Mountaineer's Route

Mountaineer's Route ascends the prominant gully separating the two summits of Shirttail. After scrambling up the loose talus gully between Rincon and West Ridge, you'll arrive at a rotten red ledge that runs along the base of the low angle slabs that make up the bottom of Shirttail. Here you'll see a huge pine tree which sits in the gully, 200 feet up from the ledge. Mountaineer's Route starts about 20 feet up and right from this ledge. Just look for the easiest way to reach the obvious gully.

P1: Cruise up and left on slabs and cracks to reach the gully, and continue up to belay at the huge pine tree.

or do what we did: From the top of the talus approach gully, go left along the broken red ledge for about 15 feet. P1: Start in a short, obtuse right-facing dihedral, passing three trees in the first 15 feet. Run it out over easy slabs for 40 feet up to an upward-pointing triangle flake, finally placing gear, then make some tricky (5.7) moves. Now in the obvious gully, continue up to the huge pine tree and belay - 185 feet.

P2: This is obvious. Start in a deep V-slot and make some interesting chimney moves. Continue up the dirty gully for 100 feet (might want a broom) thrashing through some trees along the way. Go right around the overhang/roof and belay at the top of the gully in the ridge crest - 195 feet.

P3: Go north along the sharp ridge/arete to the flat summit. There is some exciting exposure as you look down the expansive southwest face! - 40 feet.

This route can easily be broken into 4 pitches with a 50m rope, but a 60m will get you there in style.

2 stars for the climbing, but three for the unbeatable summit!

Standard rack to #4 Friend. Bring a couple extra 24in runners for slinging trees.