Ranch Hands

Ranch Hands is a good, well-protected, physical climb up the sheer NW aspect of The Hand. The steep, streaked wall this route flirts with is readily visible from the road. The climbing is good throughout, but unfortunately those streaks on the wall are from a massive bird nesting site which can render the end of the second pitch, the start of the third, and the belay between, a bit... ripe. Sadly, the start of the third pitch is otherwise classic climbing, but on the bright side a new variation (called "Ranch Dressing") avoids all of this - the good and the bad - with some reasonably fun, steep face climbing. Expect all-day sun on the first pitch, then shade until afternoon on the rest of the route.Begin at the lefthand edge of the main SW face of The Hand beneath a long hand crack. About 80' up a series of slash-mark cracks lead leftwards from the top of the hand crack; this is a good identifying feature.P1 (5.10, 160'): Scramble into this crack from the left, climb it until it ends, then work left across the slash-marks to a steeper thin crack in a slight concavity. Follow this upwards until the angle abruptly eases and the crack opens to a gully. Continue past a tree and belay above some chockstones where the gully ends in a chimney (or just out left on a ledge on a blunt prow).P2 (5.10+, 120-140'): Climb the loose chimney for a few body lengths, then follow really nice climbing up fingercracks - at one point transitioning right - until reaching a large ramp system. For the Ranch Dressing variation, belay immediately on the end of the ramp (or link into the variation). For the original route, continue along the ledge to its end, navigating a potential minefield of bird poop. Belay below the steep leaning corner/roof system.P3 Original (5.11, 60'): Undercling out the intimidating but fun roof on glassy, poopy feet. As the crack turns vertical, climb more easily to a stance belay at bolts on the right.P3 "Ranch Dressing" (5.11, 80'): From the start of the ramp (before the poop), launch straight up passing approximately 7 bolts and a few difficult sequences of wandering face climbing before a final tricky move back left into the original pitch which is then followed to the same belay stance at bolts on the right.P4 (5.11+, 75'): Climb an amazing finger crack and incut plates to a final giant chickenhead. Clip a bolt and perform a devious stand-up move to get to easier ground. Belay in a bowl near the top of the formation from slung chickenheads and finger-sized cams.To descend: 4th class down to the south about 20' to access a bolted rap anchor. This is hidden just below a large dike. A series of double-rope raps down the SW face will get you down. Keep your eyes peeled for the bolted anchors which are hard to spot from above due to the undulating terrain.Note: The crux move on P4 is pretty funky and there's no cheating to get through it. If you get stuck, it is possible to pendulum hard right to the 5.8 wide-hands crack that is the original final pitch of Parkway. Alternatively, one could avoid these crux shenanigans altogether: From the bolted belay you'll notice a single bolt out right which was added to allow a leftwards traverse from Parkway to access this final hard pitch of Ranch Hands. It may be possible to REVERSE this traverse, rightwards, to access the Parkway wide-hands crack directly, making for what might be a less frustrating finish for Ranch Hands.

Left edge of the main SW aspect of The Hand.

2x tiny to #3 Camalot. 1x #4 Camalot. Stoppers. 2x Ropes.