches here, and leading it allows you to dial the easier climbing on either route, as well as hang a valuable toprope to figure out the perplexing sequences.

A relatively long approach keeps most people away from this wall, although there are some worthwhile lines here.  The Big Chimney (5.7x) is the primary feature on this wall.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in (5) Jungle Land