Fun hand crack on the east side of Eagle Lake Buttress. Not worth the approach alone, but worth doing the climb if you're already up at the buttress.

Traverse up diagonally from climbers right and enter the crack about 15' high. Crack width is variable from hand to offwidth. Main crack takes 1.5"-3"

Easy walkoff up top, and good protection to set a TR anchor.

Sunburn Hand Crack

Orange Book

Eagle Buttress Traverse

Monkey Business

East Ridge Route

Wind Tree

Orange Sunshine

Crowd Control

Needle Crack

Tom sans Bob

The Escape

A Line

Eagle Route

Awesome finger crack on a small crag beneath the east side of Eagle Lake Buttress. Crux is in the first 8' or so before the route levels out, so place good pro early, as a fall would be rather unpleasant here.

This climbs a prominent, left-facing, orange dihedral, on the right side of the buttress.

Climb 5.7 to a ledge.

Climb to a belay beneath an overhanging section.

Climb cracks and chimneys through the overhangs to The East Ridge.

This is a fun ridge scramble that makes for a nice training session. Follow the obvious ridge NE from the top of Eagle Buttress for ~1 mile. Keep to the ridge for more fun/difficulty, or drop down to either side for class 2 walking at pretty much any point.

There is a notable pillar midway through the traverse. The pillar starts off as a hand crack that takes #3s (and #1s and #2s according to some trip reports). The second half of the pillar is protected with 2 bolts and a pin. Once on top you'll find 2 bolts for rappels, a fair amount of bird poop, and excellent views. (FA: Tim Ball and Tammy Graham, 1999).

Bailing (generally to the left of the ridge) is an easy walk off at most points.

This great route climbs a buttress to the left of "Orange Book".

Start at a big juniper.

Climb crack, chimney and  gully to a belay.

Climb a 5.9 crack up the right-side of  an overhang.

Climb left to a wide crack and past the lip of the overhang and follow a thin crack.

Move left to a small ledge on an arete.

Low angle climbing leads to the "East Ridge".

This is the scenic route, with awesome views of the area.

There are so many variations to this climb.  Darshan's info (see comments section below) is detailed, but confusing and I don't believe he climbed much of the standard route based on his description. Bergbryce's (see comments section below) post better describes the climb.

I'm breaking the climb down in several sections as the route is not sustained, but has several distinct sections.  Because the pitch 2 offwidth may be harder than 5.7 and requires large cams, most will climb the 5.8+ splitter crack.  I would recommend climbers be solid at 5.8.  In my opinion, this climb is sandbagged at 5.7.

Pitch 1

- Start of Route/Base Slab

- There are several starts from left to right:  a dark/dirty small roof, a flared parallel cracks, and a ledgy, easy start.  All these starts should go up to the base of the first steep section with a blocky vertical crack on the left and a arched crack on the right.  You can bypass this section by hiking around to the right.

Vertical Crack/Arched Crack

- option 1:  Climb the vertical crack that widens and ends with blocks to a large platform (5.7).

-option 2:  Climb the left arching crack that joins the vertical crack (5.8 and sustained).

- Belay on this ledge and extend your tie-in to watch/belay your follower.  It looks like you can also walk off/bail at this spot.

Pitch 2

- Orange Face/right slanting crack or juggy face

- option 1:  Climb this right slanting crack on the left (5.7?, I did not climb) or

-option 2:  Climb the juggy face on the right (5.6) then blocks to the base of the double wide cracks or the splitter 5.8+ finger crack.

Steep Cracks Face

-option 1:  The finger crack is very sustained.  When the crack ends you grab a downward facing flake/tooth and make precarious moves to the left to gain the upper portion of the off-width crack, then finish on jugs.

mountainproject.com/photo/1…

-option 2:  The off-width on the left absolutely needs 4 to 5 inch cams.

mountainproject.com/photo/1…

Hard to believe this section is only 5.7 (I climbed up 10 feet and retreated because of no large cams).

-Belay at the top of this section in blocks and extend your tie-in to watch/belay your follower.

Pitch 3

- Right slanting crack to 4th/easy 5th blocks/ramps

-Climb up the right slanting crack and continue up easy blocks and ramps finding the easiest path to the wind tree ledge platform.

-option 1:  From the wind tree ledge climb up to the upper 2nd class platform and hike to the base of the final 30 foot headwall with many options and belay here.

-option 2 - Hike to the end of the wind tree ledge and belay and the base of a corner with cracks/flakes.

Pitch 4

- Short final pitch to summit

- option 1:  Climb up a bulge with cracks and either go up onto a ledge under a wide crack and finish on a juggy flake or climb the wide crack or the slot to the right.

-option 2:  Climb up cracks/flakes to a rising ramp feature with lots of exposure on the left side of the summit block.

mountainproject.com/photo/1…

Finish on an angling crack to the summit.

mountainproject.com/photo/1…

High on the buttress stands a lone, wind-blown juniper. This is the Wind Tree.

This route climbs an obvious left-leaning crack system to the tree.

Third class up to a ledge, 40' off the ground.

Climb to a small ledge where two cracks form a prominent "V". Take the left to a belay ledge.

Climb a steep section, then follow an arch until a vegetated dihedral is almost reached. Move right on knobs to a crack. At it's top climb up and right to the tree.

Traverse right and head up cracks to the summit.

To the right of "Orange Book", are two parallel cracks that begin about 120' above the ground.

Climb the first pitch of "Orange Book" to a ledge beneath the cracks.

Move up and right and climb the left crack to "The East Ridge".

Up to the left of the main face and at the start of the pinnacle ridge are two obvious, right facing corners. This follows the right corner.

Nice crack, with face moves.

Need to be repeated.

Be careful there are still some loose rock around.

Bring a brush to clean the crack if you plan to climb the route.

Not sure of the grade.

This is the corner just left of "Crowd Control".

This climbs a left-leaning crack and corner system in an almost direct line to the summit.

Start to the left of  "Wind Tree", in a broken class 4 area, directly below the summit.

Climb a pitch up past a couple roofs and crack to a belay ledge.

Climb past a roof to a large belay ledge.

A 5.9 wide crack leads to  a small belay ledge.

An easy pitch ends at the summit.

Standard rack.

This route follows the right side of the "V" mentioned in "The Wind Tree" description.

Climb the right crack to a ledge belay.

Another pitch leads to a belay at the top of a groove.

Move left to a chimney, follow this to the East Ridge. Climb that to the top.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Eagle Lake Buttress