Guidebook - 'Gunks - Middle Earth, Snowpatch, Thin Slabs, Bloody Mary

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Middle Earth (5.5) - Three Pitches (only the first shown at the present time) - Trad - Gear anchor

- Approach: Take the ninth trail up to the left after the East Trapps Connector Trail (which is the only path that goes down to the right). Fade to the right where it splits.

- Pitch One (5.5) - Trad - Tree anchor - 100 feet: Climb the jagged, z-shaped, left-facing corner at the start to a shallow, left-facing corner that is below two parallel cracks about 40 feet up. Climb the face / cracks above to the ledge, step right to the tree anchor at the top.

- Pitch Two (5.2) - Trad - Tree anchor - 80 feet(: Climb straight up the face to the GT Ledge and the tree anchor.

- Pitch Three (5.5) - Trad - Tree anchor - 80 feet(: Climb the face and the right-facing corner to the roof. Traverse left about five feet below the right-facing corner that is above the roof. Pull through this crux and fade up to the right to the corner below the tree.

- Descent from first pitch: Sorry about this, but I've forgotten what we did up there and didn't write it down. Just trust me and believe that there are tree rap stations nearby. You may have to walk a bit and search along the edge of the cliff, but they are there.


Snowpatch (5.5) - Two pitches (only the first pitch shown at present) - Trad - Gear anchors

- Approach: Take the tenth path on the left after the East Trapps Connector Trail (the only trail that goes down to the right). Fade left at the top.

- Pitch One (5.5) - Trad - Tree Anchor - 140 Feet: Climb the right-facing corner straight up to the GT Ledge. The Williams guidebook says to traverse right past the laurel bush and pine tree (about 40 feet up), and then to climb the left-facing to the next tree for an intermediate belay. However, we climbed straight up through the overhang. The overhang isn't as straight forward as it seems, but it is also easier than it seems when you get to the point where the obvious lieback ends.

- Pitch Two not noted because it wasn't climbed

- Descent: Rap from the tree at the top with two 60m ropes. It may be possible to use the intermediate belay station to rap with one rope.


Thin Slabs (5.7 with direct start) - Three pitches - Trad - Gear anchors

- Pitch One (5.7) - Trad - Tree anchor - 90 feet: Climb the right-fading crack that is to the right of the bolt (about 25 feet up) for the 5.7 start and better protection. Otherwise, climb the blank face directly below the bolt for the 5.6 start. After clipping the bolt, climb straight up to the left-facing corner. Climb either the corner or the face to the left up to the ledge.

- Pitches Two and Three (5.3 / 5.5) - Trad - Gear anchor - (60 feet each): We combined these two pitches for two reasons: 1) you can, even with one rope (though long slings help) and; 2) the Williams guidebook is a little misleading. It says to climb to the second ledge, but in fact the first large ledge is the top of the second route. We passed the obvious large ledge because we didn't think it was the correct one. That essentially put us on the third pitch, and so we continued just because we could.

In any case, start to the left of the tree below a shallow overhang. Climb the left-facing corner and then fade right up to the ledge for the end of the second pitch. From there, walk right and climb the obvious, large left-facing corner that has a small chimney near the top. Exit to the right and build an anchor at the top. Just over the top is the tree where one can rap from, however, it is not advised to belay from this tree unless one is climbing the 5.7+ variation that goes under the roof on the third pitch.

- Descent: Rap from the tree at the top back down to the large ledge. The rap in one go with two 60m ropes all the way to the ground.

Bloody Mary (5.7) - Three pitches - Trad - Gear anchors

- Approach: Take the first path up to the left after the large bouldering boulder (this is the path before the East Trapps Connector Trail that goes down to the right - so if you see that, then you've gone too far). Fade to the right at the top.

- Pitch One (5.7) - Trad - Tree anchor - 80 feet: Climb the block that forms a left-facing corner to the crack. Follow the crack straight up to the small overhang, then step right and continue to follow the crack up to the belay tree. This tree is a shared belay spot with Morning After, so it may get busy. Because P2 really starts about 20 feet to the left, it may be best to build a gear anchor below the tree that is growing just below the large roof.

- Pitch Two (5.6) - Trad - Gear anchor - 90 feet: Climb up to the steep jugs below and left of the tree, climb under the tree and fade right without going all the way into the corner at the end of the roof. About midway between the tree and the far corner on the right, reach up to gain the jugs above the roof. Pull and mantle up to the face. Climb straight up to the ledge.

- Pitch Three (5.5) - Trad - Gear anchor - 90 feet: Climb the right-facing corner to the ledge, then climb the path of least resistance up the face to the top.

- Descent: I think there are several options here. One could walk left along the trail toward Maria and Frog's Head, but those are popular routes. We went right instead, and before the trail headed uphill, veered right toward the edge of the cliff. There's a large belay ledge / terrace with a tree slightly below it and to its right. On that tree should be belay slings. Be careful walking down to the tree, as it is somewhat thin getting to the ledge, and steep from the ledge to the tree itself. With double 60m ropes, one can rap all the way to the ground. I am not sure if there is an intermediate rap station for a single rope.