The easiest route up the Cheeks formation and featuring an interesting range of climbing, including passing through a chimney.

The first pitch is short, but steep, with the crux (~10a) being awkward hand jamming over a bulge. Despite the appearance at the bottom, you do not chimney here -- the start has a layback flake on the left side of the chimney. Ends just below the chimney, or continue by linking it with P2.

Pitch two goes through the chimney (that is "through", not just up -- you kind of vanish inside of it). When you exit above the chimney, follow the fist-wide hands crack (crux) to a ledge in a corner system.

For pitch three, follow the corner to the top.

Descend either by rappel via the gully between the cheeks and the Upper Town Wall, or use the recently installed anchors on God's Bones. If you do the latter, remember to swing into the rock at the end, otherwise you'll be left dangling.

Heaven's Rear-Entry Vehicle, Parked Out Back, Tow Away Zone

Albinestone

Between the Cheeks

Apes and Ballerinas

The Perverse Traverse

Normandy

A Wisdom that is Woe

Soulfinger

Crack in the Cosmic Egg

Up'er Zipper

Dead Reckoning (aka the Terry-Michaels route)

Multiple cruxes requiring a variety of skills. This route overhangs 20' feet over 90' and stays dry even in a steady rain once it has stopped seeping after the winter months.Fun climbing on clean rock with incredible exposure. Use a 70-m rope and be careful while lowering off.

Pull off the ground on slightly gritty rock.  After a few moves, the rock quality improves and becomes some of the whitest at Index.  Several stem and balance cruxes guard the chains. A crux for shorter climbers comes lower and a crux for taller climbers comes higher on the route.

Climbs the left wall of a large chimney. The crux is near the middle.

If the bottom is wet, consider aiding past to get to very enjoyable sport climbing above.

P1: Climb a fist crack in a corner. The crux is a blocky overhanging section. Belay on a ledge on the right side.

P2: Climb up and right, then follow a left-leaning thin crack through a knobby wall.

At one time this crossing (from the Black Sea to the Beach) was mocked by calling it a 5.5 belly crawl. Now it is a clean 5.2 A0 or 5.8+. Perhaps not yet celebrated, but definitely a lot more fun. Try doing it without grabbing the wire or bolt hangers and see how hard you think it is.

A hard boulder problem guards an intricate, technical lieback, arete, overlap on perfect, clean rock.

P1 Start of the Terry-Micheals up to the obvious horizontal that takes you to a short roof crack. Pull a couple tricky moves to get established above the roof then enjoy the splitter tips to hands. .12b

P2. Climb the crack off the belay up and right to a left facing corner that you layback to a areteish feature, eventually arriving to a finger layback that leads to anchor. Up 20ft is a block that I could not trundle with just a hammer. It's likely solid. .10d

I never cleaned the top of p1 and spent very little time cleaning p2. Its climbable but a little grainy due to being so steep. The crux is very clean. This climb is mega and its position is some of the proudest at Index. Make sure to redirect when rappelling p2 to top of p1 or you'll be stuck in space.

Thuggy 5.11 leads to a sit down rest below an amazing steep finger tips layback through beautiful white rock. Entirely bolted. One could climb the crack with cams but the expanding appearance and corresponding fracture line leave little confidence that the entire enchilada wound't calve with enough leverage. This route originally ended at the 8th bolt--and provides an opportunity to lower off before the moves get even harder.  Likely to have fixed draws in place.

Amazing pure splitter crack climbing after the first pitch of flakes and bolts. Generally follows the upper 3 pitches of the Zipper aid line.

P1: Some semi-strenuous laybacking at the start gives way to fun knobs and flakes, finishing up at a small overlap with a hanging belay (chained anchor). About 10c/d.

P2: A crack starts up from the overlap. The first few jams are wide fists, but then the crack becomes thinner, ranging between fingers and hands. Pumpy. The crack continues into a shallow right-facing corner and then meets another overlap with some thin jams. By itself, this is 11a/b.  Can be combined with P1 as one long pitch, it is probably 11b.

P3: Follow the same crack line. Climb a steep rib and stem in a short corner. This short pitch is about 10a. Ends at a luscious belay cove.

P4: Take the bolted face on the right to the summit. Has some interesting moves to an amazing lofty summit ledge at the top of the cheeks.  about 10a.

Decent

If rappeling from the summit: Two raps straight down(stations added 9/4/16).

Note: The first rap is a rope stretcher.  If using a 60m rope be very careful.  Tie knots!

Alternatively, if using a shorter rope, the descent can be broken into three rappels, stopping first at the top of pitch three.

If rappeling from the top of the second pitch: Two short raps straight down(station added 9/4/16)

Amazing.

Steep.

Clean and FUN.

P1 is 11b/c

P2 is 11d

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in The Beach