3 Pitches of fun climbing.

-Pitch one starts in a short wide crack/chimney, then easy 3rd class leads to a slab with one bolt before a straight-in crack.

-Pitch two starts with slab moves protected by 2 bolts, followed by some under-clinging cracks, next comes more slab protected by 2 more bolts, this pitch is finished by a wide easy crack

-Pitch three starts with a high reach to the first bolt, followed by a left arching crack/ under-cling which you move out into one of two wide crack/flares. Head up towards a mini roof protected by a bolt, finish up this slab protected by one more bolt

Rappel route three times with double ropes

Racing Lizards

Pretty New Anchor

Deal Breaker

Slow Ride

Lizard Gizzards

Silver Streak

Anger Management

The Big Deal

Rattlesnake Errands

Slab-O-Rama

Tumbleweed Tales

PBR Street Gang

Serious But Not Desperate

The Toe

The Raw Deal

The Negotiator

Fire Sale

The High Life

Polish Direct

Same As It Never Was

Wanted Man

John Fischer Memorial Route

Your Mother Was a Hamster

Go Left Old Man

Breaking & Entering

PSOM Pinnacle

Too Many Rules

Five Finger Discount

Digi

Lawbreaker

Controversial Insert

Slip and Slide

Just up the hill from the slab that has 'Digi' but before 'Racing Lizards' is a prominent, 20-30' wide buttress that is flanked by 3rd/4th class gullies on both sides.

'Rattlesnake Errands' takes 2 pitches of slab climbing up the center of the buttress.

P1 - there are three distinct starting variations (see topo pic):

1.) Original (main) start (10a) - after the first bolt continue straight up the slab to the second bolt.

2.) Right start (easy 5th after the initial moves to the first bolt) - after clipping the first bolt continue right and up via big holds in the trough.

3.) Left start (5.8) - after clipping the second bolt move out left to a horn, then go up and right toward the 3rd bolt.

After passing the 3rd bolt go up the slab to the right of the crack past 2 more bolts.  Cross the crack (optional sm. TCU/Alien), then go left and up via 3 more bolts (5.8) to the P1 anchor.

P2 - from the P1 anchor go slightly left, then up to a bolt.  Continue toward a small orange patch (finger pocket), then go up past a short steeper section (10a) and 3 bolts to a great in-cut rail/stance and horn.  Continue slightly right and up to the level of the next bolt, then go left out on the face to a black knob.  Follow the slab (5.10b) past four more bolts to an orange colored protrusion.  Easier ground past one more bolt leads to the P2 anchor.

This route is similar in character to 'Silver Streak' - technically maybe a tad easier, but much more sustained on the 2nd pitch.

This route starts on the slab immediately right and below the start of Digi.  Follow 2 bolts (1st crux around 2nd bolt, height dependent) to a short groove (gear) and a couple more bolts above.  Continue up on easier ground, crossing 'Your Mother was a Hamster' - finish on the slab above with the three right hand bolts (2nd crux).  Fun route with a bit of variety.  It's easy to get this mixed up with 'Your Mother was a Hamster' on top.  WATCH rope ends on lower/rap!

Start to the right of High Life.  Clip a bolt and make a few moves up and left past the horizontal seam. Climb past four more bolts on smearing and typical PSOM edges.  The bolts on the easier climbing are a little bit spaced.

Climb a low angle finger crack to where it ends at some chossy flakes. Step up and right to clip a bolt. Face climb past a second bolt, then traverse back left into another finger crack. Follow this crack system, which widens to hand size, and lower off the anchor at the top of Lizard Gizzards.

PSOM Gizzards is a newer route on the PSOM Slab.  It still could use some cleaning so be cautious of "potato chip" holds, but follows generally fun and well protected slab climbing up past 10 bolts to mussy hooks.

A very fun route with solid rock quality and a tricky crux, a definite must-do for those who like slab climbing.

From the top anchor of Silver Streak continue straight up to an undercling/lieback flake.  Climb past the point where the flake thins out (10d/11a) to gain the slab.  Continue up to the anchors.

P1 -From 2 bolt anchor atop The High Life, follow a slabby, right trending crack for 40 meters. Where crack peters out, step left into seams protected with small to med nuts lead to 2 bolt anchor. 5.7. Gear: Nuts, doubles of small to med cams, single #1-#4 Camalot.

P2- Can be broken into 2 shorter pitches or 1, 60 m pitch. From the belay stem up seams (5.8, gear and a bolt). Step right to a bolted slab move, then up left facing flake, pull over this to the right to a bolt and optional 2 bolt anchor. Move up easy but hollow flakes to a left facing corner that climbs over 2 roofs to 2 bolt anchor on left. 5.8, gear to 3.

P3- Move right into low angle fist crack, to a ledge. Follow left arching flake protected by small cams. Near top of arch step right and follow 4 bolts (5.9) to left leaning lieback protected by gear to 2 bolt anchor. 20 m.

Rappel route with 1  70m rope or 2 60m. The fourth rappel uses a 2 bolt anchor 30m below the P1 anchor.

Start in the pod, then go up and slightly left to a thin, sloping stance.  Pass the prominent orange spot, continue up a shallow groove toward the roof.  Pass the roof on the right side (big holds), then angle up and left through the crux section (sustained steep slab/thin face for the next four bolts).  Surmount the roof in the middle (5.7+), then head slightly left and up to a good ledge and mussy anchor.

This is a full 200'+ pitch!  12 bolts, optional (recommended) thin gear (green/gray aliens) for 2nd horizontal/shallow crack on upper slab.  A bit longer and much more sustained than Silver Streak.  Fairly tightly bolted at the crux sections, but a bit R on easier terrain.

70m rope and descend via rappel to anchor for 'Too Many Rules.'

This route features excellent slab/thin face climbing on small edges and smears in a range of difficulties. Since the easier pitches are lower and the harder pitches are higher it is possible to climb just a few pitches or the whole climb. The P6 roof appears easy, but is actually quite burly and really out of character with the rest of the climb. Most climbers will probably stick with the first five pitches, which lowers the grade significantly.

P1 (5.7 PG-13/R) - Climb the first four bolts of Controversial Insert, then head up straight in a corner/flaring groove. Continue to the bottom anchor of Silver Streak. This is a full 70m pitch, the 2nd should be tied in and ready to go. While the crux is fairly well protected (small gear in flake to left of flaring groove) the easier terrain is a bit runout. Watch rope drag! 4 bolts, gear, 70m

Note:

1.) This is

NOT

a good pitch for beginning leaders.

2.)

The route rappel on a single 70m rope does NOT come back down this way!

See rappel description below!

P2 (5.9 PG-13) - Climb the first six bolts of Silver Streak, then climb toward the 7th bolt (

If

your 2nd is not strong on solid 5.9 slab

you may want to

clip the 7th bolt on Silver Streak with a sling before heading right.  Note that this will slightly increase rope drag for the leader, but much better protect the initial moves after the 6th bolt for the 2nd).  Upon encountering a rust streak (just below 7th bolt of Silver Streak) and easier terrain continue toward the right on an improbable ramp, then slab climb up and right past three bolts to an anchor in an alcove (just left of the 3rd pitch start on JFMB). 9 bolts, 38m

P3 (5.10a/b) - Continue up the face on small edges and smears along/just right of the bolts. Pass the easy lip to the anchor. 7 bolts, 27m

P4 (5.10a) - Follow bolts up the face on small edges and smears to a hidden alcove and anchor. This pitch is very similar to P3, maybe a tad easier.  10 bolts, 33m

P5 (5.10c) - Climb toward a small roof/lieback flake (5.9) from the left side of the alcove, then continue up the face to a tightly bolted crux (10c) section and the anchor. The crux may be a bit height dependent. Most climbers will probably stop here and rappel. Note rappel instructions below! 9 bolts, 26m

P6 (5.11b or 5.10A0) - Move up over easier ground (small gear) to a bolt below the roof. Surmount the burly roof (bolt, permadraw, and optional gear to 2") and continue up past a shallow groove (.75") and another bolt to the anchor. It is possible to A0 the roof with the permadraw.  While this is easier than doing the roof clean, it still requires a couple of jams in the 5.10 range.  Tape or gloves are recommended.  3 bolts, permadraw, gear, 34m

Climb 6 pitches of really good granite.

P1- climb the water worn groove on the far right side of PSOM Slab to a ledge. *OR* Climb the better looking pitch to the left (The High Life) up cracks and an undercling section to three bolts and anchors. (5.9)

P2- Move right and climb the seam to anchors. *OR*

P3- Continue in the seam to the next anchors under the roof system.

P4- Climb through the roof (crux)with hand jams and then clip a bolt and go left under the roof and then up to anchors.

P5- Climb the flaring chimney/corner. Good rock and adequate protection.The anchors are out on the face to the left *OR*

P6- Skip this anchor and go straight to a ledge and then up and left to the last anchors.

6 raps with one 70 M rope. Watch the ends as a few are rope stretchers.

Don motorcycle pants or leather lederhosen, and climb runout slab, clipping the few bolts interspersed between grainy, flaky granite. One bolt after the anchor on P-2 gets you (hopefully) into a wonderful right-facing corner which leads to the top of PSOM Pinnacle. Double rope raps lead down over the carnage of skin.

In the Pine Creek Climbing Guide they indicate this route goes anywhere from 5.6 to 5.9, depending on the line.  I managed to pick a line that kept the bottom 2/3 of the climb in the 5.6 range, although a bit run-out.

When reaching the ledge there's a stack of sizable rocks that are loose.  I climbed right of them on unprotected jugs to attain the ledge.  Once on the ledge the left line appeared run-out (ledge fall potential), although possibly 5.6 to 5.7 in difficulty.  Beware of loose rock on this left line.

The corner to the right, although short (maybe 20 feet), had a couple stout layback moves.  This is likely the line the guide describes as 5.9, although it didn't feel that difficult.  It helps getting your first piece high in this corner to avoid having the rope pull across the previously noted loose blocks at the lip of the ledge.

The stacked blocks above the corner are not confidence inspiring if you tap on them.  You don't have much choice in using them if you want to reach the anchors.

Rappel is straight down from the anchors (following gravity).  We used a 70m, and there wasn't a lot of rope left so I assume a 60m wouldn't quite reach.

If we set aside the occasional loose rock and run-out, the climbing is fun.  A good trundling session would easily yield this a few stars for quality.

From the high life start, climb up to a small ledge this is the start of the route.

Pitch 1 5.7 100ft, 2 bolts small gear, climb up a slab clip a bolt, follow the flake, over a small roof, scurry up to a big ledge. Belay with a gear anchor in the corner, that takes two 2" cams.

Pitch 2 5.8 110ft 1 bolt, follow the crack strait up bust left to the anchors on a small but good stance.

Pitch 3 5.8  120ft, 3 bolts gear to 2", continue up the crack over a fun roof, pass the anchors over the roof and continue up a series of dirty ledges to a comfy ledge to 2 mussy hooks. (if you want a mega fun pitch link pitch 2 & 3 but stop and belay at the anchors just over the roof on pitch 3, highly recommended!)

Pitch 4 5.9 100ft, 2 bolts optional gear to 4", from the big dirty ledge go left over a series of steps and clip a bolt, continue strait up through a fun bulging crack, climb through a chimney and bust right to the anchors.

This slab route starts on the upper tier ledge and is the first route right of the Big Deal. It climbs the next set of seams/grooves/shallow corners right of the Big Deal.  The rock is a little flakey past the first 4 bolts, then steadily improves and ends up being quality stone, particularly in the grooves/seams that make up a good share of the pitch. The stemming and face climbing in the seams is quite good.

The 7th bolt is a doubled bolt station that was originally put in by the Big Deal team as an intermediate rapp station for that route.  The route can be done as one long pitch (60+ meters), although if desired the intermediate station can be used to break it into two shorter pitches.

Another option for finishing the pitch is to join the Big Deal at the P2 flake and continue to it's intermediate anchor located mid P2.  This extends the length and makes for a very long pitch (I did it on an 80m but I *think* a 70m will reach as well - be careful.)

This is another slab off the large ledge at the base of the upper tier.  It is the first route  left of PBR P2.

Start just left of PBR and go through a couple of slightly steeper slab sections, go over a tiny roof, then into the grooves and shallow corners that make up the top half of the pitch.

Like the Negotiator this is a long pitch.  Unlike the Negotiator it doesn't have an intermediate anchor so it can't be done as two shorter pitches.

Standard PSOM edging and smearing.  Decent enough route, although it has the typical PSOM issue with some flakey spots.

Climb the right-facing corner/overlap as it arches right.  When the overlap peters out, follow the bolts to a bolted anchor on a comfy ledge.

You can continue on

The Big Deal

or move 40 ft. right (past another anchor) and link to P2 of

PBR Street Gang

.

Pitch 1: climb up and left on low angle rock until the prominent right facing corner is reached, just below some small roofs.  Continue up this low angle corner until a steep section is reached.  Climb up a steep hand crack (5.9) and then trend left before a ledge is reached.  Continue left around a big block with some bushes until it is possible to make a comfortable belay before another steep section.

Pitch 2: Continue up broken rock, trending right, and then left when you see the summit block.  Continue up the steep and exposed summit block on giant holds (5.6).

Thin slab to a short section of seam/crack, then finishes on lower angle smearing.  Climb crux moves past two bolts to obtain a couple of small holes. From the holes follow the right leaning seam/crack doing a few more hard moves to obtain the large shelf just right of the bush.  Five more bolts trend leftwards to the anchor.  Despite being lower angle the upper slab has smaller holds and presents a reasonably continuous and surprisingly difficult smearing exercise.

Although the route has cleaned up decently the name sums it up pretty well. A lot of surface scale needed to be cleaned off the upper half of the route.  Hopefully this isn't going to be a case of "Same As It Never Will Be" as well. Nonetheless, there is decent climbing throughout the route and even if it does continue to change it shouldn't present a problem due to the slabby nature of the climbing.

If it wasn't for the crispy hold aspect of it the route could probably be given another star - IMO.

Fun and varied climbing.  The start can go one of two ways- The left option isn't bad when you figure out the high-step move, and the right way feels like 5.11 just getting off the ground (without the cheat-stones).  The choice is yours, but the climbing above is worth the effort.

Pitch 1:

Pull an unprotected funky high-step/rock-over move down low and left on the slab to reach edges and the flake (crux).  OR, start to the right in the seam with a tough move off the ground with or without cheater-stones (crux).  Work up and right following the nice flake, thru a wider section until you reach the short finger crack in the hidden right-facing corner.  Step left around the arete via a large high foothold and work up and left to the thin flake.  Continue straight up to the short 'V' groove then make a big step right into the main crack system just below the sketchy-looking block.  Climb up to the belay stance just left of the detached block (same belay as 'Breaking & Entering').

Pitch 2:

Same as 'B&E'.  Step up and right, under the tree, then up the slab slightly left to the finger crack/seam above.  Follow into the next crack on the right, then up to the big ledge.  Build an anchor.

Descent:

Rappel off the mussies at the end of pitch 1, or after pitch 2 scramble up then right along the ledge to one of the two descent gullies (4th class).

The JFMR was established and climbed by Bishop local Tai Devore in the early spring of 2011 in memory of John Fischer. John was a local climbing guide and an old school mountaineering legend. He was killed when his motorcycle hit a deer while riding near Conway Summit, ca. on June 5th 2010.

John would often bring clients to Pine Creek to climb, many to this very wall which is named after his climbing school the Palisade School of Mountaineering (PSOM).

The route follows the prominent pillar in the center of the PSOM slab for 7 pitches and holds some great mixed climbing.

P1: Climb the slab and some cracks to the first anchors at a small ledge.

P2: More mixed climbing past a cruxy face move left from a seam to a flake. You end up on a large ledge. you can belay from here for the next pitch or walk right and up on ledges and build a gear anchor at the more logical base of the next pitch.

P3: The money pitch. Climb past a few bolts on slab and then enter the amazing right leaning fingertip crack crux of the climb. A few small pieces protect this section well until the crack pinches off and you must make a few insecure but fun lieback moves to a good horizontal edge and crack. Finish past a tree with good gear in a hand crack.

P4: Easy crack climbing on your left leads to some interesting and challenging slab climbing that is well protected by bolts.

P5: More great slab climbing heads up and right to a flaring seam. Place some gear here and make a long reach to the right to get into another finger crack. Climb over a tree trunk to the next belay anchors.

P6: This roof pitch is great! A bit of gear leads to the right of the first roof and bolts lead you leftward out onto the face above the belay and over another roof section. These moves are really fun and the roof mantle is a bit awkward. A few more bolts get you to the last belay.

P7: Another great pitch! From below this pitch looks intimidating and steep but once you are here it isn't so bad. Climb up the big flake with good gear before heading out under the last small roof to a bolt or two. Good holds lead you up to the roof and once you can peek around you will find some good placements to protect this move. Turn this last roof and head for the final set of mussey hook anchors. Have your partner lower you back to the belay below to save a rappel and then they can toprope this pitch to clean it.

Rappel to the bottom of pitch 3 (to the left side of the tree) where you will run out of rope. Walk down to the last section of climbing on good ground and you will find a single FIXE rappel ring anchor on your left on the side of a block. Use this to descend to the next set of anchors and then to the ground on the routes mussey anchors.

Fun route that has a bunch of slab moves. Great for teaching slab as there are moves with friction only. Not as good as it's neighbor Digi, but easier.

Route follows 7 bolts to a Mussy Hook anchor.

Bishop Area Rock Climbs lists this as 2 pitches, with another pitch above the one noted here.

Fun, clean slab route.  The right hand edge is really close and quite tempting.  It would make the technical grade significantly easier.

A fun route with one tricky roof sequence.

Pitch 1:

Climb an easy left-facing obtuse corner to the tricky roof on the right.  A finger crack under the roof (crux) leads to a sidepull jug around the lip (watch the rope on the sharp edge of the roof for your follower).  Easier ground leads to a nice thin finger crack on the slab.  Climb the crack up to the bolt anchor. (5.10b)

Pitch 2:

Step right under the tree, then head up the slab slightly left to the finger crack/seam.  Follow the crack up, then right to the next crack, and up to the big ledge.  Build an anchor. (5.7)

Descent:

Scramble up 4th class thru the micro gully, then walk off right, descending either of the two 4th class gullies.

The old Palisade School of Mountaineering (PSOM) training ground for clients, this route has a bit of mountaineering in it, some wandering and meandering, and a stellar lie-back finish to a small summit.

P-1: crack to slab (little bit run-out).

P-2: Bulgy crack then 3rd class through the brush to the right.

P-3: left-facing dihedral to the top of the pinnacle.

This is the line of black bolts between JFMR and Slab-O-Rama.  Fun steep friction and thin face climbing that is well protected, but not super tightly bolted.

Fine slab route that deteriorates a bit toward the finish.  Better have your head in the game for a lead: it's a long way between bolts, the bottom is seriously slick, and the mid/upper sections have the usual PSOM chips (even if the climbing is relatively low angle and easy).

Fun mixed climb. Starts with a short slab below a small roof, continue over the roof and through a dirty broken crack to more face. 8 bolts to Mussy Hook anchors. Double rope rappel.

Fun route with excellent friction and thin edges on nice slab.  A shade easier than 'Too Many Rules' - but not as tightly bolted.  It's a long way (of easy climbing) to the first bolt of 'Lawbreaker' - a possible alternative would be to clip the first bolt on JFMB.  The crux (10+) is around the 2nd and 3rd bolt, the upper section eases significantly.

Alternate (cleaner) start for "Racing Lizards". 4 bolts visible from ground, lead to the finger crack of Racing Lizards P1.

Awesome slab route.  Clean, fun, low-angle friction. The route runs a bit more right than indicated in the photo.

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in PSOM Slab