The Escape

The Escape is less a route in its own right, it is more an alternate "escape" from going up the "descent" gully after completing a route on the Comic Relief buttress.

After squeezing through the hole, look up and notice the obvious ridge that leads to the canyon rim. This is the route.

To start either climb the mossy slab up and behind the bottom of the rappel or scramble up the dirty gully 100 feet, and traverse out on a ledge. Go up and gain a knife edge ridge that drops away onto the opposite side of North Chasm View. Cool exposure!

Scramble left to an obvious ledge at the base of the ridge proper.

Climb up the ridge to a fixed rappel/ belay station near a HUGE chockstone.

Continue climbing the ridge, you will weave back and forth around several gendarmes. Rarely will you be on the ridge line proper. Belay at the "top" of the ridge right before it drops into a notch.

Climb down into the notch and around the right side of a gendarme. Climb up the peg crack on the final head wall and belay on the rim.

Follow a slight trail left a short distance until it leads to a more worn trail...then go right.

It's about 5 minutes to the campground from the top of the climbing.

The rack you brought up any of the routes will work fine.