This sweet corner shoots 200 feet straight up the Watchtower.....the last major crag up the canyon before merging with the peak-to-peak hiway.....it's on the left side of the road and is a very pointy and large (300+ feet) tower right off the road (can't miss it). The left side of the tower has a very large corner/v-slot/dihedral that has 2 bulges with a wide crack. You belay at the top of the corner on a little perch in a notch. Pitch 2 goes up a rotten chimney easily to the summit.

The Watchtower Corner

Business Loop

West Face AKA Cold Feelings

Highway Robbery

It's the arete just right of the crux pitch of

Highway Robbery

. Climb the first 11b pitch of

Highway Robbery

(the crux), and then follow bolts up the somewhat spicy 10b arete to the

Highway Robbery

anchors. This is really fun and has great positioning.

This route is one of only two on the West face.  Dan Hare confirmed that (from Gillett's book there was some speculation) the upper corner has been climbed at 5.10+

P1:  5.6, head straight up cracks and jugs for 60 feet to fixed pro.  It is surprisingly exposed.

P2:  5.6, head straight up the same crack system with a little laybacking.  Step onto the slab and follow a thinnish crack directly through a small bulge staying left of a prominent tree.  Then gain a ledge with fixed pro. 80 feet.

P3:  5.7, head left from the belay to gain the prominent crack system.  Follow this until it begins to arc right and peters out.  Here, step left and gain another thin crack below a small tree.  Follow this crack to a ledge below the upper most headwall and take a broken, right-facing corner to the top.  Now you are on the summit of The Watchtower.  Walk off to the east.  You may have Cold Feelings on this route if 5.7 is your limit.  130 feet.

Highway Robbery is the main attraction of this tower and a superb climb. Scramble up the 4th class approach terrain to start at the base of the main North facing plate using the adjacent tree as a belay and rap station. For the first pitch, half a dozen clips gains a mid point belay and a double bolt anchor. The climbing is thin and reachy and gets its 5.11b rating on less than vertical climbing with sketchy feet and crisp finger edges. The second pitch, and the brilliant crux of the route,  launches dead center up the face. The climbing steepens immediately to dead vertical. At the second clip off the ledge an option to bail out right to the arete presents itself. This much easier option is a superb pitch by itself, and it offers the faint of heart a simple alternative that runs to the same anchor as Highway Robbery, therefore, making the top rope a very friendly possibility. Hang tough on Highway Robbery for the more difficult ride and a gorgeous climb up a thin seam and face combination that is literally sprouting nice, albeit thin, finger edges. There is a double bolt anchor just above the ledge, but below the final overhang that gains the bona fide "summit" of the Watch Tower. The final overhang has been ascended, but I have no useful beta (such as the walk off, etc).  There are three raps to the ground from the top of Highway Robbery: 100ft, 60ft, and 50ft. Three stars for the great climbing, continuity, and excellent stone. This wall is North facing, so assuming you solve the access issues with the new owners first, wait until the weather is warm enough to climb in the shade.

Description

Protection

Routes in The Watchtower