This overlooked classic was the first route that went up on this formation and it is just plain fun!   The crux is probably turning the corner at the squeeze, no worries the gear is good.    New traditional leaders need to get on this route.

Squeeze to Please

Flesh for Lulu

Air Force 2.0

Kate

Executive Branch

Air Force One

Just Say No

Get your mind right for this one. Ron recently climbed this route again after MANY years and told me “that thing is kind of  Spicy! Dang I was pretty bold back in the day!”

Get your hard hat and gloves on for this one! Definitely Blue Collar !   Scramble up and left through some easy terrain to gain a large flake. From here head up the dihedral through an overhanging V-slot to anchors.

Flight over booked? Jump on a different one. Climb the original hand /finger crack but instead of clipping the bolt on the left, sling your last pieces and cast off to the crack on the right. After finding the sweet spot you can slot a good stopper and clip one bolt over the lip, you have now entered the Heartbreak crux! 

Scramble up some talus then face climb to a small pine tree which hides a nice vertical crack. Climb vertical line to where it meets a ledge (Crux), from here go left through the overhanging V-slot to anchors.

The route goes up the northeast face of Oval Office, to the right of a plant -filled steep gully. After a few hard opening moves and several horizontal breaks, the climb finishes up a nice face. We found a way to do a NSR to get down, leaving no gear behind.

Andrew and I were climbing the routes on the Oval Office to document them for his guidebook when we stumbled across this gem. We couldn’t believe it had not been done, so the next day we put it up. Of course that was in July , I was just breaking into the 5.11 realm on granite and being west facing, trying to redpoint this guy was very challenging! I got a lot of Frequent Flyers Miles under my belt on this one!    If your in the Office definitely get your boarding pass and jump on!

This  beautiful granite formation is a stones throw across Hwy 244 west of the Mount Rushmore Memorial parking area.  Development in this area started in 1984 and as of today there are only trad and mixed climbing. Most of the routes are on the north face so shade all day. A few test pieces face west so keep that in mind when jumping on them.

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Protection

Routes in The Oval Office