Belay and start from a flat dirt mound on the hillside, to the right of Oscar the Grouch.  Head up the left side of the slab to a small ledge and the first bolt.  Slab up past two more bolts before heading left and towards the horizontal overlap about a third of the way up. Place some gear and then step up onto the overlap and continue to a right angling crack seem.  Continue up flakes near a bushy ledge and past a few more bolts to the anchors and a comfortable stance. 

  A second pitch (5.6) continues up the face past three bolts.

Charismatic Mime

The Perez Highway

Bob Loblaw aka ":Bob Bla Bla"

Oscar's Last Stand

Bipolar Brain Flush

Bucking Bronco Arete

Touch of Grey

Caveat Emptor

Doh - "Crescent" Direct Finish

Randys Super Fine Triplishes

Syko Bubba : Caveat Emptor's Direct Finish

Raven Ridge

Oscar Mayer

Moose Spirit

Crescent Cracks

Broken Brush

Wasabi Groove

Oscar the Grouch

Three Bubbas Trilogy

Coffee Achievers

Ben Zen Send

Look for a prominent wide 3-5  crack.  With awkward access from the ground follow left to right snaking hand crack to a bolt (crux).  Climb hand crack at 5.7 (very course- tape advised) that leads to a bolt on a slab.  Climb past bolts on slabs to an arete finish.

A clean well bolted slab 1st pitch and a little wandering second pitch.    P.1 A bouldery start up nice slab passing 8 bolts to a two bolt rap anchor. (3 star pitch worth doing even if you don't have time for P.2) 70' 5.8+   P.2 Climb up a right diagonal ledge for about 30' to a bolt on the right side of a slab. Up the slab passing more bolts to a rap anchor. 5.7 140'

Yup, as a friend once said of another climb: "Lot's of "plus" in that!"

  The opening traverse moves are about 5.5+/-R with certain groundfall; stick-clipping the first bolt eliminates the "R".  

  START - Where the path rises, about 20 ft right of "Ocsar's Last Stand", and below the right hand of two HUGE solution pockets.  

  P1 - Climb to the right-hand pocket, move left to the left-hand pocket and clip the bolt. If necessary, dry your feet (pockets often have water) and then climb the smooth slab (crux, bolt #2) and on to the very nice crack above. 90 ft 5.7+ 

  Best to find a directional above the crux to protect the follower(s) from a big swing on the crux. 

  P2 - "The Notches" lists a 2nd pitch of 70 ft.

A few feet right of "Brain Flush" look for a balsam fir tree with a left leaning block at its base leading to a 2 ft overhang.  

  Climb left-facing corner up to the OH, find the key handhold (height related) and then crank the crux OH, moving up to the thin grooves and a few more bolts.  While the crux (5.10a, b?, harder if you're short!) has excellent protection, do not discount the thin, somewhat perplexing moves above. ( 5.9+ ? / PG-13 ?)

Start on the face left of the somewhat ugly, somewhat rotten, wide crack. (Photo)    Climb the face [Var] past 3 bolts* and then ascend the 5-inch crack to the top.  

  [ * Stepping right to the large crack after Bolt #2 lowers the grade to about 5.8, the crux is the move(s) between bolt 2 and 3 ]  

   Variation - "Brain Fart Variation" Climb the wide, ugly crack to the clean upper crack. 5.8

P1: Climb up a slab with a small overlap for about 60 feet into the trees at the foot of the arête. Move left toward the arête looking for a bolt.  Stand on your tip toes and clip the bolt.  (FA must have been really tall.) Climb down and swing around the arête riding it like a bucking bronco.  Work up the arête to an overlap (frequently wet and mossy) and scrunch up and traverse right under the overlap.  Climb a slab above you with one bolt to the anchors on the right. Be careful of rope drag as this is a circuitous route and a full rope length. 

  P2:  Seldom done.  Not worth doing. 

  Descent: Rap the route with two ropes to ground or with one rope to the treed corner where there is/was a sling and rap rings.

Climb up face/slab to the first bolt, 15' up, and continue up steepening face past 4 more bolts aiming for a 15' exit crack.  Clip last bolt and head for the base of the crack, crux.  Gain the crack to not much relief, pull the bulge and finish up the cruiser corner to the trees or the bolted belay on Crescent direct finish.

[Note: Name changed from "Unknown Left" when the correct name was sent by Jon Sykes June 2016 and confirmed by Uwe Schneider in Jan 2018. Rating left unchanged, although Wwe gave it a "5.8+"  R.Hall 6-6-16  While all the protection is via bolts, it isn't really a "sport" climb in character.  Also, IMO, I'm not sure about the absolute ratings, but I think "Touch of Grey" is more difficult than "Caveat", like 5.9+ vs 5.8+/5.9- ]  

High first bolt at 20+ feet (5.7).  Easier moves lead to a good stance, and a few sequences of higher difficulty.  Another thin crux before the lip will get you to the bolt anchor at your left on the slab.

As you finish up the final hand crack of crescent you'll see 3 bolt on a very steep if short slab.  Protect high in the crack with a long sling and move onto the slab and clip the first bolt.  The crux is getting to and clipping the second bolt, from here move right and then trend back left to the third bolt 10' above the second.  Double bolt anchors.

Seems to be a few cruxes, all varying depending who you talk to. For me the main crux is climbing the corner. Although not super challenging for the grade, it has a little pucker factor if you tackle it incorrectly. Either way it protects well. Exit the corner and climb another scooping corner to some flakes (Upper corner takes small gear).

Start at the two bolt anchor of P.1 of Caveat Emptor. Climb straight up the well protected, coarse, immaculate, and steepening wall on small crimps and one finger pockets. Crux is passing the 3rd and 4th bolts to a mantle and a rest. Continue on easier rock passing another bolt.

The cliff's trail flattens out below Wasabe Groove, distinguishable by a bolt on the right face of its crux corner. Raven Ridge starts down the trail from this and begins at a groove below the first bolt.  Walk the groove up (or mantle?) to get established on the slab and make your first clip.  Follow the scoop of the slab up past a few more bolts to gain a nice ledge midway up the route. The slab eases up (and is a run out) up and follows a large left facing corner (potential small pro?) until the next bolt.  Make a fun move over the corner out right and continue up to an anchor w/ carabiners. 

  A 60m rope will lower you into Wasabe Groove's corner where you'll probably need to scramble to get back to your pack. TIE KNOTS AT THE ROPE END

  It looks like a second pitch could possibly lead up from here.  The anchors give a nice view of the upper part of the cliff out left.

Jon Skyes' "The Notches" (eaglecliffpub.com) names this climb "Oscar Mayer" and credits the FA to Uwe Schneider. (It is called "Cresent" in NEClimbs.com.) Uwe wrote and indicated he named the climb "Oscar Meyer Weiner" in 1986, but subsequently that name was used in 2012 by Mike Lee & J. Sykes for a climb on the far right of the slab, so to avoid confusion I named this climb just "Oscar Meyer". RHall note added 3/28/17, revised 1/14/18A nice climb up a right facing corner crack, that leads to a bolt and then some nice balancy moves up to a really cool ledge. Finish up the left slanting exit crack to the trees.The descent takes an 80m rope if you are being lowered back to the beginning of the climb. Otherwise, you can do two raps to get down, rethreading through the anchors at the top of Caveat Emptor (the bolted slab 5.9 to the right). 

Powerful unclinging out the initial arch, up and over the top of it to easier ground.  Clip a bolt then climb up on steepening ground to get to the 25' exit crack.  This crack is very grainy and sharp, but takes gear fine.

This route was established by Uwe Schneider and Jeff Swayze during their first year with the Eastern Mountain Sports Climbing School, 1988. They named the route Crescent Cracks and gave it a grade of 5.7 (Communication from Uwe Schneider. I have thus renamed the route "Crescent Cracks"-  R Hall Jan 2018  The Skyes' guidebook lists the climb just as "Crescent") 

  This may have been the cause of the Oscar Mayer / Crescent name mix up? I've added this route even though I have not climbed it. Looks like it is the same route as was put into mountainproject as "Ben Zen Send". 

  per "The Notches", page 85   

  START- At a left facing arching flake five feet right* of Touch of Grey. Climb this to a right-to-left diagonalling crack, then up a series of crescent cracks to bolted belay. 

 Oscar Mayer/"Crescent" is about 10-15 ft left of Touch of Grey.

Start on clean low angle slab. Clamber up and right to a vegetated left angling crack. Follow up to a ledge with a tree. From here move up more low angle slab, reaching a good stance at the bottom of a left facing corner. Move up and right on to the steeper slab, and work your way to the next tree ledge. From here, angle slightly left through lower angle slab toward a tree with slings and a rap ring atop a sloped kitty litter ledge.

Fun climb along an obvious line moving up a corner crack through a steepening ripple along the left-facing corner. Climb up to a bolt, then exit up the corner to a shallow groove on low angle slab. Slab climb a sparse bolt line until it abruptly ends, then traverse 25 ft directly right across thick lichen (heady) to a 2-bolt anchor. A 70m rope will just get you down. 

  I added this to MP to say that this isn't a good climb for the budding 5.8 leader. Sparse bolts and little to no gear except at the bottom and top of the route. 2nd bolt in particular can't be clipped until after the crux, and a fall could be messy if your belayer isn't perfect. Likewise there's a big cheese grater pendulum at the top if you blow it while traversing the lichen. If you're looking for safe 5.8 on bolts check out Perez Highway instead. PG/PG-13

Step up onto the ledge and climb straight up the beautiful slab past 12 bolts. Make the best of a rest at the 6th bolt before launching into what I consider the crux. There seem to be a few cruxes, but the main business comes in the steep section that you can see from the ground. One 60 meter rope will get you back to the ledge from the bolted anchor. If your rope is a hair short, you may need to make a few steps down.

Climb a steep slab and water groove after climbing either R.S.F.T or French roast variations. After climbing either variation, stand on top of a small ledge. Clip the right bolt and make hard moves into a shallow groove. Good foot work will get you through the tough sections and to a happy slot for your tips. Optional micro cam. Continue to the top via rounded edges to only find yourself stumped as you try to reach the anchor.

R Hall NOTE 3/28/17 - This appears to be the same climb as the climb "Crescent Cracks" listed in J. Skyes' "The Notches". (Not to be confused with " Oscar Mayer".) Note the ending on "three intermittent crescent cracks."

 Nice climbing but the cracks can be seepy after rainy days.    Pitch 1: Start at left facing flake that leads to a left ascending diagonal crack. Traverse 10' on this crack and climb the face above that links three intermittent crescent cracks to the top.

SW face . Semi-secluded but with an easy approach from the Zealand area. About 10 routes put up I believe by Uwe Schneider in the late 80's. Good rock, many bolts; older ones have mostly been replaced. Faces southwest and gets good sun (esp. in afternoon) in late winter (Mar-April).  

  Jon Skyes's "The Notches" (eaglecliffpub.com) contains excellent coverage of this cliff. 37 climbs are listed including many newer routes and variations, excellent photos (esp. of STARTs), and routes not included herein. Be WARNED, I quote from page 83 of "The Notches": " Be prepared for stiff ratings."      I have added FA info and made some corrections to routes here in mountainproject on the basis of that reference.    

  There are two Mt Oscar climbing areas, as shown by the excellent photo by Jamie Cunningham.  The area described herein is the left-side, a.k.a. the "lower" (or perhaps "northern", or even "western") area.  

  The right side was developed by the climbers and guides operating out of the Breton Woods Mt Washington Hotel.  At one time you could purchase, for about $3,  a small, 4-5 page guide at the front desk of the Ski Resort (NOT the Hotel!). This cliff, which is East of the main cliff described herein, is (unfortunately) often referred to as "West" (or "Western") since from the ski area's point of view it is on what they call "West Mountain".  In the summer chairlift rides ($5 per person, as of 2017) are offered. From the top of the chairlift the cliff/slab is about a 15-20 min, mostly downhill, walk. Follow the marked walking trail towards West Mountain, and about 1/2 way there the "Rock Climber's only" path splits off left. It's actually a quite enjoyable slab, excellent for training, bolted belays and many climbs have bolts but a small trad rack is also suggested. A single 60m will usually get you down from bolted belay/rap station to the next, or the ground.  Don't forget to be back before they close the chairlift, or hike back down to your car.     

  As pointed out on Jamie's photo, there's a "middle" area that seems yet(?) to be developed.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Mount Oscar