Trouble Weighs a Ton

Drawn and Quartered

Skywalker

Cost of Admission

Transcendentalism

Copious Stone

Cloud Nine

Pillow Talk

Stone By Stone

Psychedelic Honey

Nestled in the chunky schist on the left side of the cloud buttress lies a ~3 foot wide, vertical, white dike that extends from the the deck to the top of the buttress. Stone By Stone ascends this dike the whole way.From the ground, the route can look intimidating for the grade, but rest assured there are decent holds the whole way. Many choose to keep a left hand in the crack for the first third of the route but movement also flows if you choose to use holds only in/on the white streak. Regardless of how you climb it, it's hard not to smile on your way to the chains.The route is ever so slightly overhanging, so in a light drizzle, it is still climbable. Stone by Stone receives morning and evening shade and direct sun in the afternoon. The crack at the base emanates cold air year round.The name of the route was inspired by Robert M. Thorson's book "Stone By Stone", an interesting read for all rock nerds who grew up in the Northeast.

Drawn and Quartered is an exhilarating, sustained route with a couple good rests in its first half. The beginning sequence is a tough boulder problem. Stickclip the first bolt if not the first two. This has vertical, crimp-intensive climbing with a few slopers thrown in for good measure.

There is info in the free guidebook.Per Jay V: a relatively easy boulder start leads to an interesting scoop with undercling hands and smeary feet. Rest up and head into the midpoint crux of the route that uses crimps, pinches, slopers and some hard to see pockets. The hard work is done but the upper headwall face can feel like quite the quest to navigate.

3 bolts of tricky face climbing is the cost of admission to a fun, moderate crack that breaks through the right side of the Cloud Buttress roof. Too bad it ends halfway up the cliff.

Copious Stone is a unique left trending pointy crack that is a nice little ride. Start is the same as Stone by Stone for the first 15 feet and break leftwards following the crack to rings up top. Watch out for loose blocks left of this route and possibly some chunks in the crack midway. The last bit to the chains is the best climbing on route, wish it went a little longer! This crack and requires some big gear but none of the trickery often associated with big gear climbing. If you need an excuse to buy or borrow that #5 this route could be it...or just traverse over from Stone by Stone chains and set up a toprope.

There is info on this route in the free guidebook. 

Start with the handjam traverse boulder problem directly below Cloud Nine to gain the C9 starting ledge. Then go up and right with sweet face moves past two bolts to the finger crack, and follow the crack to where it meets up with C9. Move up and right to the next set of chains to the right of the Cloud Nine anchors.

Yet another classic on this stacked section of cliff. You know you want to touch that hold! Climb tricky slab up to the first bolt where the wall steepens. A short crack leads to the “psychedelic honey” feature. Compress your way to the top using whatever trickery works for you. Stay in the layback using knee bars until you get to a good rest. Leaving the layback too early lowers the grade a bit. Continue up the arête to the top of the cliff past more interesting movement and a couple of no-hands stances.Tasting this route can be intoxicating. Some have called it the most fun climb at Hanging Mountain.

This gem of a buttress has a dozen or so routes between 5.8 and 5.12+. If you're up for it, there is no reason not to climb everything this section of cliff has to offer. There are sport, trad, and mixed (yellow bolt) routes, including the stellar 5.9 crack climb, Cloud Nine.

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Routes in Cloud Buttress