Excellent, sustained face climbing.  Start in the cracks on the right side of the face.  Place a few pieces of gear and traverse left to the first bolt.  Continue up past three more bolts and several gear placements.  Traverse right at the final bolt to a crack leading to the top of the climb.

Faith, Hope & Jeep

Microskunks with Cholla Coats

Unknown

A long, thrilling, and sustained climb originally lead with no fixed hardware.  Even with cleaning and the addition of several bolts, it is still a great experience for a solid trad leader. 

  Microskunks wanders up discontinuous weaknesses on the north face of Microskunk Tower.  Start by climbing a thin crack on the right side of the face.  The crack leads to series of bolts arching to the left.  The short section of poor rock gives way to a great 2" crack in the middle of the face.  Ascend the crack until it narrows and a bolt appears on your left.  Traverse left at the bolt to an offwidth.  Head up the offwidth until it ends, then move right to a final crack leading to the anchor.

This route ascends the large tower to climber's right of Microskunks with Cholla Coats.  It is one of the original routes in LDE; we have tried to determine who established this route but have to this point been unable to. 

  Pitch 1 (100', 5.9):  Start at the northeast corner of the tower.  Scramble up broken rock to the beginning of a crack system headed up the right side of east face of the tower.  Getting established in the crack system requires some tricky gear and committing moves.  Follow the crack system until it is possible to move right to a two bolt anchor on the north face of the tower. 

  Pitch 2 (80', 5.11-):  Not reccommended due to a lot of friable rock and some shaky pro.  Move up and right from the anchor to a bolt.  Clip the bolt and ascend the thin crack approx 50'.  Clip a second bolt at the end of the crack and move up toward a three-bolt anchor. 

  While the first pitch is actually a lot of fun, the second pitch suffers from poor rock and less-than-perfect gear.  Both anchors are now equipped with quicklinks and carabiners to make descent easier.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Microskunk Area