South Rabbit Ear - Standard Route

Approach

Start the north trail head to the Menagerie Wilderness. Hike south from road 850 (main N-S trail through the wilderness). See approach on main page for trail information

Route Description

From the notch between the rabbit ears climb up arete/face between the two ears.

Pitch 1: 5.7 Climb 25' up past 1or two old bolts on crumbly rock to a ledge, traverse right 35' past 4 manky bolts then climb up 15' to a bolted belay - decent bolts. Fight tremendous rope drag to belay partner up.

Pitch 2: 5.8 Climb 30' up an overhanging jam crack and onto a ledge with bolted anchors - one bolt halfway, can protect with medium to small cams.

Pitch 3: Step right around a corner onto a noexistant edge for your feet. Climb up dirty finger crack - 5.8+ Crux of climb!!!!!!!!!- protecting with small nuts( crack is too shallow for good cam placements). Crack is fairly steep for about 15 feet, then the angle tapers off. From here climb gully, then chimney (5.6)(head left) up 70' to a belay on bolts below a tree.

Pitch 4: no more bolts!!!! Climb 5.6 crack (protect well - this is the end of the protection), then step right and climb 60 ft of 5.4 on dirty ledges with no protection to the top.

Descent: Rappel from the top with two ropes from slings to top of pitch 3. Second rappel can be done with two 60 meter ropes all the way to the ground--or two 50 meter ropes to the top of pitch 2, then one more double rope rap to the ground.

Essential Gear

HELMET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Two ropes - 50m minimum; 60m better
long runners - no short quickdraws
gear to 3.5''. Plan on using stoppers/nuts and tri cams--these are much more secure than cams on volcanic rock. Plan on running this route out, so you won't need a giant rack.

Miscellaneous Info

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

Images

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