Point Five Buttress

On the left side of the upper headwall of First Buttress is a prominent tower that has no documented routes, though it undoubtedly has been climbed before (we found a new rappel sling around a flake on top). The tower requires a rappel to escape, dropping you at the foot of the rappels from the standard east ridge descent.

We climbed the right side of the tower's main face in three short pitches, starting in a little alcove about 40 feet left of the upper

Standard Route

. A short, wandering face pitch (5.7?) led to the top of a cool flake/ledge (the far left side of this flake forms the huge roof you can see from Emerald Lake). After a couple of false starts on the left, we started the second pitch from the right side of this flake; you probably could more easily reach this point from the right. A steep finger crack leads to overlaps about 15 feet above the ledge. Climb the crack and the arete/face above with good holds and decent pro to a nice ledge about 100 feet up (5.8+?). The third pitch starts on a steep gray face left of the stance and angles slightly left to finish just right of the big roof band at the top of "Point Five Buttress" (125 feet, 5.6).

Unsurprisingly, there is some moss and loose rock, but this line has very fun climbing on steep, juggy rock. It's probably more interesting and drier than the usual finishes to

Great Dihedral

, plus it reaches a cool summit. It's difficult to say what else has been climbed on "Point Five Buttress," though there are numerous obvious lines to try.

Standard rack.