Pine Tree is somewhat of a nemesis at the grade for many and a favorite to others. Though it is a crack climb, it is not very straightforward, and you might do well to keep an eye out for some foot holds on the face. Lots of jamming and some odd undercling jams will get you to my favorite jug at Cathedral at about halfway. Continue up some much more straightforward climbing to a root that leads to the top. At that point you can decide your ethics on grabbing the root or avoiding it. 

  Pine Tree is highly recommended for its interesting moves and awesome exposed positioning.

Pine Tree Eliminate

Practice Makes Perfect

Endless Summer

Northern Hospitality

Kill Your Television

Tabu

Goofer's Delight

Mystery Crack

Room with a View

Play Misty

Stage Fright

Tourist Treat

Airation

Camber View

Echoes

The Practice Chimney (offwidth)

Creation

Autoclave

Reach the Sky

Camber

Heather

Clean Sweep

A fierce line from ages ago. I seem to remember Rick spending a week on the FA. The crack is hard and sustained with a face climbing boulder crux at half height. Move left to ledge then back right over a bulge to finish (pin).

There aren't many real moderate routes at Cathedral so perhaps after running endless laps on the classics you might want to do some new moderate moves. Maybe you are new to the Cathedral scene and want to drop a top rope and see how you can fair on North Conway granite but don't want to be seen. Practice Makes Perfect is a short, not too classic, route that can serve you both. 

  Climb up the tricky start in the crack and on the face to a pretty good rest. Next, pull through some good jams and on to a few more tricky moves to exit and gain the top. 

  Easy to top rope from the birch tree at the top.

Start up Tourist Treat, but instead of moving left follow the bolt line straight up through the overhanging wall.  After the crux there is a bit of a runout (5.9R) to join with the Tourist Treat crack.  The rest of the route is very well protected.

 This route was cleaned and re-bolted Spring 2018.  

Cathedral's hardest pitch? Northern Hospitality climbs up an elegant and brutal feature on the left side of the Airation Buttress.  

  Start with a V7ish dyno which leads to technical climbing and a crux "elevator sequence," up a cool shallow corner system that switches aspects a number of times. Plus, since it's Cathedral, there's a slightly runout slab to finish.  

  13c? Yeah right.  

This is (in my opinion) a pretty good route.  The moves are somewhat sustained, but it's the protection scares most people away - thus it is not so popular.  The crux section comes about half way up and is both psychological (run out) and physical.  Hitting the small ledge where the route starts is possible depending upon where you fall in the 5.11 section.  The crack has some pocket type features that are cool.  I would suggest practicing this a few times on TR first.  And it's one of the first routes to dry out usually.   

  Great when linked after P1 of Airation.  Or if you're really looking to spice things up you can do Stage Fright first.

Right at the first bolt then a little run out. Very nice rock

The second pitch of this was cleaned in 2016 and offers some of the best 5.5-5.6 climbing on the cliff. You must rap in unless you lead the first pitch which is burly 5.10. Detailed topo and directions here: northeastalpinestart.com/20…

On the far right end of Airation Buttress, to your left as you hike out from the top of Thin Air there is a short cliff with a striking crack angling left to right with an obvious chock stone just of the ground.  

  The strenuous boulder start leads to a dreamy, if a bit short hand crack. Eventually you join up with the top of the Mini off-width and belay from an obvious tree.  

  The crux is absolutely getting past the chock stone. I really enjoyed it once I puzzled it out but on my onsight attempt I injured some ribs groveling in to the little alcove above the stone. Don't make my mistake! Keep your ribs away from that sharp edge.  

  I will be happy to do it regularly now that I know how its done. 

  Does anyone know the actual name of this thing? I cant find it in the book and Rick Wilcox didn't know, and he knows some stuff.

What a horror show nightmare of ethics with this one! I'll let Peter comment if he wants. All I will say is this is a magnificent piece of classic Cathedral steep slabbin' in a great situation.

This route is notoriously hard to protect, not because there are no placements but because it is very hard to fight the barn-door and see the placements.  

  If it is within your ethics...place protection from the ground. Crux lies about 8 feet above ledge (blue Alien to protect crux in small slot out left (invisible)). 

  After crux place #1-#2 in the obvious hand sized crack and mantle the mini ledge follow the super crack system to the top.  Tree anchor.

I have not led this (few have) but it is sooo hard. Jimmy Surettte said, "It's like Genesis without the bolt." 

  Hugh's real statement, a classic pitch with POOR pro.

The last great problem, tried by all and WALKED by Lynn on the ffa. A striking line that unfortunately has a bit a of a painful crux.

Airation is a perfect straightforward finger crack. The crux is dealing with the pain of the sharp fingerlocks. This is a great example of 5.11a fingers. Footwork is key as there are many small feet on the face.  

  Pitch 1: 5.11a follow the picture-perfect, finger crack to a tree with a fixed sling and rings. Most people only do the first pitch. 

  Pitch 2: Follow the lower angled rock to the top.

I'm giving this one a name because the new guide calls it a classic w/o f/a information. 

  Brilliant climbing

From a 2 bolt belay, Move out right and up the steep face.  Pull over onto the slab.  Take a breather and get ready.  Straight up the slab past 3 bolts.  After the the 4th bolt step way out left and up to the 5th bolt.  One more hard move or two and you join the finish of clean sweep.  Finish straight up Clean Sweep.  There are a few pretty heady runouts, for the most part the crux is well protected.  I would suggest toproping this first or at least take a look at what you're getting into.  Awesome bit of hard slab climbing.

It's been a while so feel free to correct me but I didn't see it in the new book and I remember climbing it and finding it to be good practice. 

  Practice your OW technique up this short but sweet climb to a nice top out and a tree to belay from.

Here's one that doesn't get done. The crux is classic Cathedral steep facey/slab with some fixed junk for gear. Excellent situation. Pitch one if pretty serious 10+ RR. Basically the route would be really good with a fix-up. Originally started by Mr Dunn but not finished.    With demise of the original Camber tree, the direct finish on this one would be the way to go. I have tr'd this but not bolted it (1-2 bolts).

The most demanding lead I have done. Even after top roping and a specific slab training program. VERY serious, but you won't die so no X. Really good rock and easily tr'd, which I strongly suggest. We toproped this a LOT before the "headpoint".

In my not so humble opinion, one of the best routes on the Airation Buttress. Superb climbing on perfect rock and a TOTAL CLASSIC when linked with Heather or Airation.

This is one of my favorite climbs I've ever done. So much exposure, an intricate sequence, and good protection (at the crux, anyway) make it practically perfect in every way. Though 5.11b may seem a low grade by modern standards, you will find that you will work for this one both mentally and physically. 

  Pitch 1: From the anchor at the top of the Saigon's, head up and left past a bolt, run it out a little farther left to another bolt clip this with a long runner, and run it out up and right to gain more bolts that are closer together (the runouts at the base are what keeps this route from being a sport climb). It may be 5.8R in parts. 

  An interesting sub-crux will be tricky though finding the crimps and high stepping will get you through. The corner above to the mantel at the anchor is the true crux, and it might take a while to work it out. The falls are safe though a bit airy. 

  Pitch 2: This pitch is commonly known as Reverse Camber. Up the slab (5.10b) past drilled pins, then break left in to a crack that leads to a notch to finish. Build a belay at the top in a hand-size crack.

A real classic that now is quite dirty.Best 5.11 slab on the cliff ? 

  From a two bolt belay move up through an overlap (no pro) to two bolts then up to a third bolt (nice stance) skim left to minimal stance and #4 crux to a small ledge with one final hard move. 

  Classic hard slab climbing with nice whip potential. FIVE days including 3 for cleaning with the wire broom.

This section is perched atop of the Thin Air face. It is the whitish buttress at the very top of the cliff.  

  The best thing about Airation Buttress besides the killer routes is the exposure. You start from a ledge, so right away you are 400ft up so with little commitment you get the maximum experience. The ledge is spacious and tree-covered on the right and gets smaller the farther left it goes. You can access the ledge by parking on the road near the summit (look for a flat rock next to the road). Follow a trail toward the cliff and around to the ledge. You can walk right up to many routes without having to rope up. Airation (5.11a) and Pinetree Eliminate (5.8+) are two classics that are easy to get to. 

  The left-hand routes can be gained by traversing the ledge (rope up for this one) or climb Still in Saigon to Miss Saigon (5.8+). This will put you in the middle of the left side of the ledge just beneath Camber (5.11b), one of the most spectacular routes at Cathedral. Camber is also one of the first routes to dry after rain.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Airation Buttress