Bitty Buttress Review

Bitty Buttress

Good Monday afternoon! After a little bit of a writing hiatus, I am returning with a quick review of an excellent multipitch outing in Boulder Canyon. First though, I would like to introduce and good friend and new contributor to the site; Hans Webster.

Hans is great climber and even better partner and friend. We were introduced to each other through mutual friends and became well acquainted this summer on a Mount Rainier summit expedition. Whether it be climbing iconic big wall routes like the Diamond, or finding obscure hand cracks near his home in Colorado Springs, Hans is always on a climbing adventure. Always carrying a positive and can-do attitude; I’m excited for you all to hear about his past, present, and future adventures. I’m always enthralled to hear about them, and cannot wait for the opportunity to rope up with him again as soon as possible

With the introduction formalities out of the way, last Sunday Hans and I climbed a beautiful 3-pitch route in Boulder Canyon, Colorado. Half face, half crack, all granite, and 110% fun; Bitty Buttress is a great half day outing on high-quality rock with climbing styles to appease all senders.

Quick Stats:

• Location: Boulder Canyon
• Crag: Bitty Buttress
• Rating: 5.9-
• Height: around 350 ft
• Pitches: 3
• Gear Recommendation: Rack through #3 Camelot. 8 alpine draws
• Bolted Anchors: None, gear anchors
• Rappels: None, walk off
• Link: Bitty Buttress

Climb Review

Bitty Buttress is ironically located on Bitty Buttress. A south-facing route; the rock sees sun from early morning to late afternoon, making for a good winter climb or evening send in the summer. As mentioned in the introduction, the route climbs half crack and half face and at times the climbing seems a little like sport climbing without any bolts. While generally well-protected; moves in the first 20 feet and past the crux on pitch three can be challenging or impossible to protect with gear. I recommend being comfortable at the 5.9 trad grade before attempting this route; or having a more competent leader take the sharp end on the first and third pitch.

There is no fixed gear anywhere on the route. All belays are gear belays on excellent ledges with great crack systems and one descends the climb via walk-off. Approaching Bitty Buttress can be a bit confusing at first. Approach as for Blob Rock and follow a faint climber’s trail to the right. Until reaching the buttress. A dead tree and some chalk are indicators for the start of the route.

Pitch 1: Pitch one starts out with an absolute bang! Friction moves through crimps and finger cracks right off the ground. Fun face climbing, with thin cracks to eat gear, a dihedral with great thin jams and stemming, and a slab finish onto a great belay ledge with an overhang looming above. With my albeit limited climbing experience; this is one of my favorite pitches to date! 4 out of 4

Pitch 2: The standard start to pitch 2 is off a belay on the right side of the ledge and one clambers over the overhang via a crack system on the far right of the ledge. Due to building the gear anchor further left, we utilized a different crack (where the anchor should have been) to pull the overhang. I cannot speak to the moves for the intended overhang supposed to a 5.8 move; but from where we pulled it, the crack was around the of a number three Camelot resulting in me using a cupped hand and crimp to get my feet established in the crack system. I ascertained it to be an awkward 5.9- move. The rest of the pitch follows fun sequences of dihedrals and liebacking with fantastic protection. Twenty or so feet below the next belay ledge, there is an orange lichen covered dihedral or right-facing crack to access the ledge. The dihedral is the original route’s path and goes at 5.6 but we took the lieback crack. It had fun moves with solid gear and felt around 5.7+ to 5.8. 3 out of 4

Pitch 3: The money pitch! Or at least the money move. Off of the belay, plug a small piece of gear and work up a finger crack. An overlap is up 20 feet; a disappearing finger crack beneath and a jug far out left. Work of the finger crack with left hand in the crack and right hand on a crimp on the overlap. With a .75 cam placed at ankle height, make a committing reach for the jug and work your feet up. With the crux out of the way, good holds appear until reaching the ledge above. A fall after sticking the crux move would be safe as the .75 cam is bomber but do be advised it would be a lonnnnnnngggg one. 3 out of 4 with a 4 out of 4 crux move.

From here; the top of the buttress, head to the skier’s right, following the path of least resistance to descend. We may have gotten slightly off route as there were a few sections of 4^th class and the route description claimed there to be an easy third-class descent. After the descent, head on over to Blob Rock for some more fun climbing or across the street and river to check out the excellent cracks seen on Cob Rock from Bitty Buttress

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On the climber rating scale of “Avoid” to 4, I give Bitty Buttress a solid 4 out of 4. Exceedingly fun climbing on great rock with no crowd. This route is one of my favorites at the grade, and I recommend you check it out if you climb comfortably at the grade!

Personal Review: 4/4 stars

Adam’s Warnings

As mentioned above, while much of the route can be well-protected, moves off the deck and at the crux of the route are committing with some sort of lack of pro. A fall in the first twenty feet would could be bad news for ankles and a fall once past the crux would be long but safe if no ledge was hit. As there is no fixed gear on the route, ensure you have proper gear placing and anchor building skills down; as well being prepared to hike off of the top. (aka bring other shoes!)

Boulder Canyon is an excellent climbing destination. With an even mix of trad and sport, single and multi-pitch, sometimes right next to each other, all on excellent granite rock, the canyon offers something for climbers of all interests and skills.

Adam