Fun mixed route. Climb through monster wind-eroded holds and up a big serpentine crack. Safe climb with plenty of gear and bolts. Lots of steep fun smearing/lay backing moves off big holds. However, some questionable rock and ill-timed lichen patches detract from it a bit.Felt a bit more like 5.7 movement to me than the official 5.8 rating, but the lichen patches and grime push it back somewhat toward 5.8 as your foot can easily blow out while smearing.

No Lawyers Allowed

Probable Cause

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

Enjoy the Journey

Stay of Execution

Alibi

Death Sentence

Deductive Reasoning

Hung Jury

Fact or Friction

Guilty Conscience Direct

Guilty Conscience Original

We're Just Passing Through

Little White Lies

Somewhat contrived but fun route that starts on big flake features, travels through blank slab, and finishes pulling a steep roof move. 

My complements to the first ascender, this is a really fun climb on a not so obvious line.  Starts off on a detached flake. Then up  over a ledge where the climber spins completely around and then up through a section of underclings on oddball features alternating with slabby sections. Then to a memorable airy, athletic crux move on an arête and on to a nice slabby finish on the face.Look around; this  crux move isn't quite as hard as it first appears (and is perfectly protected by the fourth bolt). Probable Cause  packages a lot of memorable moves into 50 -60 feet. Loved it -only problems are some patches of lichen and gritty rock, but nothing too bad.

Climb the thin seam trending up and left past the first bolt, you will be rewarded with amazing steep jug hauling to the top. Shares anchor and last bolt with Hung Jury

This route climbs an arête and the bolt line is on the arête. You can start right below the bolts or solo the detached flake below to give your belayer a better stance. Crux is between the 2nd and 3rd bolts. The first bolt is high, and on the whole, this thing is on the edge of G/PG. Like many routes in the Hall,it has some slightly crumbly rock and lichen patches on it. Movement is awkward and doesn't flow. Kind of forces you out into a chimney/stem box and left of the bolted arête at the crux.  I doubt that was the intent. A fall there while clipping the bolt would be battering. Kind of a bit like Dirty Little Secrets at Chopping Block in terms of the way it forces you offline into a chimney feature.I led it this way and so have the other climbers that I have seen on it. If you are already warmed up, skip it and  move to the far better route to the immediate right- Probable Cause 5.8.

Big moves on big holds. Climb the steep face to gain the upper slab. Shares anchor with Death Sentence.

Longer steep route on the south wall of the Lower Hall. Shares an anchor with No Lawyers Allowed 5.8; the route to the left of Alibi. Alibi starts out slightly overhanging on larger holds, which makes it somewhat unusual for the Needles. Though the rock here isn't sandstone, Alibi has that sort of feel to it. On the bottom part,  I felt like I was climbing at HCR not Rushmore. Crux move is a committing high step off a little "rest ledge" with sloper holds for the hands. The climbing on the lower section is really good-- powerful and flowing, but once the angle lessons, the climbing quality also deteriorates. The top offers a choice between an oddly tilted slab/arête and a tight chimney. Quite contrived and a bit confusing. Most climbers will probably start to the right, in the chimney, and then cross over to the slab- but it could work the other way as well. You could also stay left or right nearly the whole way, but you would have to leave the right hand chimney (not pleasant anyway) to tackle the final awkward bulge that guards the  anchors (which is easier if you go , you guessed it, back right!). Think that I remember that bulge being a little on the spicey side (could have used another bolt maybe), though this is a well-protected route by Rushmore standards on the whole. This is one of those routes that "could have been a contender" for classic status but doesn't add up to that level in the end. Still easily worth doing.

Short and punchy, climb the steep face into a short crack to gain the upper slab.

The king line in the Hall of Truth!! Punch through the thin crux on the vertical face down low and pull through some bulges to gain the upper slab.

This is a steep slab. Work your way cautiously up to bolt one through a dark schist band. Then, deal with a horizontal at bolt 2 that isn't as bad as it looks from the ground. Exit schist to the thin granite slab. Crystals are there, but are weirdly oriented and awkward to use. Traverse right, then traverse back left and angle left up a thin seam. When that begins to peter out, look for a darker gray incut (a bit hard to spot) up and a bit back right. It is a big move, but that hold is a surprisingly good crimp. Finish route easily from there. As the name suggests, lots of smearing on this one. A bit sequential, awkward and annoying even for a slab lover like me.

Guilty Conscience Original starts on the right-angling ramp. The direct start goes straight up the face. Follow the bolt line and join Guilty Conscience at the 4th bolt. Gain the arete and climb the friction slab to the summit. 

  This route variation is not in Busse and Burr, but we ran into Mark Strege while climbing here and he told us about this cool variation.

Starts out on a right-angling ramp/crack system, and then on up to to gain the right hand arête.Then the sustained slabby friction right hand arête takes you all the way to the chain anchors. Face is pretty low angle but really blank, so lots of balancy smearing. Climbing is steady variations of the same moves-not varied at all. This is not the preferred start; do the direct start instead (only marginally harder). Much better rock quality.

Start by laybacking the flake to the ledge. The crux is pulling the bulge at the last bolt. Smearing is a must when pulling the crux.

Start in black schist. Scramble up to a two-handed MONSTER jug that begins the route in a bit of an athletic fashion. Then move thoughtfully through moves up to bolt 3. You will now be on a VERY blank-looking granite slab. There are some decent footholds, but the handholds are very sketchy (and that is putting it generously). Top has tricky beta. The crux seemed to be a very cryptic sequence around bolt 4, but the top is hard period. Make, single-mindedly, for a tiny diagnoling flake (not great but way better than what has been there in the crux section), and use that to finish out the route -pretty desperate through the last two bolts on the whole. Does ease a bit as you get higher on the flake, which angles away a bit to the left as you finish right. If you stay on the bolt line and don't traverse into the Guilty Conscience routes, I would say that this  route is in the 10+ range. It is only rated 9+ in Burr and Busse. I am going with the 10+ rating here, for now.  I don't propose a re-grade lightly and will be guided by what others think. I will alter the posted rating accordingly.

Narrow, shady descending gully that is divided into the wider and sunnier Upper Hall and the lower, narrower, and shadier Lower Hall.  Several routes are also located behind the North Wall of the Lower Hall in a sunnier more open area called the Outer Hall.This area is pretty unique at Rushmore and has a certain engaging quality to it. Moving between the halls requires some 4th class chimney moves.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Hall Of Truth Corridor