This face, clearly visible from the road, is climbed via wandering easy rock climbing broken up by steeper sections up to 5.8. Route finding generally follows the path of least resistance and variations are possible. Expect both solid rock and sections of loose blocks and kitty litter.

Pitched climbing generally starts at the steep section below the top of the leftmost gully.  Pitch count and breakdown varies, but one obvious way to break down the route is as follows (note: the Supertopo guide shows this as 16 pitches, linking pitches as per below will make the easy sections of this route go much faster, everything below can be done with a 60m rope).

Begin climbing on the large ledge in the left hand gully, about 30m below the obvious top-out on the ridge.

1: Up gully to ridge crest, left on ridge, belay at tree.

2: Up ridge crest, staying right of steep faces, then turn left up obvious ramp to huge ledge.

3: Either continue up the blocky crest, or traverse ledge left and go up the 4th-low 5th gully/ramp.  Turn left at next large ledge and belay at tree.

4: Right and up ledge through small notch, then climb up awkward slabby section to a small ledge system with big exposure to the right.  Belay at base of chimney right before ledge ends at the SE face, rock here is a bit questionable.

5: Climb chimney then move right onto the face, which soon eases off to a sandy ramp/gully scramble under a huge chockstone.  Crawl under chockstone, then boulder on top and belay on great ledge right above chockstone.  This is a good feature to confirm you're on route.

6: Traverse ledges right from belay, and climb cracks and flakes up.  Lots of options here, including a squeeze chimney and some awesome crack and flake climbing.  At the top of large flakes and blocks, traverse up and left to a belay tree, or belay on gear above the blocks.  This pitch is super fun!

7: Up and left from the belay, climb a couple fun short steps with laybacking and jamming to a belay stance in a small notch with trees below the crux pitch.

8: Crux pitch.  Climb the ramp leading to the wide chimney/stembox feature (limited protection).  Stem up, then step right to the face with great hand cracks.  Climb up, then make an awkward move back left/down to top out into the sandy gully.  Belay from tree.

(Carry rope up sandy gully between false summits to obvious notch.  From vantage point at the top of the notch, take a look at the last 1-2 pitches so you know where you're going.  The super clean summit ridge offwidth is very obvious from here.)

9: Downclimb into the notch (easier than it looks).  Go left and drop down the loose gully.  Make a short climb up a face with good holds but limited protection to access the gully leading up and right.  Belay at the base of a corner on the left.

10:  Climb up the corner (easy) to get on top of the ledge/ridge.  Do the short slabby lieback boulder problem to access the very obvious hands/offwidth crack.  Climb the crack (splitter!), then walk across the big slab and scramble up easy terrain to the summit.

South Buttress

West Ridge

Complete South Buttress

North Ridge

Fairly easy route that can be done with running belays. Summit is nice, descent requires a fair amount of rappelling. Average time from Trailhead to Summit is 6 hours. And about 4 hours to go back down to the TH.

The West Ridge is the standard descent route for the peak.

This is an extension to the Regular South Buttress Route. There is a rock ridge that begins lower down the ridge that the South Buttress rises from. This ridge offers some enjoyable 3rd & 4th class, and easy 5th class climbing - and creates a longer day of alpine travel. This ridge involves two half-rope rappels to gaps/cols.

From the North Ridge Notch, climb up a trough and over some unprotected 5.6 slab to gain the ridge crest.  From here, continue moving up the ridge, mostly following second and third class ramps and corners on the East (left) side of the ridge. Once you reach the final gendarme before the summit, do a short 5.0 downclimb and cross the flat part of the ridge to final summit headwall.  This headwall is easily climbed in a single 5.4 pitch.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Cutthroat Peak