Dodgeball

This is a surprisingly good route that goes up a subtle line on the buttress to the left of Kick in the Balls. Because it starts at the base of the buttress, it is longer: about six pitches. The key feature is an aesthetic, left-facing, curvy corner with an alarmingly perched block halfway up.

Start at an easy slab directly below this corner, and climb to a good ledge with a large bush on it. You could probably bypass this pitch with scrambling around to the left, but the climbing here provides a pleasant warmup. Pitch 2 goes up the clean corner above. Use care when passing the perched block. We were all too timid to touch it, so it might be more secure than it looks; however, the costs of being wrong about this are likely to be extreme. Above the block, continue up the corner on perfect hand jams, and belay at a semi-hanging stance when the crack ends (small, finger-size cams). Pitch 3 continues up the improbable face with surprisingly adequate protection in intermittent cracks (more finger-size cams and wires).

Pitch 4 follows easier cracks to a smooth, flared chimney. An odd exit move to the right allows you to avoid the ominous convergence at the top of the chimney. Continue up the water-polished rock to a belay alcove just right of a not-quite-thriving bush. The next pitch starts by climbing back into the crack and going up the smooth, left-arching chimney above the bush. When the arch ends, climb the long, right-facing dihedral, which begins as a hand crack but soon widens to offwidth size. If you have wisely retained a large cam, this upper crack can even be protected. The sixth pitch starts with a few fifth-class moves, but the climbing quickly becomes easier as the angle leans back and the rock becomes more broken. Another hundred or two feet of fourth class take you to the top of the buttress. This is also the spot where Kick in the Balls tops out.

Descent: The obvious descent is to rappel into the gully immediately west of the buttress. Two or three rappels (they can be done with one 60-meter rope) bring you to easy ground. This is a gully you will have visited as part of the approach if you have climbed Kick in the Balls. Scramble down for 50 or so yards until you can exit to skier's left (west), and downclimb easy rock to the notch at the top of the Lotta Balls Wall. Be aware that the last moves to the notch are a traverse straight west on frictiony ledges and NOT down the steep dropoff.

I vaguely recall having once descended to the east from the top of buttress, but my mostly suppressed memories seem to center on a frighteningly loose chimney that I have minimal interest in re-engaging. If you go that way, it becomes more civilized once you reach the wide slabby area. This is descended with some downclimbing and a rappel or two.

Standard rack to number 4 (or bigger cam); extra cams in the finger sizes.