Pillars of Dickulese

A nice route, but the slab climbing on P1 seemed harder than the climb's rating of 5.6. As for the top of the 2nd pitch (rated 5.3),... well either I TOTALLY "blew" the sequence over the final overlap, or went over it at the wrong "low point...with a crack that accepts cams"!

START- This climb starts at the base of the cliff, not from the tree ledge where Watermelon and Wits End starts. [ See photo of START ] Directly 40-50 ft below the far right end of the tree ledge, look for a bolt above a small overhang in a weak system of right-facing corners.

P1 - Climb past the bolt to the far end of the large tree ledge (optional belay here). Climb the steep, but featured "pillars", to a 2nd bolt, past this ( crux, seemed harder than 5.6 to me!) Then to a flake and trend right [VAR] to a double bolt anchor. 130 ft

P2 - Climb past the one bolt and up clean rock to the moss and the overlap; climb through the overlap "at its lowest point" at a crack / flare "that accepts cams". Placing a cam here reduces the quality of the handhold, but be careful as I think it's MUCH harder than the 5.3 given in the guide. 120-130 ft. (NOTE: the move may "go" 4-5 ft left of the crack itself, DUH!)

VARiation- Alternately, one can continue straight up on the left to the overlap. This probably intercepts the old route "Wits End".

Descent: Rap the route with 2 ropes, or if you have only a single 70m, move approx 50 ft to climber's right to the to rap station of "Birthday Brushings".

The easiest way to find the start is to find the large tree-ledge that comes in from the left about 30ft up; the "pillars" are at the far right end of this ledge, although the climb starts at the ground level. There's a 3/8 SS bolt about 15-20 ft off the ground, at a steep wall/overlap formation. (see photo) The second bolt can not be seen.

Two bolts plus opportunity for cam/nut placements lead to a double-bolt anchor at the end of P1. The top of P2 has a sling on a large pine tree.